This is disgusting and should be illegal in any state.Not only is this young man and his mother being irresponsible but the fact this article was printed was in very bad teaste of this magazine
Stop puppy mills and advertising over the net.
These are living creatures that deserve good loving homes.
As you know not all homes are good and loving and they
need to be screened to insure pets get a chance to a quality
life.
On Oct. 31 I assisted in a rescue of 21 dogs (10 of which were 3 day old puppies) from a puppy mill. The dogs were about to be sold at an auction. The adult dogs all have erlichia, hook and round worms, ear mite and flea infestation. Several of the dogs have eye infections. All of the dogs are severely malnourished, including the nursing mother. This is the reality of a dogs life in a puppy mill.
It is disgraceful that People Magazine would take any part in the proliferation of puppy mills. Be publicizing this story in a positive light, you are encouraging the continuation of the inhumane existance of puppy mill dogs. Perhaps you should have also done more investigation of the seedy flip side.
Dear Editors of People Magazine,
I was appalled to read the article that you wrote not only praising, but advertising for a young puppy miller, Timothy Hampson.
Have you yourself or your writers educated yourselves in what happens with Back Yard Breeder Puppies and such? Real breeders specialize in one breed, and work to better that breed. BYB's and Puppy Brokers create and sell life simply for a profit without knowing or caring what happens to these animals and with no concern on whether or not these dogs are genetically sound.
Next time, save your praise and articles for the people that do rescue and foster. People that drive for hours out of state to save these now unwanted animals from being put to sleep. Save your articles for the shelter workers that raid the puppy farms and save these animals from a life of living in a cage and being used to simply produce more puppies. Save your praise for the people that can't afford to take themselves to the doctor, but always make sure that their pets are well vetted and fed. Save your praise for the people that feed stray animals and take them to be spayed/neutered and find them homes.
I also wonder if this boy is licensed to have these animals? Whether or not he pays payroll for his mother & sister or pays taxes.
Save your praise for people that truly deserve it, this boy does nothing to help the pet population and you advertising for him, just made it that much worse.
You should be ashamed of yourself.
Why didn't your reserchers dig into the MANY breed rescues across the nation?? That is where alot of these dogs are going to end up! We have two purebred dogs, our female from a supposed "reputable breeder" that has now been diagnosed with hypothryoid disorder (at 3 yrs. old) and will be on medication the rest of her life, and our male from RESCUE that is PUREBRED with severe Hip Displasia and needs $3,000.00 surgery (diagnosed at 1 yr old). We would mortgage our house 14 times to cover the expenses because we CHOSE to own and CARE for our PETS! There are VERY few that would go to these lengths. Just check out "FREECYCLE of COLUMBUS, OH" and see how many cats and dogs are being given away with no check on the new owners....read the reasons why they are being given away. Find out how many dog fighting rings are in Columbus and the constant battle to keep dogs out of their hands! They go to the shelter and get more! PLEASE do some research on unwanted dogs/cats before showing ANY positive "news" to lighten the situation. There are people that have devoted their lives to helping unwanted children and unwanted dogs and paying for things out of their OWN pockets! Think of your vet bill for just one or two of your pets for a second.... now think about housing 10-15 rescue dogs and the food and expense that goes into THAT! These are non profit organizations that just have people with HUGE hearts! Would LOVE to see an article on dog rescues and public education on kill shelters around the country!
Because of entrepreneurs, these animals are unsocialized and are sold to people that may not have a clue as to the care and attention these dogs need. I feel for the rescue group that will eventually have to clean-up after individuals like Timothy Hampson. Oh wait, I am one of those individuals.
People Mag: Your eyes are wide shut! This "Kid" is not a "Teen- Titan" he is a "Money Monger."
This kid surely isnt mature enough to understand the trials of life, he should be be ashamed of himself,
and go back to making Paper Airplanes and doing school sports. AND...Where are his parents? Do his parents condone this? Obviously both parents have their hands in the money pot too! You should do a follow-up article about this called:
"For Love or Money?"
I cannot imagine that any reputable breeder would allow their puppies to be sold over the internet by a 16 year old or anyone else for that matter! People Magazine should be ashamed of themselves for applauding such a scheme!
I cannot believe People Magazine would promote irresponsible breeding practices for the sake of making money. There are millions of adoptable pets euthanized every year because of these practices. To congratulate someone for adding to the problem is irresponsible.
