I do not accept any premise that equates pets with children. They are different in how we relate to them (or they sure as hell should be), how they are treated under the law and so on.

When you equate pets with children you are setting up a framework that does not serve either well.

She wants a puppy for Christmas, has located a website for somone in Kansas selling doodles of one kind or another, for $1700 apiece. What did I think about that? she wanted to know.

She got this URL, plus Raised by Wolves and Smartdogs.

Oy.

I’m still willing to consider the previous offer, though, if someone comes up with something really good.

http://shop.cafepress.com/puppy-mills

They have T-shirts, caps and yes, bumper stickers.

And don’t forget to check out the Obama Christmas cards (since you took down BarkObama, where else can I share this, LOL??):

http://shop.cafepress.com/obama-christmas

They had a small, square, black-and-white picture of a representative example of the breed, a description of what the breed was like and then the price. I remember wanting a beagle, because of Snoopy. (I had a “Curse You, Red Baron! felt pennant over my bed, and loved everything Snoopy.) I think a beagle was $125.

On a more serious note, I believe Life magazine ran the first major puppy-mill expose, in the early ’60s.

When I was a kid, you’d see puppies in the pet shop window from time to time. These were mixed-breed pups, usually from around the corner because an owner messed up. They usually cost $10 or $10, it was a public service in a way because in those days dogs/puppies got 3 days to be adopted and then it was curtains.

In the late 60s, purebred pups started showing up in pet shops, one of each kind. “Hmmm”, I thought, “What is going on here?” Were these pups not up to snuff so they couldn’t be kept with the family?

It’s quite astounding that after 25+ years of telling people not to buy pet store puppies because they come from mills, they are still for sale and people are still buying them - and paying more than they would for a pup from a legitimate breeder, not to mention much more than they would for a dog from the SPCA. People are still buying puppies over the internet sight unseen and having the little tykes shipped by air or delivered at a meeting point by truck, like cabbages.

Many ‘rescue’ groups are also buying milled pups and then selling them to soft-hearted people who think they are helping out abandoned dogs.

The whole thing stinks and it always has.

This puppy mill thing just never ends — I run a e-list for our dog park and just had someone who wanted to “surprise her husband” with a Golden puppy and couldn’t we help her find someone as the last breeder wanted references?

I thought the responses from the dog trainers and rescue folks were quite restrained, polite and helpful, but she ended up e-mailing both me and list about how she “didn’t appreciate being lectured” “had already looked on PetFinder” and how “unhelpful” we were. (This, after, me, not a retriever person, [sorry, Gina!], looks on PetFinder and finds two different Golden [probably mix] puppies not 10 miles from my house that even I would have considered.}

I hear from her again, she’s getting URLs for both Terrierman and Raised by Wolves posts on picking a dog. Grit our teeth and educate, I guess.