When did the retail pet industry start?

It used to be that if you wanted to buy a new dog, you would buy one from your neighbor or a family friend. It wasn't until after World War II that the pet industry began to pick up in popularity and puppy mills began sprouting up throughout the Midwest. After widespread crop failures, the United States Department of Agriculture began promoting purebred puppies as a fool-proof “cash” crop. This idea was appealing to farmers because breeding dogs isn't as labor intensive as producing crops and the dog breeding business began to boom. According to the ASPCA, "Chicken coops and rabbit hutches were re-purposed for dogs, and the retail pet industry—pet stores large and small—boomed with the increasing supply of puppies from the new "mills." Today, Missouri is considered the largest puppy mill state in the country." Though they have been around for a long time, the puppy mill industry is just recently gaining attention from the media due to highly publicized investigations by PETA, The Discovery Channels Caesar Milan, and even Oprah.

Animals are not ours to treat like material goods. Many puppies are bought in pet stores and taken home, only to be dropped off at a shelter a few years later when their family gets tired of taking care of them. Animal shelters are constantly taking dogs in, with very few of the animals making it out. Many of the animals in shelters are purebred animals that previous owners may have paid exorbitant amounts of money for, and many times there are puppies in shelters too! Please, check your local shelter and animal rescue groups before buying a pet from a pet store. Your new best friend will thank you.