Buying a Puppy? Did you know...
*"The truth about Minimum Standards
The federal Animal Welfare Act (AWA) requires wholesale dog breeders to be licensed and inspected by the US Department of Agriculture (USDA). The USDA set forth "minimum standards" that these breeders must meet in order to obtain a license.
Primary Enclosures
The cage where a dog will live its entire life is referred to as a primary enclosure. By USDA standards, this cage must be at least six inches longer, wider, and taller than the dog inside it. There is no requirement that the dog ever be let out of the cage.
Wire Floors
Most commercial breeders use wire flooring on their cages so that feces and urine fall through the openings. This setup is just another cruel aspect of the dog industry. Attempts at changing the regulations to allow for a more humane life for the dogs trapped in puppy mills have been met with resistance. Instead of requiring a thicker guage wire that wouldn't cut into the paws of the dogs, USDA required the wire to be coated, on the pretense that this was a humane alternative to bare wire. USDA even replaced the word "wire" with "mesh", after breeders complained that consumers didn't like hearing the dogs lived on wire.
Solid Resting Surface
At one time, all cages were required to have a solid resting surface that allowed dogs to escape the painful wire flooring. USDA removed that requirement from the regulations after dog industry "experts" claimed the dogs soiled their resting surfaces, and the hair, urine, and feces presented more of a health hazard than the wire floors. The fact that a dog would rather live in its own waste than live on wire floors is not something the USDA seemed to take into consideration before changing the regulations."*
Here are some good websites to educate yourself about commercial breeders...