Is People Magazine an advocate of puppymilling?! It would certainly seem so. I strongly suggest that you have your research dept. do it's job before you publish more damaging articles as this one. As a major magazine you have a responsibility to make the public aware of the suffering of the dogs in puppymills not glorify them. Unwittingly or not that is exactly what you have done. There's nothing "cuddly" about a puppymill!!!
This is a classic case of ignorance harming innocents. I am disgusted that such a prominant magazine would further the damage by supporting the mentality that all dogs are equal and nothing but products to be used to turn a good buck.
Research of the topic will reveal countless cases of heartbreak on both sides of species.
Just disgusting.
Your definition of a "successful entrepreneur" is a young man that is basically promoting puppy mills and the making a living at the expense of innocent animals! Just disgusting that People would publish such an article. I may have to cancel my subscription after 10 years!!!!
It's appalling in this day and age, with all of the knowledge about the fates of so many "man's best friends" due to greed machines such as this, that you would even consider running this article in your magazine!! Not only do you lack compassion, but you display total ignorance to commend this puppymill owner. I recommend you change your magazine's name, since most "People" are disgusted by this practice. Open your eyes!!!
If this young man and his mother continue to operate this business, then they should also be made to participate in the Killing of unwanted cuddly puppies at their local shelter.What if one of their cuddly puppies is dropped off at the shelter because the new family had to move, child is allergic, they don't have time, or the other thousands of reasons people get "rid" of their pets.
This was your opportunity to educate and instead you took the easy road. I'll be looking for the puppy mill issue and won't be buying another issue until that time.
This is article is about nothing more than a puppy mill enabler. If he truly cared about animals rather than making MONEY then he would be adopting rescue animals from shelters and inspecting the homes in which they are placed. He is helping promote even more pet over population.
You should be ashamed of yourselves!
Shame on People Magazine! I think it only fair to now run an informative article on the care or lack of care of dogs at puppymills, transportation to petstores, etc. & also the millions of dogs who are killed each year in shelters because there is such a surplus!
I was horrified when I read the article in People that they would be promoting this young man in his efforts to sell puppy mill puppies, but after this outpouring of protest from so many in the dog world, feel that our voices must and will be heard.
Please do not support cruelty. Animals are not just a commodity to be bought and then discarded when not needed - animals are sentient beings, they are our partners on this planet and they deserve our respect. Making money from selling dogs when millions of them are killed - is immoral.
Please publish an article about the dangers of puppy mills, and the value of rescuing dogs from shelters. Not only are there plenty of dogs out there to adopt, but many people who buy from mills are heartbroken when their young dogs get sick and maybe even die from bad breeding. This is not joyous, and in addition, these same people sometimes spend thousands of dollars treating their pups. Not what most people are expecting when they buy a dog from a kennel!
Jennifer Johnson
I Think anyone who is a Puppymill just has no heart at all, Anyone that can just sell a puppy to sell it for the money is sad, Animals have feels and have more love to give then a human, so may God forgive the hateful and careless Men and Weman that are doing this to critters .. Thank you for reading ! God Bless ...
You should be proud to be such a young entrepeneur but not at the expense of innocent animal lives. Please do the necessary research on puppy mills and conversely on all the "unwanted" animals currently in shelters, on the streets and kennels.
Do something smart with the talent you have and make a worthwhile difference in something else's life besides your own.
SHAME on you! Don't we have enough troubles with puppy mills? While I have no problem with young people being entrepreneurs must you tell people that it's a good way for them to make money?
While I'm hoping this young man is really trying to do a good thing, all it's doing is telling people it's a fine thing to buy a pup from a puppy mill.
PLEASE, at least write a story about this also.
Thank you,
Winifred Fairbanks
Pa.
I am tired of the puppy mills and people that are allowed hundreds of pets on their premises that are mistreated, then have to be rescued and most of them put to sleep.
I hope People magazine will also feature an article about the number of wonderful animals that are "dumped" at shelters and are lucky enough to be rescued by non profit rescue organizations oftentimes minutes before they are to be euthanized. It saddens me to think what would have happened to my loving husky mix had someone not cared enough to save
him.
There are many people across the country who work without pay to save these animals who have "no voice." Now People Magazine that would be a great Article!
