Dogs In America Today

Before Chris Hansen was catching pedophiles and predators, he was catching puppy mill peddlers, and those who wink at puppy mill misery.

Watch this whole piece, which Chris Hansen put together for NBC's Dateline back in 2000.

Nothing much has changed.

In fact, things are actually a little bit worse, as I will explain.

Because most folks will not take the time to watch the whole 45-minute video, I have appended an excerpt below, which shows the unblinking reaction of Ron DeHaven, the man in charge of puppy mill inspection at the U.S, Department of Agriculture.





Ron DeHaven, of course, is now head of the American Veterinary Medical Association (AVMA).

As for Petland, puppy mills, and the AKC (see the entire Dateline piece here), they are still in bed with each other right up to their eyeballs.

In fact, the AKC has even created special software for Petland so that Petland's puppy mill dogs can be sold even faster under the auspices of the AKC.

And is the AKC still in bed with puppy mills? Absolutely.

In fact, AKC Chairman Ron Menaker says the AKC has always been in bed with puppy mills, and that it's financial future depends on being in bed with "high volume breeders," because dog shows actually lose money for the AKC.

Yes, that's right, "misery puppies" have to die so that people can go on collecting rosettes and ribbons at dog shows.

Nice!

This is the American Kennel Club (AKC).

This is the American Veterinary Medical Association (AVMA).

This is the the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA).

This is puppy mills.

This is Petland.

And this is dogs in America today.
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