The AKC makes a lot of money off of puppy mills. A pet store that buys a puppy mill pup for $500 can turn around and sell it for $5,000 or more depending on the breed and market location, according to national groups that monitor pet store … It’s a big, big business. ASJ: What was Maisey’s life like before you got her? My wife came up with the idea: Let’s make a documentary to put a stop to this. The humane model can also bring in new customers and attract positive media attention for the store. So you’re buying a defective product at over-inflated prices, even if you don’t care about what happens to that puppy's parents, it’s a bad, bad deal for the consumer. As the vet says in the movie, it’s not a washing machine or a car or a refrigerator that you can take back. 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ASJ: Dogs like Maisey who were rescued from the mills often need special care, don’t they? Breeders associations discourage or disallow their members from selling to pet stores. And pet stores will go back to doing what they should be doing—selling leashes, bowls, toys, and puppy chow—and not actually selling the animals themselves. Instead, talk to the store owners privately and maintain a professional and respectful attitude. Despite their convenience and harmless appearance, pet stores are an extremely controversial industry that, frankly, shouldn’t be allowed to sell living creatures. The farmers think of these puppies as a cash crop the same way they’d look at soybeans or corn or spinach. Even though more and more Americans are taking a stand against them, the U.S. still has thousands of puppy mills. You’re getting a dog that cost $1,000 to $2,000 that cost the farmer $50 to $75 to raise. ASJ: On a personal level, how did you end up making this movie? 2021 can be the year YOU become a hero for all animals. House Bill 1084 originally would have blocked pet stores from selling dogs and cats.While that was amended out, the legislation still had teeth: requiring stores to use state-licensed breeders, limiting the number of litters per dog and ensuring those animals are treated humanely. Pet Stores Won't Admit Puppies Come From Puppy Mills | These pet store employees were caught on camera lying about puppy mills. The Humane Society of the United States has been investigating puppy mills and pet stores for several decades. —Amy Cirincione, Feed Bag Pet Store, Cutchogue, New York, "With millions of dogs and cats being euthanized each year due to a lack of homes, I realized that this decision was the right thing to do for the animals and for our community in addressing the pet overpopulation problem." You bought the puppy because you had an emotional attachment when you first met it. Most breeders love the animals so much they will actually fly with the animal to make sure that the owners are legit. Advice from other store owners who have already converted to a more humane model. Pennsylvania state senator Daylin Leach and his family meet an adoptable pooch at the grand re-opening of Pets Plus in Conshohocken, Penn. Publicity for your conversion via a grand re-opening, including: Free T-shirts, raffles and other giveaways. You have states that say that every animal has to have an exercise plan. AN: I think it’s very, very hard to regulate. Therefore, if one breeder dog is a carrier of a genetic mutation that’s potentially dangerous to a litter, the mill continues to breed that dog. She now has people working for her. Some mills sell their animals in states where puppy mills are illegal or strictly regulated. [...] Most of these shelters that I go pick up dogs from, they are putting down anywhere from 50 to 70 dogs a day. My latest book is Newton's Football: The Science Behind America's Game, published by Ballantine in November 2013. I'm a graduate of The University of Chicago and I live in Montclair N.J. with my wife, two kids, and my golden retriever, Tessie. The Humane Society of the United States is registered as a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization. Free, customized guidance through the entire process. ANSWER: Pet store puppies come from puppy mills. AN: Basically my wife is the producer and she made the movie because she absolutely loves dogs,  and I made the movie because I love my wife. The documentary, which can be found on HBOGo.com, takes a rigorously journalistic view of this complex problem. They wouldn’t know how to play with a ball if you taught them all day long. And frankly, I think animals should have more room to move around in than something the size of a dishwasher. I’m a CEO by trade but I decided to take a year and a half off I wrote and directed the movie. Even though these puppy mills are often licensed and inspected it doesn’t mean that … "I switched over to what I call the 'humane model'—animal adoption instead of animal sales. AN: When you talk to a breeder, you should say “Can I see this puppy’s parents?” If it’s a puppy mill they won’t be able to produce the parents. AN: It’s an emotional purchase. My latest book is Newton's Football: The Science Behind America's Game, published by Ballantine…, I am an award-winning journalist and a New York Times best selling author. We can guide your store through this process free of charge, assisting with information and often recommending reputable placement partners. Answers to your questions about the benefits of providing adoptable animals at your store. Puppy mills are commercial breeding facilities that mass-produce dogs (and cats in cat mills) for sale through pet stores, or directly to consumers through classified ads or the Internet. ASJ: Does this consciousness raising effort seem to be working? Even if a pet store says it doesn't use puppy mills, there's no way to really know. Every year, retail