One of the national organizations that participated in “The Bark Heard Round the World” puppy mill expose event at the Penn Yan fairgrounds was Best Friends Animal Society, a sanctuary on 3,400 acres in Utah. Its information on puppy mills was so thorough, well documented and concise that I will pass it on.

The common signs of a puppy mill are:

€ Usually have several breeds of dogs or designer mixes for sale at the same time

€ Supply pet stores with puppies

€ Often offer to ship puppies to new owners

€ Usually will not allow customers to view their property or kennels

€ Do not require an application or references from people buying a puppy or puppies

€ Puppy millers do not ask buyers to return or contact them if the buyer cannot keep the dog as good breeders will do

€ Puppy millers keep a lot of dogs to breed a lot of puppies in order to make large profits

€ Puppy millers breed females every time they come into heat so they are pregnant or nursing all the time

€ Puppy mills are often USDA licensed so that they can sell to pet stores. A USDA license is a red flag that the breeders are in the business only to make money.

How can you be sure you are not getting a dog from a puppy mill?

The best way is to adopt a dog or puppy from a shelter or rescue group instead of buying one.

With millions of animals, including purebred dogs and puppies, dying in shelters every year, there is no reason to breed or buy dogs at all. There are thousands of wonderful pets available for adoption, and it is easy to search for a particular breed or age of pet on the Web sites of shelters and rescue groups.

Some sites to try are:

€ www.petfinder.com

€ www.1-800-save-a-pet.com

€ www.pets911.com

One can also contact local breed rescue organizations by googling the breed name and the word “rescue.”

Puppy mills are being shut down all over the country. And new ones are popping up or expanding.

For instance, one in Yates County has just applied to increase his operation to 600 dogs.

Even if a commercial breeder keeps dogs clean and relatively healthy the dogs are constantly bred, live in cages 24 hours a day seven days a week and have little or no human contact. Their purpose in life is to sit in a cage and constantly produce new puppies to make a profitable living for the puppy mill owner.

If you have a Web page, a My Space profile or a blog, you can inform people about puppy mill cruelty by adding a link to Best Friends.org, ASPCA.org or HSUS.org.

Judy Vorreuter is the founder and director of Animal Advocates of the Finger Lakes. Contact her at judy@cayugaanimaladvocates.org