Animal breeding- the process of selecting animals to breed in hopes of getting an animal with certain traits and characteristics. In the world we live in today, several people choose to breed animals. Dogs seem to be the most popular and each year approximately 3.4 million dogs enter shelters. There is an alarming number of puppy mills that have collectively bred more than 2 million puppies. Puppy mills are located in Missouri, Pennsylvania, New York and Ohio. Some may say the dogs are taken care of however they could not be more wrong. Puppy mills mostly care about making money and do not take care of the pets. Primarily, these precious animals receive little or no veterinary care. Because dogs lack care, they have several diseases and behavioral issues. Some diseases that puppies may have are Giardia, Pneumoniae, Parvovirus, Distemper, and respiratory infections. Furthermore, the dogs usually have heartworms, fleas, kennel cough, ticks, and even diarrhea. Since these animals live, alone they are very scared and have several behavioral issues. Behavioral problems are fear, aggression, shyness, trembling, and irregular sleeping patterns. If you think, it could not get worse think again! When these pups are born, they are forced to live in small unsanitary cages and suffer from excruciating temperatures. Female dogs are bred twice a year and they undergo severe pain and stress. Breeders constantly breed female dogs to the point where they cannot reproduce. Sadly, these dogs are forced to take hormonal drugs and this makes them more fertile. If you are concerned this particular issue there are many things that you can do which are listed below.

*Be an advocate

*Contact your legislators about the issue

*Write letters to the local newspaper

*set up library display

*contact authorities

*Donate

*adopt pets from the shelter