Found this on the web a while back, this is a must read for any animal lover. It amazes me how cruel humans can be not only to their fellow man but to a poor defenseless animal. This story although fictional tells of some of the cruelties that occur in a ”Puppy Mill” from the dogs point of view.

 A Puppy Mill Nightmare:

I remember it like it was yesterday, It was dirty and smelled horrible.
One of my mom’s neighbors from above us was rotting away, and had been for several months. The body fluids of her that hadn’t already leaked on my mom months before, were leaking on me. There were feces falling in between the wires of the cages over us. Urine was dripping on my head and the mom next to me lay rotting and decomposing.
My mom started licking me but soon stopped. Her fur was very soft but badly tangled. It had feces from various dogs matted in it and it was soaking wet with urine. I cuddled in her fur, in hopes to escape this awfull place.
She was very skinny so her warm body didn’t provide much comfort. She
just licked me and said, “Don’t worry. It’ll be alright.” Then she told me that
my brothers and sisters would be here soon so I had to move. My mom was very exhausted and tired because she had no water to drink that summer day.
The next day I awoke to my mom licking me. I had about 4 brothers and sisters. Mom was trying to feed us as much as she could but she could only produce so much milk. She barely produced enough to feed us since she had no food or water for herself.
I quickly fell asleep to have a short escape from this terrible place. I really
wanted to lie on something dry and cool, not wet and hot. But I had no choice. I had to manage to live in this filthy cage.
I turned around but the cage had holes that were much bigger than my feet.
A couple times I fell through the holes and the dogs below growled and snapped at me. My mom taught me to balance on the wires. That was very difficult, though, because they were really slippery from blood, urine, feces, and body fluids.
A weird looking man took me out of my cage and pulled out scissors. His hands were very cold and and very dirty. What he did next was unbelievable, he cut off my tail. Oh, the pain! I whined and he yelled at me. He said,
“Oh shut up you f*ckin piece of sh*t!” Then he proceded to hurt my brothers and sisters like he did me. Our tails were bleeding for hours…and hour…and
hours. It hurt so bad I thought dying would be better.
As I grew older, my mom had another litter of puppies so I was forced to eat something other than her milk. She didn’t have enough to feed two litters. I only had a couple of pebbles of food a day, and if I was lucky, maybe a sip of water. The food tasted like cardboard and was swarmed with flies. Any water that I recieved was basically just diluted urine. My toe also got caught in the wires. As I tugged at it, the wires managed to
slice it right off. The pain was tremendous but when I was a really young pup, I learned to take it and deal with whatever fear or anguish or pain I may be forced to deal with. My toe also bled for many hours. It hurt really bad because the wires that I had sliced it on were covered with urine and feces. A man walked by my cage and I crawled away in fear. I remember him say, “They’ll make some dough. We should keep this one though. She’ll produce good lookin’ pups.” He was pointing at me.
Later I noticed that my mom stopped moving. I pawed at her face but she wouldn’t give me any encouraging words like she normally did. I tried to get her to wake up but she just layed there, Lifeless. I cried all night long, hoping I would wake up to my mom licking me and telling me it would be all right like she used to. But that never happened. I just crawled up next to her and cried. I cried for her and all the other dogs in this horrible place. I missed her greatly but also knew I had to be strong for her and myself.
My siblings and I were taken out of our cage. I was put into a smaller cage, and my siblings were put into a truck and left, I never saw them again. My mom was left in the cage, she was taken out 6 months later and thrown on the ground in front of me. They only took her out of there to replace her with two young male and female pups.
I saw the man walk over to another cage. He said, “Oh he’s cute. He’ll make some good lookin’ ones.” Another guy next to him then said, “…and maybe he’ll make us more dough someday!” Then they placed him in the cage with me and both laughed.
So there we were, he was my age, we became best friends and played all the time. But one day when we were playing I got scared. He just said, “Don’t worry. We’re just playing and having fun.” He was later taken out of my cage, he was gone forever, my one and only friend.
It was getting colder out and water was falling from above. From above the
cages. From above the clouds. From heaven. From God. I figured God was on my side, giving me water and all. I was still struggling for food though.
One day my stomach started hurting and I had this sudden urge to poop, I
thought. Out came 5 little pups, 3 girls and 2 boys. They were my babies. I was barely producing enough milk to feed them with because I had no food and water for myself. Those little babies were my only hope. My darlings grew older and the girls were taken away. Soon one of my sons started playing with me like my friend did. I tried to get away but he insisted. Plus there wasn’t any room to move around in this small cage.
When summer rolled around, I turned a year old and was giving birth to my second litter of pups. It was getting extremely hot but I had no water to drink. No food to eat. But as long as I had my darlings, I figured I could live through this.
My neighbor from above died. His body fluids were leaking all over my puppies and me. I tried to cover them like how my mom did but I could see how she had little success. I was so skinny that it didn’t even really matter anymore.
A lady walked by and I tried to hide, I crawled away in fear. The only
experiences I ever had with humans were awful and I didn’t want to get yelled at or beaten again…and I especially didn’t want my pups beaten or yelled at. I also didn’t want her to take my newborns away from me like how I was taken away from my Mom and not how my first litter was taken away from me. They needed me. And only me. Next to the lady were two men. They had blue shirts and stiff hats on. They had these gold badges on with long numbers attached. Next to that was a name tag. They were even scarier. They reached for me and took my puppies and me out of
the cage. That was really scary. Were they going to hurt me? What were they planning to do with my puppies? My pups were only a week old!
The next thing I knew I was lying on a cement floor in a really big cage. The
