Giovanni Castro

Writing 39C
Lynda Haas
HCP Essay

Canine Abuse
It should not come as a surprise to see people abusing of
animals in exchange for money. Often times, people take a step
beyond this reasoning and abuse animals for the mere
entertainment of observing pain. Either way, when this notion is
applied to the creature people refer to humans best-friend, it is
controversial, and frankly utterly disgraceful, to watch small
defenseless newborn pups suffer both physically and mentally to
such a large extent. Bearing in mind that same newborn may never
see life beyond the cage he or she was born in thus the damage one
creates from abuse leaves scars in all parts of the dogs body. What
some may call puppy mills, or puppy farming, I call captivity of our
best-friends; scientists merely point the obvious with the use of
numbers, however the moral issues behind this extreme case of
canine abuse is abnormal.
To emphasize my ideas, I will cover large basis on not only the
quality of typical puppy mills, but also the psychological factors that
allow a person proceed with this level of abuse. It is vital to
comprehend the motive for why a person thinks along the lines of

abuse, I shall therefore review the scientific research of Animal

Abuse and Psychiatric Disorders (2002) as proof of this specific
statistical analysis. Further enhancing my argument, canine abuse
has been developing from an earlier age, as the ASPCA article on Pit
Bull Cruelty Facts
Castro 2
and FAQs accordingly states that there are some accounts of dog
fights dating back to the 1750s(Pit Bull Cruelty). To contextualize
these dog fights: from around the date previously stated, the
bulldog breed were used to bait larger animals, once the
government banned baiting, these dog owners threw their bull dogs
as gladiators and watch which dog was the strongest. This idea goes
to show that humans have a tendency to fulfill their satisfaction
usually by aggression, which unfortunately targets beings that are
completely uninvolved.
My focus is nevertheless on puppy farms, because this
particular causality affects my mental state of welfare. There are
several non-profit organizations that attempt to battle against this
moral crime of abuse. The approach they usually take is that of
precaution, meaning: they warn potential dog customers where to
purchase a dog in order to not stimulate puppy mills. Now, you must
be questioning what exactly consists of a puppy mill? Why are these
places considered terrible environments? In an Australian discussion
paper Puppy Farms (2010) written by Heather Neil, CEO (chief
executive officer) of RSPCA Australia, she provides photographs and

very clear descriptions of the state in which dogs are raised. Life in
cages leads to problems associated with basic care, as she states:
drinking water is often insufficient, and it may also be
contaminated (Puppy farms). The consequences for providing this
type of drinking water are similar to when providing to a average
human-being since it causes serious gastrointestinal upsets
(Puppy farms) leading to diseases which, if not treated, may further
result in death. In addition, quality lacking supply of water is
particularly disturbing to bitches: since they feed their pups, they
require more water, and given the high level of contamination both
the mother
Castro 3
and her pups are put into severe jeopardy. This is one of many
different issues directly linked with puppy mills. Even though this
unregulated environment is an act of astounding selfishness, what
worries me is the mental state of the person who administers this
business.
This notion recalls the scientific paper mentioned previously
produced by Roman Gleyzer, MD, Alan R. Felthous, MD, and Charles
E. Holzer III, PhD. As these three professionals exploits the
correlation between animal mistreatment and mental disorders,
they state that starting in 1987, this behavior [cruelty to animals]
was a criterion for conduct disorder and for APD [antisocial
personality disorder] (Animal Cruelty and Psychiatric Disorders).
The link between these two are abundantly strong, given that an

average human being would perceive the quality of a puppy farm as

a clear indication of mistreatment. It calls to attention that those
who abuse are diagnosed with such disorders are also subject to
possessing persecutory delusions (Animal Cruelty and Psychiatric
Disorders), which looking up the definition means that the person is
delusional of thinking that it a harmful event will eventually happen.
If you take a medical perspective, the action for a person to abuse
an animal may be accounted for given the health state of that
person, but should that person be operating a business which
involves lives of other beings? It is simply unfair for the dogs under
captivity to be mistreated by someone not able to handle simple
tasks in life. In my view, an average human being, a person who can
function in society, should reallocate the resources used in order to
prevent abuse and create a healthy and clean environment for these
puppies.

Castro 4
But what defines an average human being? One who does not
own puppy mills as a business? If one examines the more extreme
nature of humans, those who might function just as well as a regular
shop-owner, may as well be a dog abuser. The abuse is scaled to a
larger than expected occurrences because there are unaccounted
incidents that prevents a person responsible for the abuse to pay for
the consequences. There has been a reported case that has more
bitterness than sweetness in the story, which developed into the

