Puppy Mills on the Rise?

At a time where puppy mills / pet stores have received some fairly negative press thanks in part to Oprah's recent investigation into puppy mills...it seems that every couple of days I'm receiving emails about another huge puppy mill raid. Yesterday I came across this MSNBC article about 400 dogs seized in Washington. HSUS states in the last few weeks they have rescued close to 1,000 dogs. That's a lot of dogs in a short span of time. So...is it because people are becoming more aware of what to look for and who to call to report these cruel prisons or is it because more and more people are jumping on the band wagon to exploit dogs for a profit? I can't impress upon people enough that most if not all puppies in pet stores come directly from puppy mills! Each and every puppy bought will be quickly replaced due to the supply & demand attitude of our society. Then when the puppy gets too big, too unruly, too expensive, too whatever...it finds itself in an animal shelter. It is estimated that 30% of dogs in shelters are purebreds and from my experience in animals shelters these purebreds for the most part were not from reputable breeders, but instead from petstores purchased on a whim without much thought. I once had a man surrender an adult male Rottweiler and his reason...he lived in a condo and the dog got too big. Really! Did you know that Rottweilers get big and males get even bigger? Please encourage your friends and family to visit a local animal shelter before the pet store at the mall. A dog's life could depend on it!