Buck: Buck is an eight to nine-year-old male Great Pyrenees. He had very matted fur, mouth ulcers and gum disease. He had many fleas and ticks even though the breeders had coated him with motor oil to control pests. Buck had a chronic infection of the testicles that caused sterility. He is afraid of men. Buck lives in a foster home.

Daisy: Daisy is an eight to nine-year-old Great Pyrenees. She had a severe skin condition from improper nutrition and neglect, badly matted fur, mouth ulcers and gum disease. Daisy is being treated for irritable bowel syndrome caused by anxiety. She is afraid of men and watches people's hands and feet. Daisy lives in a foster home.

Willie: Willie is a seven-year-old male Dachshund. He has lived in at least two puppy mills and two homes and is very afraid of men. Improper nutrition caused him to lose hair on his ears and tail. His chest, abdomen and testicles have black, leathery sores. Willie has a permanent home with a woman and her young son.

Molly and Lokie: Molly is a six-year-old Chihuahua. She had a severe case of coccidia. During her spaying, our vet found afterbirth still in her uterus. She had gum disease, and the vet had to remove most of her teeth. Her two-month-old puppy, Lokie, had coccidia and kennel cough. Molly lives in a foster home, and Lokie just found a new family.

Boscoe: Boscoe is a Jack Russell Terrier. He has a new home and is a therapy dog at a school for people with special needs.

Happy: Happy is a Boxer. She was living in a rusty mink cage. After staying in a state-of-the-art rescue facility, she found a new home with another Boxer.

USDA Investigation in Missouri: Spring 2001

Nellie: Nellie is a three-year-old malnourished Boxer with scarred legs. She is timid and afraid of people's hands. The breeder may have been starving her because he thought she was "ugly." Nellie has a new home with a very caring person.

Freedha: Freedha, a three-year-old Dachshund, was left in labor for three days. After delivering three puppies, including one stillborn, the breeder finally took her for a c-section, and the vet found one more stillborn puppy. Freedha has a home.

Salsa and Gordita: Salsa and Gordita are ten-year-old Chihuahua sisters with luxating patellas and bad teeth. The vet removed Salsa's mammary tumors. Gordita uses special drops for eye problems. Salsa delivered a stillborn puppy in February 2001.

Sooner and Polly: Sooner, a six-year-old Golden Retriever, is being treated for severe allergies. The breeder was about to destroy him. Polly is a seven-month-old Labrador Retriever whom the breeder didn't want because she is too small.

Tiny: Tiny is a Great Dane puppy with healed broken ribs. A large male Great Dane had stepped on him. We found a home for him before he even left Missouri.

Dixie: Dixie, a pug puppy with mange, was destined to become breeding stock. She has a home with four other pugs.

USDA Investigation in Minnesota: Fall 2001

Chi Chi: Chi Chi is a Chihuahua puppy. He was covered in urine and had extremely long toenails. Chi Chi is quite shy around people. Paws & Claws, a no-kill shelter in Rochester, Minnesota, placed him in a new home.

Jasper: Jasper is a Jack Russell mix puppy. CAPS investigators came across him while trying to find a nearby puppy mill. He had been left outside so that a car would hit him. Jasper had no food or water and his collar was too tight. Thanks to Paws & Claws, he has a permanent home.

Howard: Howard is a mixed breed puppy. He had runny eyes and urinated submissively. Howard found a wonderful home with a groomer who provided care to some of our Minnesota rescue dogs.

Chi Chi and Jack looking in the mirror at a hotel room in Minnesota.

Chi Chi and Jack playing together in a Minnesota hotel room.

Gizmo: Gizmo is a ten-year-old Maltese from one of the worst puppy mills CAPS has investigated. We found him, covered with feces, living in filth and darkness. He had severe gum disease and needed two dental surgeries in which our rescue vet used tissue regeneration just to save the canine teeth. Gizmo has alopecia (hair loss) and cataracts.

Gizmo and Maxx: Maxx, an 18-month-old Min Pin, and Gizmo were living in the same puppy mill. Maxx was also covered with feces and living in darkness. He was very overweight and extremely timid. He had terrible gum disease and was missing his front teeth. Gizmo lives with our lead investigator. Maxx is with a rescue organization.