New York Times Magazine article The Animal-Cruelty Syndrome

(2010). The first sentence portrays exactly the level of madness of
the guilty people: May afternoon a female pit bull terrier was
doused in gasoline and set alight (The Animal-Cruelty Syndrome).
One can only feel grief from this story; it is not necessary to read
the full article that one is already shocked by this act of punishment.
As I mentioned, this is an extreme case of abuse, it is more
deliberate than the examples of puppy mills, yet the same concept
is applied since people who suffer from mental disorders are
responsible. More specifically, later in the article, the author Charles
Siebert points out that usually teenagers have aggressive-conduct
disorder and unusual signs of aggression, and perform these
cruel stunts out of boredom (The Animal-Cruelty Syndrome). Apply
this insensitive analysis on the puppy mills: imagine a teenager
taking care of the mill just takes pleasure in watching other suffer.
Pick your description, mine would is: grotesque.
A tear drops every moment I read about these slavery acts
with puppies. Yet the unfortunate truth that lied embedded within
my arguments against this horror, is that all of us dog consumers
are contributors. It is a profitable industry
Castro 5
that deals with an exceedingly high valued commodity. Dog lovers
are definitely biased towards revoking the rights of having puppy
mills. Ironically, if that dog lover, who probably owns a dog, reflects
on his prior acts, the dog owner would probably not have bought his

or her pup had it not been the puppy mill. As Mary-Jo Dionne
mentions in her article: in our obsession with having a purebred
and having it quickly, we feed the industry (Puppy Hell: The Horrors
of Puppy Mills). In basic economics terms, the demand is so high
that the quality of the good tends to fall, since production cannot be
sustainable. Dogs are victims regardless of the type of person who
owns his rights. By mentioning this, think about the word choice:
owns his rights, industry, consumers, businesses et cetera;
in this sense, all these words already suggests that dogs are
inevitable targets for abuse since whatever one purchases it is
within their rights to do whatever they please.
Confusingly, government provisions for animal cruelty date
back to the 1800s, when the Cruelty to Animals Act 1876 was
passed in the U.K. Parliament, implying that this notion was
spreading more than two-hundred years ago. More specifically to
canine abuse, the Australian government passed The Prevention of
Cruelty to Animals Act 1986, dictating that observed owners
intend to provide minimum standards of accommodation care to
dogs (Code Of Practice For The Private Keeping Of Dogs). One
might think there are worldwide regulations puppy mill owners and
other abusers are not following, and that they should be locked
away. However, the PETA NGO states, there such things called
puppy pipelines, which basically means that dealers who want to
avoid relevant U.S. laws look elsewhere to continue doing
business, like for example smugglers

Castro 6
who bring puppies into the U.S. from Mexico (Puppy Mills: Dogs
Abused for the Pet Trade). There is seemingly no end for canine
abuse. If the person harming the pup is not mentally unstable, then
there is the greatest issue of a capitalist society: money. Humans
put their self-interest before their empathy in all kinds of situations,
but pertinent to the stimulation of puppy mills is the quintessential
example of such a claim.
To conclude: what specific courses of action can those
concerned with the welfare of vulnerable pups ponder to solve such
a loose-ended issue of canine abuse? It was made explicitly clear
that their lives are in danger, due to the unregulated quality of
puppy mills, the lack of animal protection from those who are
mentally challenged to sustain unaggressive acts and the driving
factor of money causing a stimulus to the market for contraband.
There have been several NGO initiatives that approach government
officials in order to convince the officials to put animal welfare in
their agenda.
Is that enough? Charities can solve social and environmental
problems by posing moral concerns to society; they receive
donations, which is then applied to reduce or solve the issue. Since
capital is an issue preventing this market to shut down, the
allocation of donations may be used to provide shelter. Personally, I
associate this issue similar to that of homeless people, since pups
have no home, food or easy way to survive, hence a basic shelter

would improve their lives drastically. I would say that there are two
greater issues that are leading causes: money and government
regulations. Without both, it the puppy mills will function normally
with clandestine levels growing at an exponential rate.
Works Cited
Puppy Mills: Dogs Abused for the Pet Trade. Peta.org. Sun. 19. Jul.
2015. http://www.peta.org/issues/companion-animalissues/companion-animals-factsheets/puppy-mills-dogs-abused-pettrade/

Puppy farms. Rspca.org.au. Sun. 19. Jul. 2015.

http://kb.rspca.org.au/afile/322/55/

Puppy Hell: The Horrors of Puppy Mills. Moderndogmagazine.com.

Fri. 17. Jul. 2015.
http://moderndogmagazine.com/articles/puppy-hell-horrors-puppymills/269

First came battery chickens. Now we have battery dogs.

Theguardian.com. Fri. 17. Jul. 2015.
http://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2010/feb/03/puppy-farmsbattery-dogs
Animal Cruelty and Psychiatric Disorders. Jaapl.org. Thu. 16. Jul.
2015. http://www.jaapl.org/content/30/2/257.full.pdf+html

The Animal-Cruelty Syndrome. Nytimes.com. Thu. 16. Jul. 2015.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/13/magazine/13dogfightingt.html?_r=0

Pit Bull Cruelty Facts and FAQs. Aspca.org. Mon. 20. Jul. 2015.
http://www.aspca.org/fight-cruelty/dog-fighting/pit-bull-cruelty
Code Of Practice For The Private Keeping of Dogs. Depi.vic.gov.au.
Fri. 17. Jul. 2015. http://www.depi.vic.gov.au/pets/dogs/legalrequirements-for-dog-owners/code-of-practice-for-the-privatekeeping-of-dogs

Wikipedia. Wikipedia.com. Mon. 20. Jul. 2015.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cruelty_to_Animals_Act_1876