Any form of animal breeding is unneeded in a country where unwanted animals are killed thousands at a time. Your page space would be better spent reporting on animal rescues and societies.
People Magazine should be ashamed of itself, and needs to educate itself, its writers and editors, and the public about how devastating and disgusting the puppymill trade actually is. To hold this young man and his puppy business up as a good example of budding entrepreneurship is really misguided!
Breeders should never be "breeding for profit". Those who do could care less about the health or quality of life of their puppies. All they care about is a quick buck! These are living breathing creatures and should be treated as such. That is what People Magazine should be educating the public about, not promoting the business of Puppy Mills!
I wish you had checked your facts before publishing about this young man as an example to others. One call to your local animal control or shelter would have told you the truth about mass breeding and selling to unscreened homes. Please consider running an article about the other side.
While it is admirable to want to present the teenagers who have imagination and drive to try to be a success, I find it upsetting that one of the ones picked for the article is someone who is making a living off the pain and suffering of animals under his care. Please,for the sake of the animals now and in the future, would you consider doing an article showing the other, down side of Puppymilling and the heartbreak it can cause?
Is People Magazine so ignorant and blind to NOT see how many dogs are in shelters? Encouraging teens to 'breed and sell' is teaching immoral and careless disrespect for life. Will they take the responsiblity of the dog when the owner doesn't want it anymore? How about an article on rescue people who pick up the pieces from these careless sellers?
How is it possible in this day an age that the high powered, supposedly educated editors of PEOPLE are so woefully uninformed, ignorant and uneducated as to the plight of MILLIONS OF UNWANTED animals in this country alone! Wake up folks! Read up - this is a little bit like the Dan Rather blunder of late but now its PEOPLE not educating themselves on an issue before making the decision to run such a ludicrously one sided story! It's not surprising that this teen doesn't have any idea of the ramificaitons of his actions, but shame on you PEOPLE for being so uninformed! I truly hope that yoou will run another story about our animals being discarded over and over and over again on a daily basis in this country, many of them from puppy mills full of dying, tortured, neglected "Cuddlypuppies"! So much for my gift subscriptions this year!
As a member of a rescue organization I think you should show run a story on the dogs who lived in the puppymills all of their lives so that this kid can earn a few bucks. What about those poor females who are made to bare puppies over and over again in the most horrible of conditions? Run that story to educate people not to promote puppymills like this one will.
As a rescue person who just took in 2 puppymill dogs, one a brood ***** who lived ON wire for 5 years until she became so ill she could not continue to support puppies and a pup from a mill with such severely deformed legs who now can run with the best of them I was shocked People Magazine would support the peddling of flesh for profit when honorable people do all they can to stop the cruelty perpetuated by the millers. I will not ever subscribe to the magazine and expect they should run an article on the horrors of the puppy mills which is what this kid is brokering for. Please, lets keep aiming for kindess in this society not cruelty. Thank you.
I think it's ashame that the public is not more aware of what a puppy mill is. This child and his family are a perfect example of how much the public needs to be educated about this subject. People Magazine, USE YOUR MAGAZINE TO EDUCATE AND INFORM THE PUBLIC ABOUT THESE ISSUES, DO NOT USE IT TO GIVE A "PAT ON THE BACK" TO THIS YOUNG MAN FOR PROFITING FROM SELLING DOGS!!!
I can't believe you would write an article promoting selling of puppies for profit. This is disgusting! You owe it to your readers to show the other side of the story - about all the poor homeless animals in shelters that need good homes...for a nominal donation...not a profit!!!
Anybody selling a live animal via the internet is not only unethical, but disgusting. This should be illegal, and People Magazine featuring such a situation is condoning the practice! SHAME on "People Magazine"!
Many people are working daily to attempt to shut down puppymills. There are too many animals without homes. Why, for money only, should these breeders be allowed to continue to over-populate the animal world?
By the way, have any of your employees ever walked into a puppymill? They'd only do so ONCE!!
We need more workers in the Humane Shelters that can spend more time finding people like this. Whether our tax $$$ goes to pay for their salary wages, it would be worth the time, effort and money!!
We need to make it as hard as possible for this type of "breeder".
