National Puppy Day

Today is National Puppy Day!

This day is about celebrating puppies. Puppies are adorable. They run around, they play, they lick faces. We love looking at videos and pictures of them online. Puppies may grow up, but to the millions of dog owners around the world, they're still babies.

This day was created by animal activist and author Colleen Paige in 2006. She wanted to use this day to not only celebrate the puppy but also call attention to the many dogs and puppies in animal shelters still in need of loving homes. National Puppy Day is also meant to raise awareness of the cruelty of puppy mills. Puppy mills first started appearing in the 1950s because of farmers looking to make some extra money, and noticing a rising demand for pets after World War II. Hey, people pay good money to get a puppy, why not provide puppies? Thing is, these mills often cruelly treated puppies and their mothers. Mother dogs would literally get bred to death in these facilities. Also, puppy mills can contribute to the population of unspayed/unneutered feral dogs. This led to the signing of the Animal Welfare Act in 1966. Despite this, puppy mills still operate, most notably in Pennsylvania and Missouri.

What can you do? Well, you can call your local reprentatives and Senators to put in stronger rules to protect puppies/dogs, and if you want to adopt, do so from a shelter. Thanks for reading this blog entry! If you liked it, show it off! Take care of yourselves and each other! See you next time!