Moral Dilemma of the Puppy Mill

Yes, before you get all crazy on me, we are getting a dog.  I know I know...Wilson was a handful.  I mean lets face it, he was more like a Great Dane than a Golden Retriever.  Regardless, Wilson is roaming some 100 acre vineyard with his girlfriend while my kids are longing for a dog.  Cats just don't cut it.  They are not interactive pets at all.  If all you get is a snuggle in the middle of the night, then they just are not affectionate and fun enough for me.

So dog hunting we will go.  Of course I started with craigslist.  When that yielded nothing but rottwiellers and pit-bulls, I moved on to kinder pastures.  Shelters are plentiful if you use petfinder.com.  They really are nice, but every dog I wanted, didn't want kids.  So that left me with little choice but the local paper.  Now I know that little dogs are all the rage right now.  I've had a few.  We are not talking teacup size just under 20 lbs.  But it is insane what people charge for a pet now days.  I didn't need a pure bred dog.  Just something small enough that could be carried around by one little girl.  Brighten needs animals.  She has wanted a small dog for 2 years now.  It's just part of her personality.  I'm sure she'd be happy with a horse if we let her, but a dog will have to do.  So small was important.  I found one that was a mixed breed.  And little old ignorant me, I think, oh they didn't fix their pets in time and what a cute little accident.  Boy was I wrong!

I go to take a look at this cute little fur ball and see which of the 3 dogs I wanted.  I walk up to the house(in the country) and I see a dog run with 3 pugs. Ok, not too bad right?  Then I get up to the house and there were 8 dogs on the porch.  Most of them were Chihuahuas of some kind.  They looked healthy and well cared for but I started to get a little nervous.

I was escorted in by a kind middle aged woman who obviously loved dogs.  The first thing I noticed is all the cages everywhere and the smell was pretty overpowering.  It didn't smell putrid, but more like wet dog food and dog breath.  All the cages had small dogs in them.  Several litters of puppies of all different breeds lined the walls.  This lady was no housekeeper that was for sure, but she did have linoleum floors which I thought was wise.  All of the cages were pretty clean.  I mean 15 or 20 cages of dogs.  I wanted to turn and run away, but something told me to stay.  She was kind and showed genuine love for all these little creatures.  She had an elderly fellow there that was completely deaf and was surrounded by medicine bottles ...literally.
So I took a look at 3 little mixed breed Shi Tzu/Maltese pups.  I fell in love with this little black and white one.  They were spunky and loving but then I had my moral dilemma.  I could buy this little boy and save him from spending one more minute in this puppy mill, but really, was it a puppy mill?  Should I have asked to see her license?  She was keeping the cages clean and none of the dogs looked uncared for.  Who am I to judge how this lady chooses to make her money right?  I am not buying a designer dog, just one that my husband will put up with that is small enough to be carried around by one nurturing little girl.  Hair dog...small dog...and wont cost me an arm and a leg.

My dilemma...is this right?