You've lost another customer by publishing this article. I encourage everyone at People magazine to do a little more research before publishing an "easy" article.
NO reputable breeder would sell their puppies to an unscreened buyer and NONE would use a 16 year old child as a broker. Therefore the only conclusion that can be made is that these poor dogs come from puppymills,
I think it was a very irresponsible piece of journalism and I will think twice before purchasing People again.
Shame on you, shame on this child and shame on his parents for letting him traffic in puppymill puppies.
I am surprised that People magazine would print such a story--This is a disgrace--Do you not know about puppy mills???? This kid and his mother should be reported to the authorities!!!!!!!
You should be educating this teen about positive ethics in the business world - not giving him a pat on the back for promoting puppy mills and exploiting innocent animals to make money. What happened to morals? Would you had profiled him if it was a profitable porn site? That's legal too, but probably not something he should be pursuing!
With the amount of animals that are put to sleep every day, every year in this country do we really need these mass producers?? This should be outlawed! This little "entrepreneur" needs some better guidance before he becomes pimpdaddy dog man.
This teenager is certainly not worthy of a spot in your magazine! What he is doing is totally disgusting and he & his family should be locked up in cages!
This is wrong - there are tens of thousands of animals for adoption - no reputable breader would let someone sell their dogs over the Internet by a teenager!! Next time. let your readers know about the animals available for adoption that really need a home, rather than some spoiled teen trying to make a fast buck.
Please give the voiceless animals a voice in your magazine by allowing space in your magazine for people who truly care and work for so many unwanted dogs who often orginated in puppy mills.
Do some research and see for yourself how they have to live and how they are bred.
It really is unbelieveable that there are folks that still don't get it. This isn't a first that the news or an article has helped to promote someone that's making a profit from selling the product of puppy mills.
Haven't there been enough animals euthanized because of careless and clueless puppymills and backyard breeders?
PEOPLE magazine has just become one of their biggest promoters.
The young man that's doing this needs to spend some time volunteering with a local rescue and the humane society to really understand how bad his idea is.
PEOPLE Magazine, you need to print articles about rescued dogs, the millions of animals given up every year who die in shelters...shame on you for printing something that promotes selling dogs over the Internet!
Mr. Hampson may be successful at his business, but is it a responsible business. Too many puppies end up going to inappropriate homes. As a result they are not carried for properly, receiving necessary medical or socializing care. Finding homes for puppies is serious full time business and can not be taken lightly, owners need to be screened, interviewed, etc so that the "Cuddlypuppy" doesn't end up back on the unwanted list at local pounds and shelters...
Making $ selling innocent lives!!??? What about all those poor creatures being euthanised every day due to not enough homes and YOU promote a child adding to this problem. It sickens me.
As an adoptive mother to a wonderful and loving Australian shepherd I got from a rescue group, I am appalled at People Magazine for promoting so-called entrepreneurs who are making money by getting puppies from, and running these puppymills. The amount of dogs that are put to sleep, or are living with deformities and illness related to overbreeding or inbreeding is staggering. There are so many dogs out there that need homes. You should show the people that there are so many wonderful dogs out there, regardless of breed, that they can adopt. I would love to see People Magazine do an article about what happens to these Puppymill dogs and teach those, who are unaware of what is happening to these animals. Tell people about all the amazing rescue groups out there where they can adopt. These wonderful people who run these rescue groups are amazing dedicated people as well, but they aren't in it for the money. They are in it for the animals. They dedicate themselves to making sure the animals are going to good homes and checking the families out before letting them adopt, because the last thing they want is the dogs to be abandoned or abused again. I would never go to a breeder or a pet store to get a dog now that I've learned about these rescue groups. So, I hope you will do this for all the homeless animals out there. Show the country the good people do to help those who can't help themselves. Thank you,
Valerie Corliss
Ocoee, Florida
Please... if you didn't understand what this cuddlypuppy.com meant, pay attention to it now and give it the same emphasis in your magazine...let your readers know what puppymills mean. Thank you.
Responsible journalism dictates that you cover all sides of an issue and you therefore have an obligation to tell your readers what happens to puppymill dogs and what Rescue groups have to do to try to salvage their lives.
