This type of "dog breeding"contributes only to the detriment of the breeds involved and to multitudes of animals ending in rescue or shelter situations.
Dear People magazine- I feel it is your duty to show the full scope of the article you have chosen to run. Please in all fairness, explore this issue with us and publish the results.
As has been stated many times before, this business is disgraceful and People magazine should be ashamed that they “endorse” this business, but then again People magazine is a business. Greed is paramount here and the milling of the animals has to stop. If I had the legal ability or resources, I would “Forcefully” shut this business down!!! I will be forwarding a letter of concern to the Better Business Bureau and People magazine.
While this boy should be admired for his "get up and go" he is definitly going about making money the wrong way. Maybe he should visit a few rescue groups and see the pets that are abandoned (a good majority of them from pet stores and puppymills) Maybe you should do a follow up story on puppymills
How on EARTH would a SIXTEEN year old boy ever know how to breed dogs? This is so sad, just an example of modern parenting and breeding mixed together...
It is amazing what low depths a magazine will go to to sell copy. It PEOPLE was worth the paper it was printed on, it will do an espose on shelter dogs, and puppymills and then publicly announce that promoting this young persons current business effort was in poor taste and lacked any sort of judgement on the part of the editors and producers of the rag called PEOPLE.
While I understand your article was directed toward enterprenuership and the author may not have been drawn or led to research the "product", a HUGE problem exists in this country with irresponsible breeders literally creating "assembly lines" to satisfy such demand. I strongly encourage your magazine to do a feature on one of the many heroes in this country doing dog rescue.
No mother should teach her child it's ok to earn money selling dogs and to ignore the long term consequences that selling all those dogs without requiring and enforcing a s/n contract will create. Young Mr. Hampson is obviously an intelligent young man who could contribute so much to this world, why his family doesn't encourage him to do more with his life than be a dog broker who helps keep puppy mills in business is shameful. Why People magazine is praising and encouraging a budding dog broker is also shameful and beyond my comprehension. Surely there were other teens pursuing a goal more worthy of recognition than becoming the Bill Gates of the puppy selling business? As a mother and grandmother I will save my praise and pride for the child who collected aluminum cans to pay for the care of two abandoned pregnant cats, and later earned the money to pay for their s/n.
That is so sad. How horrible is it when we allow mills to do this. Instead of making money selling these dogs and things, they should be raising money to help feed these animals in these shelters.
This practice is disgraceful!! And to read about such in a magazine like People is disgusting. I will never feel again, about the magazine, as I have in the past. This person should be STOPPED immediately from this practice. He has NO idea what he is doing.... supporting puppy mills and destroying the lives of so many innocent puppies and dogs.
This blatant plugging by People maganzine of irresponsible breeding and brookering is a slap in the face of all those people who truely care about animals and spend their time and effort rescueing dogs.
I am horrified that people are allowed to sell dogs on the internet this way. This encourages back yard breeders to profit from the unsuspecting public, no doubt there will be even more unwanted dogs in shelters.
I am astonished that People magazine have given him space in their magazine to congratulate him on his exploits.
It's disappointing that your magazine glorifies the profiting of animal sales from sellers that have no concern for the pet's welfare. Many times these pets go to shelters, are prediposed to health problems, or go to homes that also want to profit from their pet. This should not be highlighted as an entreprenuership because it's promoting irresponsible breeding, and miseducating the general public on getting a pet.
I rescue Siberian Huskies and have rehomed over 80 in 3 years. MOST of these dogs have come from people who dont care about the puppies they sell. PLEASE STOP SUPPORTING PUPPYMILLS. Enough dogs in pounds need homes, tell the kid to go get a job in a pound or dog shelter if he wants to sell dogs.
Does this young man REALLY think the puppies he is brokering are born and raised in loving homes? If so, he certainly needs a reality check. His mother also needs a lesson in how to guide her son in how to be a moral, and honest citizen. His guarantee is a total sham - shot so full of loopholes that he would never be able to be held accountable. Both of them should have to visit some of the horrid puppymills that are no doubt supplying some of these "designer dogs" which in all reality are simply mixed breed dogs. People Mag. shows its own low moral standards by printing such an article. They obviously did no research into the moral and ethical obligations necessary to be a respected member of the dog community.
To glorify teenagers making
money using any means necessary
is extremely inappropriate.
Why not focus on teens who
make money while helping to
improve life situations for others?
I work with several rescue groups and we just don't have enough volunteers and money to save all the dogs and cats that are killed everyday because of some human's ignorance and cruelty. We get many of our dogs from Madera County where puppy mills abound. It is beyond me, as is so much in life, how people can be so stupid and so cruel.
Please encourage others to help in rescue, or volunteer in shelters, rather than contribute to the epidemic proportions of pets that are homeless or euthanized. These are little lives, not paychecks.
How disappointing that you would run an article with a young teen making money from running a puppy mill. Please run a responsible article about how sad the conditions these dogs live in, and educate on how to find a resposible breeder!