Sasha: Sasha is a nine-year-old Bichon. She was overweight at 17 lbs. and had granulomas on her paws. The ammonia in the breeding facility made her wheeze. She is quite hyperactive. Thanks to Paws & Claws, a no-kill shelter in Rochester, Minnesota, she now has a permanent home.

Job: Job is a one-year-old Lhasa Apso. He had glaucoma in the right eye. The eye was bulging out of the socket and had to be removed. The left eye has a cataract and is too small for the socket. Both eyes were infected. He was turning repetitive circles at the puppy mill. Paws & Claws found a home for Job.

HoneyHoney is a five-year-old Chihuahua. She was overweight, suffered from impacted anal glands and had calcium crystals in her urine. She also has cataracts and missing teeth. Paws & Claws found her a home.

Jack: Jack is a two-year-old Poodle. He had a bad ear infection and was very dehydrated. He loves being with humans and suffers from separation anxiety. Paws & Claws placed Jack in a new home.

USDA

Office of Inspector General Issues Scathing Report on USDA's Puppy Mill Inspection Program

Get the PDF at: http://www.usda.gov/oig/webdocs/33002-4-SF.pdf

The Office of Inspector General for USDA has released a scathing 69 page report for an audit and investigation conducted between 2006 and 2008.  This audit/investigation was prompted by a May 2006 meeting between OIG officials, CAPS and Crowell & Moring attorneys, who provide pro bono counsel and lobbying to CAPS.

In 2006, the Office of Inspector General requested a meeting with CAPS. The OIG never meets with citizens or nonprofits (they turned down our first request), so this must have been based on our in-depth investigations of hundreds of puppy mills where we document Animal Welfare Act (AWA) violations and compare our findings to those of the USDA APHIS inspectors.

During a two hour meeting in May 2006, CAPS President Deborah Howard and CAPS attorneys/lobbyists Edward Green and David Ross met with two OIG officials. At this meeting, we discussed a long list of concerns and recommended necessary changes.

After that meeting, our lobbyists did not get a reply from OIG. The reason was that shortly after our meeting, the OIG commenced an investigation and audit, which ended in 2008.

All of the issues we covered in the meeting are in the report. In fact, the OIG report reads more like a CAPS investigation report (they included graphic photos, which is what we use in addition to undercover footage) than the usual dry government type OIG report. USDA officials, of course, are now saying they are going to make sweeping changes, and congressmen are calling for the same. CAPS has been meeting with congressional aides and USDA officials for more than eight years in an attempt to get oversight hearings and changes to the AWA.

CAPS will continue to cooperate with USDA while conducting ongoing oversight of the Animal Care inspection program.  Since 1995, CAPS has been to approximately 1,000 commercial dog breeders and brokers, most of them federally licensed.

The USDA has been very negligent in its enforcement of AWA regulations with respect to commercial dog breeders and brokers.  USDA APHIS/Animal Care uses inspectors, including veterinarians, to conduct "unannounced" inspections of federally licensed dog breeders and brokers who supply puppies to the pet shop industry.

For a good summary of the OIG report, read this article on the Animal Folks (run by CAPS Advisory Board member Ann Olson) website.

http://www.animalfolksmn.org/news-recent.html

USDA Inspection Photos

Click on any image.

USDA Proposes to Regulate Internet Sellers

• USDA Press Releases
• USDA FAQ Sheet
• Read: CAPS comment for USDA's proposed regulation of Internet breeders

CAPS Complaint Form:

Select the CAPS Complaint Form to submit a complaint regarding your pet shop or online purchase.  It can also be used to register a complaint against a puppy mill.

FDA

• FDA: U.S. Food and Drug Administration

State Attorney General complaint forms

• California: Comment/Complaint Form
• Florida: Attorney General Website
• Illinois: Consumer Complaint Forms
• Massachusetts: Attorney General Website
• New Jersey: Consumer Complaint Forms
• New York: Consumer Complaint Form
• Ohio: Consumer Complaint Form (pdf)
• Oregon: Consumer Complaint Form
• Pennsylvania: Complaint Form Info Page
• Washington: General Consumer Complaint Form