Year after year people buy puppies from great breeders. Have you ever wondered where that puppy grew up? What conditions did the puppy live in? Most puppies that someone would buy from a pet store are raised in puppy mills. Puppy mills are notorious for their “inhumane conditions” and endless breeding of “unhealthy and genetically defective” dogs just for profit. People should adopt rather than buy from a pet store or breeder. By adopting from a shelter, you could give a dog a second chance at a happy life. Hundreds of thousands of puppies are bred every year in commercial kennels (Puppymills Breed Misery). Puppy mills keep puppy mills in horrible conditions for their short lives and produce unhealthy puppies with many problems. Not only are they committing “inhumane treatment,” but puppy mills are responsible for customer fraud. Many puppy mills are small, containing twenty or so breeding dogs in basements, garages, or sheds “in cages stacked on the roof.” The dogs will remain in those cages without “exercise or sunlight.” Additionally, dogs have two “litters” per year until they are about five years old. Other puppy mills contain hundreds of breeding dogs. Handlers keep the puppies in “relative darkness” so they rarely cry or attract attention. Dogs in puppy mills rarely receive medical care. Females are dispersed due to the endless period of “producing and nursing litters”. Most dogs suffer from “chronic diseases, rotten teeth and ear, eye and skin infections”. Many of the puppies purchased from puppy mills are unhealthy and not well adjusted. Puppies have a high prevalence of hereditary syndromes and diseases and difficulties that arise following "purchase". After the females can no longer produce liters... half the paper... ks CitedBlack, Lisa and Jeff Long. “Animal activists target large breeders and puppy mills.” ChicagoTribune 7 March 2010, n. page Network. November 15, 2013. "Buy vs. Adopt." American Humane Society. NP Network. 22 Oct 2013. Kehret, Peg. Shelter dogs. Albert Whitman & Company, 1999. Print.Pacelle, Wayne. “Wayne's Blog: USDA Announces Rule to Crack Down on Online PuppyMills.” Human Society Association. Np, 10 Sep 2013. Web. 22 Oct 2013.Peters, Sharon. “Puppy Mills faces more scrutiny.” USA Today 31 October 2007, n. page Network. 15 November 2013. Pratt, Gregorio. “PAWS Volunteers Save Puppy Mill Dogs.” Chicago Tribune 6 August 2013, n. page Network. November 15, 2013. “Puppy Mills faces increased scrutiny.” Prisoners of greed. NP Network. 22 Oct 2013.Sternberg, Sue. Successful dog adoption. Indianapolis: Wiley Publishing, 2003. Print.Willis, Cathy. Personal interview. November 5 2013.