New York Bill Tries to Shut Down Puppy Mills But It Doesn’t do Enough

There's a new bill, Senate Bill S1130, by Senate Deputy Leader Michael Gianaris and Assemblymember Linda B. Rosenthal that if it becomes law it would outlaw pet sales at retail stores.

The idea behind the bill is the "adopt don't shop" concept when looking for a pet. There are so many dogs and cats awaiting adoption at local humane societies that "buying" a pet at a pet shop just doesn't make sense anymore.

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According to WKBW-TV, the bill prohibits the sale of dogs, cats, and rabbits by retail pet shops; authorizes collaboration with entities to provide space to showcase cats or dogs owned by certain entities for adoption.

So a local adoption group can work with a retailer like Petsmart to showcase adoptable pets.

The bigger goal of the bill is to shut down puppy mills in New York. A lot of pet stores get dogs, cats, and rabbits from these mills that just crank out as many pets as they can without much care for their health, socialization, and pedigree. They end up selling pets that are sick, non-social, and have genetic issues from bad breading.

My family has adopted two dogs that were rescued from puppy mills and both were what we called "project dogs" that needed a lot of training, socialization and had some health issues throughout their lives.

This is Ellie, she came from The Humane Society after being rescued from a puppy mill. She was scared of everything when we got her, but now is really loving and is a great dog.

This is Yogi, he also came from the Humane Society and was also rescued from a puppy mill. He has some aggression issues, didn't love other dogs, and took a lot of training to get him acclimated to being a great pet. Yogi had some health issues from his breeding and we lost him about five years ago.

The part of the bill that isn't addressed is that a puppy mill can just change its business plan and call itself a breeder that sells directly to the consumer and they aren't affected by the new bill.

I think the bill is a good idea and a great step in the right direction, but it doesn't go far enough to shut down New York puppy mills.