pet stores across South Africa sell thouands of dogs, while millions of dogs enter shelters. Never bathed. So if people stop buying from pet stores, if people stop buying over the internet, puppy mills will dry up. There’s almost a 50 percent chance that  dog is going to die or have a serious illness within the first year. Puppy mills are a well-kept secret of the pet-trade industry. I'm just curious but, I know in my town that the pet store gets the puppies they sell from the local shelter NOT a puppy mill. —Rene Karapedian, Pet Rush, Los Angeles, California, "I have found that there is no way for me to sell puppies from my retail establishment that does not contribute to the suffering of both the parent dogs and the puppies bred from them. When you find out its sick, the last thing you want to do is take it back, you want to help it. ASJ: But I guess there’s another side of this, too, that the puppies from the mills are often dangerously sick when you take them home and prone to all kinds of life-threatening problems early in life. It’s a question of supply and demand. Almost all pet store animals come from puppy mills. She now runs a rescue called No More Tears. Visit local pet store to explain the benefits of the program and invite them to sign. Opinions expressed by Forbes Contributors are their own. Privacy Policy and ASJ: Is the problem that people don’t see the connection between the pet store puppy and the horrible conditions in which it was raised? Puppy mills sell their puppies to a broker. Never allowed to play. Message and data rates may apply. Reputable breeders with high standards of care do not sell their puppies to ANY pet stores for resale." Lots of pet stores say that they buy their dogs from responsible breeders. Stronger community ties thanks to your partnership with local animal shelters. AN: Public education is hugely critical. Puppy mills typically choose one of two housing options. As you begin your research, here are some things to consider: Puppy mills. The Animal Legal Defense Fund announced that a settlement agreement has been reached with the Animal Kingdom pet store in a high-profile lawsuit over a puppy laundering scheme to unlawfully circumvent the California "retail pet sale ban" — a law that bans the sale of dogs from commercial breeders, commonly called puppy mills. And a couple of times a year she ends up in the veterinary hospital for a few days. ASJ: Some states like Missouri have tried to legislate the conditions in puppy mills. (Nibley used to be an editor at Reuters.) Especially Petco. The USDA keeps track of how many animals are trafficked, but not the dollars and cents. That’s really why we made the movie, is to wake people up. The bill, known as the New York Puppy Mill Pipeline Bill (or S. 4234-A) passed 48-12 in the State Senate on Tuesday, July 21, which happened to be National No Pet Store Puppies Day.A collection of animal welfare groups worked together on the bill with New York State Sen. Michael Gianaris, who introduced the bill to the Senate with a passionate speech on Tuesday. The HSUS's tax identification number is 53-0225390. I’d love to see the same thing happen with puppy mills. AN: These dogs have a lot of issues. —Joe Seneshale, Joe's PET DEPOT in Gillette and Rock Springs, Wyoming. A bill to stop puppy and kitten mills died Monday to shelter pet stores. You can also read our research exposing puppy mill transports during Covid-19 here. That one example in the film, The Hunt Coporation had 88,000 dogs they had transported, and say they’re $2,000 apiece, that’s $176,000,000. I have written about sports, music, entertainment, pop culture and politics for a wide variety of national publications including The New York Times Magazine, Salon, Rolling Stone, Men's Journal, The Daily Beast, The Washington Post and The Village Voice. AN: Laura had a child, so she’s pretty much a full-time mother. If you look at cigarette smoking, littering, seat belts, all the great campaigns that have changed behavior in this country, they have all come through kids nagging their parents. But there are hundreds and hundreds of Lauras out there. And we’re seeing towns all over the country banning the sale of animals in pet stores, out in California particularly. According to The Puppy Mill Project, approximately 2.5 million puppies are born in puppy mills every year. “Don’t smoke Daddy, put on your seat belt, don’t be a litter bug.” Those are public awareness campaigns that percolated up through the school systems and fundamentally changed the behavior of the country. 99 percent of all puppies in pet stores come from puppy mills. These brokers buy thousands of puppies from puppy mills and then distribute them to pet stores around the country. And that’s how people get trapped. In my previous posts, I talked about my experiences with Alison my shelter dog, and Tessie, my Golden Retriever that came from a high-quality breeder and about the economics of buying and owning a puppy. In some places it’s as hard to adopt a dog [from a quality breeder] as it is a kid. They don’t care for the health of the puppies that are produced. AN: I think if you ask, 90 percent of people would say they’re against puppy mills, and then you ask them where they got their pet, they say “Oh, we got him at the pet store.” We tried to make that connection between puppy mills and pet stores and how it’s part of a multi-billion dollar business in the U.S. AN: It’s kind of a shadowy industry. Contributions to the HSUS are tax-deductible to the extent permitted by law. Today, as part of a continuing series, I present an interview with Andrew Nibley, a CEO who took off a year and a half to make this documentary about the dirty secret of the pet industry. 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