place was huge and extremely clean. There wasn’t feces, urine, or corpses
everywhere. It was a lot cooler than where I used to be, there were lots of
dogs there, but I had my very own cage. I had this cone shaped thing around my head and My stomach itched. Was I going to have another litter? My puppies were all with me. We had a bowl of cold water and a tray of dog food. Was I being saved?
The lady came over and took me in a small room with someone called a “vet”. He trimmed my fur and did tests on me to see if I was ok. He also said
something about Rabies, Mange, congenital problems, mild hip displaysia, an infection in the front right foot, and an infected tail that “needed to be
treated immediately”…whatever that means. He also said he’d have to run tests to be sure I didn’t have parvovirus, since “…80% of the dogs from that God awful place had this horrible disease”.
The lady gave me pills to “get rid of my illnesses”, or so she said. She also
rubbed this cream stuff on my foot and my butt. It stung a little bit, I cried
but soon stopped, remembering that I would get yelled at if I cried, but I
didn’t. She assured me that it would make me feel better and get rid of my limp. Then she called a lady over and they both looked at my tail. They were talking about how it could have gotten infected and why it was so short. The second lady suggested dirty scissors, I began to like her. I always felt some sort of security when I was around her.
Two people came by my cage a few weeks later, the lady said they might want to take me home with them. What was home? Was I going back to that horrible place? They asked questions like, “What breed is she supposed to be?” and “Approximately how old is she estimated to be?” and sometimes an occasional “Oh, I don’t know” or a “We want a puppy” and a “What about the pet shop, hun?” They kind of scared me.
The next day I was in something called a car. The lady said they were taking me home. I was so afraid that I was going back to what they called a “puppy mill”. When we arrived, my “owners” showed me a corner with a pile of blankets. They were really colorful and didn’t have any holes in them or dogs above and below them. They said I could lie down there. This place was even better than the “clinic.” There was carpeting, and it was oh-so-ever soft. I kept slipping on the tile floor in the kitchen though. My owners always giggled when I slipped, and I was glad they were happy, which in turn made me happy. They also showed me where my water and food was and where to go when I want to go outside to “do my job”. They were confusing me. What was “doing my job”? Why would I want to go outside?
My “name” was Millie, and whenever they said my name they gave pet me or would play with me. If I was lucky, I got a scratch on the butt, behind the ear, or even a belly rub. I never had this kind of attention from humans at the “puppy mill”.
I was taught how to play, at first they threw a ball for me and I was like,
“What do you want me to do?” I wanted to please them but it was hard because I never learned any of this when I was younger. So they taught me how to fetch balls and play tug of war. I got to play with other dogs, which I couldn’t do at the puppy mill. My only purpose at the mill was to make a profit for the owners.
This was heaven to me, I got to go swimming and play frisbee, chase balls and play tug of war. Never had I been in such a great place with such nice people.
Now I know I can trust people.
I had been living there for three years when I began experiencing great
difficulty to breathe. It was hard to walk and I couldn’t balance very well, so
I was taken to the vet. The vet ran some tests and said, “Even at the age of
four, she has cancer In her lungs and in her brain. This is because of poor
breeding at the puppy mill. It also appears that she has a very severe case of Hip Dysplasia.”
Then he said, “I think it would be best to end her suffering and put her to sleep.” I happily agreed, because I liked to go to sleep!
A week later I went back to the vet. My two owners held me and cried. They kept repeating, “I love you so much. I love you so much…” Then the vet pulled out a big pink thing with a needle on the end. I figured he was going to make me go to sleep. I got excited. My owners signed some papers and cried even harder. The vet told me to relax and told my owners that “it would be a pain free and a very soothing moment for her.”
A flash of colors came across my eyes, my vision started to blur and I felt so
extrmely relaxed. It is hard to explain, really, I felt as if I were dreaming.
I started feeling guilty, though, because I was so happy, yet so sad because my owners were sad. I hated enjoying myself while my owners were heartbroken. Suddenly it came to me, I knew what was going on. I was dying…but peacefully. So I said goodbye the only way I knew how…a gentle wag of my short, stubby tail and a lick of my owners hands. They set my head on their arms and told me that I could let go.
Then I saw a fresh green field, with all my neighbors, children, friends, etc.
They told me I would be ok now and that I’ve escaped the agony and pain that the puppy mill had caused me. But the most important soul I saw was my mom, I cried and told her about that fateful night she died and the day they took her out. All she said was, “I know, I was there watching over you to make sure you would be ok and would be saved, and to make sure you got a very good home. Then she started to lick me and said, “Don’t worry…it’ll be alright.” Then I told her, “I’ve been waiting for you to say that for such a very long time.”
We all played together until I saw some of my friends owners were coming across a big bridge. I felt absolutely wonderful…no pain. Except in my heart. I missed my people so much.
There I waited, At the bridge with my mom, my mom who was unlucky, my mom who was too weak to live until the rescue came. My mom who should have had a home, my mom who had no owner.
But she did, in fact, have a home, In my heart. So there we waited For my
owners, and when the time came, we would all cross the bridge together and never be separated ever again. No longer would any of us feel any pain or grief, from then on…we wouldn’t ever suffer again.
My owners are coming now, They’re meeting my mom and it’s like they’ve all known each other since the beginning of time. As we cross the Bridge now, my mom licks me and says, “Don’t worry. We’ll be alright now and forever…” All of our pain is gone and it will never come back again.

Author: Unknown (Edited)

Remember this when you visit a pet store next time.

Their are many animals in your local animal shelter looking for a good home so don’t support “Puppy Mills” by buying from a pet store or any other mass animal breeders.