Dog breeding is a serious and responsible enterprise. It should never be undertaken for reasons of greed, or even to make a living. Dogs are living creatures, who deserve loving homes, good food and shelter, and a safe place to live. They should never be bred for profit, and no one should be encouraged to become a puppy mill. Please share this point of view with your readers.
Thanks.
This is why so many dogs are gien to shelters and put to sleep each year. You should be writing articles on adoption of shelter dogs and spay/neuter instead of promoting the casue of so many shelter animals.
I am very disappointed at People Magazine for supporting this article. I certainly hope that you will allow an article about rescue and the true nature of puppymills to be published. You have done a great injustice to the people who work tirelessly to place the dogs people such as this young man and his mom produce. He should not be praised for this "business venture".
Puppymill breeders are the worse kind of people. The animals live in squalla, are unhealthy, inbreed and usually end up having all kinds of illnesses and problems. STOP THESE PEOPLE, PLEASE
Puppy Mills
"A puppy mill is a breeding facility that mass-produces purebred puppies, which are typically sold at eight weeks of age to brokers and retail operations across the U.S. Puppy mills have long concerned The Humane Society of the United States (HSUS). The documented problems of puppy mills include: overbreeding dams, inbreeding, minimal veterinary care, poor quality of food and shelter, lack of socialization with humans, overcrowded cages, and the killing of unwanted animals. To the unwitting consumer, this situation frequently means buying a puppy facing an array of immediate veterinary problems or harboring genetically borne diseases that do not appear until years later. Sadly, some dogs are forced to live in puppy mills for their entire lives. They are kept there for one reason only: to produce more puppies. Repeatedly bred, most of these "brood *****es" are killed once their reproductive capacity wanes." -The Humane Society of the United States (HSUS)
There are approximately 5,000 puppy mills in the United States. Hundreds of thousands of puppies are born each year in puppy mills all over the U.S. Female dogs are bred the first time they come into heat and continue to be bred every heat cycle. Generally, these dogs are able to produce litters for the first five or six years of their lives. After that their bodies are so worn out that the puppies are almost always born dead. When the mill owner decides the dog is no longer capable of producing live puppies, he will then destroy the dog!
Puppy mill owners are in the business for one reason - to make money! The health and welfare of the dogs is of no concern to those who operate puppy mills. Operators of these mills make money by selling the puppies to wholesale brokers. These brokers then sell the puppies to other pet outlets and Pet Stores. No one has more power to fight puppy mills than the consumer. The public can stop the cycle of horrific abuse these dogs suffe
I can't even comment, it's just unbelievable, those of us in rescue already deal with so much, now to have another puppy mill glamorized...will it ever change???
Both sides of this issue should be shown. There are already plenty of cuddly puppies and dogs available without adding more poorly bred dogs to the population.
I live in a town where hundreds of animals are put to sleep in a single shelter every year.
We should be lauding teenagers with a sense of responsibility towards reducing the deaths of throw away pets, not ones making $$ of of creating more.
I would like to challenge the editor's at People's magazine to read rescue stories about dogs who have been saved from puppy mills and tell me that they were not affected by the horrible conditions these animals are subjected to. Help promote the efforts of those committed men and women who work tirelessly dealing with the results of puppy mills and backyard breeders!
Stop promoting exploitation of dogs by promoting this so-called "entrepreneur"! Show the reality of the puppymills and how these poor animals are treated in order to create these "cuddly puppies".
People Magazine needs to use its position in the media spotlight to educate people about all the beautiful, loving, intelligent, desperately needy animals abandoned in shelters around the country rather than ignorantly promoting puppy mills. Careful research and responsible reporting are the LEAST we should expect of such a publication. This teenager is no "Titan" and should learn the evil of his presumably uninformed ways.
I cannot believe how incredibly stupid your editors were to allow the promulgation of such cruel treatment of dogs as commodities. I will not purchase another issue of your magazine for my medical office ever again.
When I ran the article, I was shocked! Please inform the public of the horriffic horrors of puppy mills and inform the public of shelter adoption! www.petfinder.org is a wonderful website!