To many animals are put to sleep on a daily basis and to see a mother teaching and encourging her child to add to these numders is disgusting and she should know better! She should be a better role model for her son.Maybe she should take a trip to the local shelter to see what happens to pets when there owners no longer wants them.
It only seems fair and responsible to discuss both sides of this issue. There should be an article about shelters and the animals that reside in them. Also, there should be a fair discussion about puppy mills and the poor animals that are "bred" by them.
I hope that People will get it on board and show both sides of the issue, not just the money making side.
Our clubs code of ethics bans members from selling to commercial enterprises and pet shops etc. Because of the cruel practices that these businesses use in the breeding of puppies. As do the Kennel Club UK with their accredited breeder scheme.
This article is promoting cruel treatment of these dogs. Let the teenager grow tomatoes or something else that won't end up in a dog pound or a victim of some other form of mistreatment.
Puppy mills are a horrible thing. The poor animals are over-bred, which is not fair to them. There are so many animals in shelters needing a home, that it is disgusting that some people over produce puppies and don't give the others a chance. If you want a pure bred animal, check with the breed web sites or the AKC web site, where you can find a reputable breeder, who doesn't take advantage of their poor animals, and aren't backyard breeders.
Is Timothy willing to take back all of the animals that he sells if the new owners can not keep them (no matter what the reason) and care for them for the rest of their lives, like a responsible breeder would do? Or is he prepared to live with the fact that many will end up in kill shelters? Is the money worth it to him to have puppy millers bringing puppies into this world and later destroying those very lives.
To feature an entrepreneur who is making a living from defenceless animals when he cannot possibly have the experience to know who to look after them is shameful and not worthy of any newspaper.
As a caring, occasional breeder of Border Collies in the UK, I was disgusted by this child's "Puppy Mill" and his family's collusion in dealing in misery for these poor little dogs simply for profit. This is exploitation of the worst kind of man's best friend and People Magazine applauds it instead of slating it! This disgusts me, and all like-minded dog lovers and should be stopped!
What a SURPRISE & DISAPPOINTMENT to see that PEOPLE MAGAZINE has lowered their principles by publishing something as TACKY & SHAMEFUL as this one about this CHILD SELLING ANIMALS OVER THE INTERNET? It is difficult to believe that this magazine would okay an article such as this. THUS, I am considering the possibility of NOT READING "PEOPLE" MAGAZINE anymore:(!
Mrs. Johnson
"Teen Titans" may be a 'cute' idea for an article, but what's not cute is the reality that the dogs behind "cuddlypuppy.com" face. There are thousands upon thousands of healthy, adoptable animals in the Humane Society. There are breeders that have specific lines and plans, with champions and health tests to back them up, and knowledge of genetics. There is no need for a sixteen-year-old boy pumping out pet quality puppies without any regard to genetics, health, temperament, or the future of the breed.
For example:
How can a MinPin and Peke cross create a "Mini Rottie" - anyone can see that this is a statistical impossibility.
How much more meaningful would it be to print an expository essay on puppymills? Are guarantee it would make a greater difference than the Teen Titan article.
Until some sort of apology or essay is included in a future issue of People, this reader will no longer be buying.
People Magazine should not be glorifying this boy's "business savvy" without having checked into what it entails. What he's doing is subsidizing puppymills on both ends. He's probably getting most of his puppies from puppymills and then selling them back to other puppymillers without even knowing it. Puppymill awareness articles should be in the magazines and news more often to raise the public's awareness.
I haven't seen the article; however, if any People Magazine article champions puppymills and encourages readers and any young or not so young enterpreneur to buy and sell puppies over the internet, then I am sorry that such an article was ever printed, and I am sorry that such practices are occurring. People Magazine, please allow an article to be put into your magazine about puppymills and shelters and other dog rescue organizations and showing the vast difference between the two.
PLease run an article to educate people about the number of dogs in rescue shelters/kennels. No matter which way you paint this, this young man is feeding the puppy mill industry.
THIS BOY IS A HORRIBLE PERSON! I AM 11 AND I HAVE MORE SENSE THAN HE DOES.I cannot belive that he would sell these poor defenseless animals on the internet.
This young man should use his skills to help local humane societies to prevent cruelty to animals instead of fostering it by selling to unqualified applicants.
Whilst magazines like this highlight the plight of all of these poor defnesless animials it will hopefully educate buyers to how "immature,stupid and irresponsible" this child is - I say child because that is all he is. Why is his parents allowing him to be so controlling. He pays his mother and sister! Living in the UK I cannot read the article however I hope it doesn't promote the business. He hasn't a clue about puppies YOU CANNOT SELL A CHIHUAHUA PUPPY AT 6 WEEKS, and the people who are supplying him are pathetic too, can they not see he is making a fortune out of them. THIS IS DISGUSTING!
This is horrible, for People magazine to support the idea of teenagers running full-scale breeding programs or becoming puppy brokers; dogs should not be sold to anyone with the money, and how can you expect kids to properly screen prospective buyers? They are KIDS - after the almighty dollar, and what happens to the dog is of no concern to them. SHAME ON YOU, People Magazine... SHAME ON YOU!!!!
