Oprah, Pregnant Man and the Puppy Mills
Apr 5th, 2008 by Teri
If you caught much of the show that was aired April 4, 2008 on the Oprah show as I did, you saw someone had to take a billboard out to get Oprah’s attention to the matter of Puppy Mills.
I know Oprah means well but at times I see a person who really doesn’t know much about a lot. Now I know Oprah is a dog person so I like many others, expected Oprah to do this topic on her show and to have addressed it years ago.
After doing some digging in a few forums I saw people writing comments that Oprah should do an expose on puppy mills to bring awareness to this terrible abuse of dogs. Some comments dated back to October 2001 and some from 2002 to 2003.
Oprah did this show to honor the memory of her Cocker Spaniel Sophie who died this past March. She did the show to tell people to adopt their dogs from an animal shelter, not a pet store, or a puppy mill business.
So now its 2008 and Oprah decided to expose puppy mills by sending Lisa Ling to do an undercover story on puppy mills.
The story unfolded with several visits to puppy vendors and the incredibly disgusting environments that dogs live in these businesses. The odd thing about all of this is that Oprah herself traveled from Chicago to a puppy mill in the California desert to – yes you guessed it – buy a dog from a puppy mill.
Oprah traveled all the way to California from Chicago because why? I could not believe the video myself so I had to include it here. Was she trying to save money, are there not any animal shelters or dog breeders in Chicago?
See the video of Oprah Buying a Puppy
As you will see from the video the breeder’s business did not look all that clean or reputable. The remarkable point is that Oprah took 3 dogs at once, and a responsible breeder would not allow that to occur. Oprah seems dazed in a child like euphoric state picking out a puppy and this is during the time that Sophie her older dog would have to make great adjustments to 3 golden retrievers.
Oprah did purchase her dogs at a Puppy Mill a year ago actually she bought 3 of them and here is the video.
With the kind of financial resources Oprah has, you would think she get a dog from a reputable breeder in her own state and not have to gas up that private jet to go to a run down puppy mill in California. Puppy mills should be banned in all states and selling puppies over the internet also should be against the law.
If you purchase a dog from a puppy mill, you are helping the illegal abuse of animals and selling puppies by endangering the parents. While it was time for Oprah to use her show in a productive manner and help put Puppy Mills out of business, I just do not understand the hypocrisy of what she did a few years ago.
There was a pregnant man on the show for the second half, I gave it a miss.
Written by: Teri Salvador
Tags: Oprah and the puppy mills, puppy mills, Oprah show, Oprah buys a dog,
I don’t watch Oprah or in fact much TV, but
with most of the shows on TV, the presenter
is only as good as his/her research team.
Also they tend to do subjects that are currently
arousing public interest, so it wouldn’t surprise
me that they don’t do as they preach.
I doubt very much that they remember much
of the content of any of the shows they do
anyway.
Oprah has such exposure, I would have hoped she’d have used this opportunity to promote responsible pet breeding. By purchasing puppy mill pups, she’s almost endorsed them. I’m not impressed at all.
Hi Mark:
Yes it seems that this is a great mistake of most TV show hosts, they do not practice what they preach. I do think that Oprah should remember though, where she bought her 3 dogs and to stop this practice she must dedicate herself to stopping people from buying dogs at Puppy Mills.
Thanks for your comments and I do hope people go to rescue centers and animal shelters to purchase a dog.
If we tell people not to buy from the mills, what is going to happen to all those unfortunate dogs? If all puppy mill selling stopped tomorrow, what would happen to those prisoner dogs? I think that is a problem no one has ever addressed.
We can’t, as caring people, perpetuate the mills by buying the dogs, but who has offered a solution for the dogs that are in the mills?
Hi Kathy:
Thank you for your comments on puppy mills, however when puppy mills are discovered the dogs are rescued, brought back to health in animal rescue stations. If you saw the video from april 4 - Lucy Ling and Bill Smith founder of Main Line Animal Rescue rescue hundreds of abused animals, rehabilitate them and find them loving homes. They locate puppy mills and save the dogs from inhumane treatment. One dog had a chain imbedded into its neck - meaning the dog was chained up all the time. Bill took out a Billboard in Chicago to get Oprah’s attention and it worked. That is why she did the show. The whole idea is to stop buying these dogs so these breeders do not have a reason to breed - anymore.
In 2004, animal rights activists staked out at Petco’ Animal Supplies annual meeting in San Diego to protest Petco’s selling pets in their 670 stores.
They are succeeding in stopping the sale of pets in pet stores, who buy them from the puppy mills. If you read the article I did titled ” Should I Buy a Puppy Online”, ( see Archives at the top of page) A transport truck was intercepted driving across country with hundreds of dogs, cages piled on top of each other, in the hot summer sun with no air conditioning. Read more by searching this article out….
I understand your point Kathleen and I agree, but if there are no buyers, there will not be any breeders of this type in business.
The dogs in the transport truck, were indeed rescued from their fate as will all dogs found in Puppy Mills. It is the rescue centers who find good homes, after the dogs are rehabiliated. There are plenty of good families that would love a dog that has been abused -just for the shear fact that the dog -survived it.
Teri
To someone who is ignorant of the puppy mill industry, her earlier video looks harmless. Maybe she didn’t get it at first, thus the need for attention to the many comments left over the years. Maybe she was embarrassed to admit that she was a partner in the abuse. Finally, after enough flack from viewers, she decided to show it in a manner that was palatable to her reputation and ego. Who knows?!?!?
Yes Megan I agree she didn’t get it at first but I do hope she has learned what suffering these dogs are subjected to and I do hope she can dedicate her show to exposing this brutal industry. These dogs are virtually abused in this process. But good news, the activists are stopping larger corporations from selling pets in pet stores, now if we can only convince people.
Female dogs of any breed are subjected to multiple pregnancies and they die a terrible death to be a puppy machine for sick people. Its all about the money in selling them to pet stores and anyone who will buy a dog from these places should think twice. They are usually demoralized and have birth defects because of the lack of care. Not all dog breeders are puppy mills and you can’t tell when you buy a dog on the internet. The best alternative is to buy locally at a Shelter, there are plenty of loving dogs at animal shelters, the Human Society and other organizations that treat pets with dignity and care. Thanks for your comment I appreciate your views - I just detests people that run puppy mills.
Thank you Dr. Harvey for your comments and I agree that celebrities can use their fame to improve the lives of their pets. I believe Oprah may have turned a new leaf. By the way you have a wonderful blog and I truly appreciate the quality of information on your blog.