Why large corporations like Petsmart encourage inbreeding and support puppy mills

3 min readFeb 16, 2018

How much is that doggie in the window? Sorry Patti Page, too much. Something you might not be considering when adopting one of these cute puppies is the suffering and inbred nature of these dogs. Another fact that may be surprising is that most of the dogs sold in pet stores are from puppy mills; puppy mills are places where breeders breed hundreds of dogs in cruel, slum-like conditions for maximum profit.

Even though the dogs that are in pet stores have pedigrees and papers to prove they are purebred, they may have had a former life of suffering. Just because a dog is certified, they still can come from puppy mills. The living conditions of these mills are inhumane and disgusting. In a 2015 ASPCA article the staff writer states, “To maximize profits, female dogs are bred at every opportunity with little to no recovery time between litters. When they are physically depleted to the point that they no longer can reproduce, breeding females are often killed”(puppy mills para 4). In many of these cases, the mothers and fathers of the puppies at the store don’t make it out alive, even many of the puppies won’t make it out due to overt physical disabilities.

Many of the overt physical issues comes from the extreme inbreeding in puppy mills. In puppy mills the quality of life is extremely poor, but the breeding practices are even worse. As PetMD examines, “[the] gene pool is already limited, but many breeders will use dogs from the same family gene pool to create more dogs”(Purebred Dogs para 2). The breeders of these dogs quite often breed a father with a daughter or a mother with a son, this causes many health problems for the dogs and causes them to suffer.

So why do large pet stores support these inbred dog factories? Some may argue it’s because large corporations cut costs, or that that purebred dogs are popular. Both of these assumptions are correct. First off, as a Petful writes states, The “purebred dog” business is valued as a multibillion dollar industry in the United States”(para 5). This means that for places like Petsmart, there is a huge industry and chance for profit. The average person cannot tell the difference between a puppy from a legitimate breeder versus a puppy mill.

When future owners set out a acquire one of these purebred dogs they look for papers, proof that the dog is truly purebred. This is where these companies really make a steal. All it takes to produce a puppy with papers is to have two parents that have them, meaning there is no quality of life check. A puppy from a mill can look just the same as a puppy from a legitimate breeder. The price of these papered puppies is where all the visible difference is. As Allen St.John explains in his article “The Surprising Economics Of Purchasing A Purebred Puppy”, a puppy from a puppy mill costs around 500–900 dollars where as a pup from a high quality breeder costs 2000–4000 dollars. Pet stores pick up on this, they can buy an equally cute and certified puppy for thousands less than from a good breeder.

So next time you’re considering adopting a dog, consider not only the price tag, but the puppies value as a living creature as well.