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7:53pm

The Oprah show and Puppy Mills

I watched today in horror the Oprah shows expose' on puppy mills. I can't begin to tell you how many times I have gone to the mall to do some shopping only to go to the petstore there and oooh and ahhh over the lovely puppies. How guilty am I??? I am ashamed of myself for even being a participant in an way to encourage such horrific atrocities against these dogs. I am also guilty of getting a dog at a petstore and cannot begin think about what that dogs mother and father were going through at the time I purchased her. It never even occured to me 11 years ago about puppy mills even being a part of the supply chain, I didn't even think about where petstores get all those cute little darlings.

I heard Oprah say the same thing, that yes she was as guilty as I of buying a dog she wasn't certain where it originated. I know now after volunteering and seeing what happens to these pets I will never again make this same mistake, but what of all those others out there who just don't understand or worse to think of just don't care where their dog comes from as long as its just what they wanted?
I shudder to think of all those mother dogs locked up only to have litter after litter and then to be discarded like trash when they can no longer produce.
The worst part of all this is, is there will ALWAYS be someone out there who is willing to run these mills and provide such merchandise, until we change how we think, until we can spread the word, until we can get the message across to peoplt NOT to buy a pet at these stores, this will continue.
What is so sad is you or I could live just a few miles from one of these awful places and never even know, how is that possible??? How can people get away with such behaviour in this, the greatest nation on earth? I'm not so sure we are the greatest in all honesty but when you read the news stories of how animals are treated in many other countries I know that animals stand a better chance of someone at least trying to speak up for them here, its just not enough.

Thanks to Oprah for opening my eyes, I only hope there are others out there that saw this show and promise themselves the same thing I did, I'll only get a shelter/rescue dog for the rest of my life, I'll never set foot in another petstore that sells off these adorable puppies never knowing where they are bred, raised or come from. If nothing else, I've certainly learned Ignorance is NOT Bliss, at least not for those poor dogs trapped in those horrid conditions. They know we are capable of being so much better than this, I hope and pray we can prove we are.