We need your voice to protect innocent puppies from inhumane treatment in puppy mills.
OAA PROGRAM AREA: Puppy Mills
ACTION LEVEL: State
The Ohio Department of Agriculture (ODA) has continuously failed to control the abusive puppy mill industry in Ohio and to hold the abusers accountable. Breeders disregard the health of their dogs to keep costs low and maximize their profits. They profit from selling purebred puppies, which frequently carry diseases or have hereditary conditions resulting from inbreeding. According to The Humane Society of the United States (HSUS), most puppies sold in pet stores and through online retailers are born in puppy mills.
That is why Ohio Animal Advocates is asking our supporters to contact Governor Mike DeWine, the only person who has legal authority over ODA. We need YOU to hold puppy mill breeders accountable for their egregious animal abuse violations.
As advocates working to provide a voice for the voiceless in Ohio, we urge you to ask the Governor to hold ODA accountable. Existing law clearly allows ODA to take strong enforcement action against licensed, high-volume dog breeders who fail to comply with minimum standards of care outlined in the Ohio Revised Code.
Year after year, ODA’s own inspection records provide evidence of bad actors in the mass breeding community causing physical harm to the dogs and puppies under their care. Such behavior is deplorable and a stain on Ohio’s reputation. Despite having one of the strictest high volume breeder laws in the nation, Ohio is home to puppy mills with egregious animal welfare records. Problematic breeders who remain licensed (as of August 2023) include but are not limited to the following:
● Joseph A. Miller – In August 2020, ODA inspectors discovered a Yorkshire terrier died after Miller performed a do-it-yourself dental procedure on the dog.
● Leroy Yoder – In July 2022, a state inspector had to leave in the middle of an inspection after Yoder began yelling and then threatened to kill one of his own dogs when the inspector documented flooring violations.
● Eli J. Miller – During a June 2022 visit to one of Miller’s many kennel locations, state inspectors found an injured cavapoo whose collar had become “lodged between her maxilla and mandible. Lacerations along with wounds and odor are present.”
To spread awareness about the plight of puppy mill dogs, HSUS releases an annual Horrible Hundred report. This report showcases our country’s worst hundred puppy mills that inhumanely treat dogs.
● In 2023, 13 of these reported puppy mills were licensed, high-volume dog breeders operating in the state of Ohio.
● In 2022, ODA did not provide HSUS with the requested information to include in the Horrible Hundred report in a timely manner, so the public was prevented from learning the status of Ohio’s inhumane puppy mills. According to the report, 40% of the Horrible Hundred breeders were repeat offenders.
● In 2021, Ohio had 16 of the nation’s worst puppy mills, with dogs dying from dental procedures performed by breeders.
When the Ohio General Assembly passed the high-volume breeder law (S.B. 130) in 2013 and the upgrades (HB 506) in 2018, they made it clear that licensed breeders in our state were expected to meet specified minimum standards of care. To align with the legislative intent of those bills and the requirements stipulated in the Ohio Revised Code, we expect ODA to use all the tools at its disposal to crack down on puppy mills that threaten the safety of the dogs under their care. It is what Ohioans have called for the last several decades, it is what the legislature has directed ODA to do, and Ohioans intend to keep them accountable.
What You Can Do:
Contact Governor Mike DeWine and urge him to direct ODA to take strong enforcement action against licensed, high-volume dog breeders who fail to comply with minimum standards of care using the sample letter below.
Share this Action Alert on your social media to raise awareness, educate, and encourage your family, friends, and co-workers in Ohio to contact Governor DeWine to hold puppy mill breeders accountable.
Contact Information
Email address: michael.murry@governor.ohio.gov & Giles.Allen@governor.ohio.gov
Office phone numbers: (614)466-3555 & (614)466-2828
Mailing address:
ATTN: Michael Murry
The Honorable Mike DeWine, Governor of Ohio
77 S High St 30th Floor
Columbus, OH 43215
Take Action:
The Honorable Governor Mike DeWine,
As your constituent, I wish to call your attention to the Ohio Department of Agriculture’s (ODA) long-standing failure to control the abusive puppy mill industry in Ohio and to hold the recalcitrant breeders accountable. I respectfully urge you to direct the ODA to utilize all of its statutory authority to address the inhumane conditions at these facilities. Existing law clearly allows ODA to take strong enforcement action against licensed, high-volume dog breeders who fail to comply with minimum standards of care outlined in the Ohio Revised Code (ORC). Year after year, ODA’s own inspection records provide evidence of bad actors in the mass breeding community causing physical harm to the dogs and puppies under their care. Such behavior is deplorable and a stain on Ohio’s reputation.
In puppy mills, mother dogs spend their entire lives in cramped cages with little to no personal attention. When the mother and father dogs can no longer breed, they are abandoned or killed. Due to poor sanitation, overbreeding, and a lack of preventive veterinary care, the puppies frequently suffer from a variety of health issues, creating heartbreaking challenges and economic hardship for families who should be enjoying the delights of their new family member.
Unfortunately, Ohio is widely recognized as among the worst states in the country for puppy mill activity. This year, 13 breeders from our state appear in The Humane Society of the United States’ “Horrible Hundred report.” The ODA itself has found breeders keeping dogs and puppies in wire cages without access to solid flooring, failing to keep cages clean from feces and other excrement, and performing DIY surgery or euthanizing dogs without a veterinarian. According to state records, an Ohio breeder even held one of his own dogs in the air and threatened to kill it when an inspector documented flooring violations. In spite of these repeated findings against multiple facilities, little or no action has ever been taken by ODA to address violations of the law by these breeders.
● The ORC grants ODA much more robust authority to hold bad actors accountable. ORC 956.15 (B) allows ODA to “suspend or revoke a license issued under this chapter for violation of any provision of this chapter or a rule adopted or order issued under it if the violation materially threatens the health and welfare of a dog.”
● ORC 956.14 permits the attorney general, upon the request of ODA, to “bring an action for injunction against a person who has violated or is violating this chapter or rules adopted under it.”
● ORC 956.10 (E) says “If entry is refused or inspection or investigation is refused, hindered, or thwarted by a high-volume breeder or dog broker, the director may suspend or revoke the breeder’s or broker’s license in accordance with this chapter.”
But since these laws were put in place in 2018, to my knowledge not a single licensed breeder has faced consequences other than minimal civil fines.
Governor DeWine, I greatly appreciate the leadership you have shown with regard to protecting animals in Ohio, signing into law important bills to strengthen our animal cruelty laws, and requiring the cross-reporting of animal and human violence. I urge you to continue to use your authority to usher in a new era in Ohio that ends the abuses of puppy mills and demonstrates Ohio’s commitment to protecting the most vulnerable among us. I look forward to hearing your response.
Sincerely,
Your name
Your mailing address
Your email