Puppies may be precious things to most of us, but to some people, they’re just numbers on a spreadsheet that make them money.

Dog breeding businesses are still in demand, meaning more dogs are being treated as expendable.

In the United States, there are about 2,000 registered dog breeders.

Most of them probably practice good care with the dogs they breed, but there’s never a guarantee with thousands of those businesses.

A puppy mill is a dog breeding business but with much worse conditions.

Inside these mills are cramped kennels made of old wood and haphazardly-placed metal screens.

Puppies are bred here to be sold, and the conditions are incredibly poor.

Puppy mills are a “quantity over quality” place where people care more about breeding as many as they can sell while giving them the bare minimum (or least) amount of care.

At least, that’s how the Humane Society of the United States puts it.

The conditions here are less like a pet store and more like a farm for chickens.

This particular dog, Delilah, was rescued from one such mill.

She’s a tiny white dog with a curly coat.

Delilah had never been in a proper home before.

She’s getting a chance now, thanks to her rescuers.

It may be a while before Delilah finds a forever home.

In the meantime, they will let her enjoy the hospitalities of a rescue shelter.

It may not be a forever home with a nice bed, family, and backyard.

But it’s sure better than that cramped, horrible puppy mill she used to survive in.

Delilah enjoyed this soft, warm bed for the first time.

And it was precious to watch.

To think that many other dogs like her may never have a bed like this.

Delilah rolls over in the bed to her heart’s content.

Beds are for sleeping, but Delilah is having quite the time playing and romping around in this one.

Hey, we all jumped on the bed as kids, didn’t we?

Right before our parents scolded us and told us to stop.

Besides the obvious problems of cramping up the dogs in such tiny living quarters, puppy mills have one other serious problem.

Since the dogs are kept so close together in tight spaces, diseases are way easier to spread.

Before you know it, the whole place suffers from the same rash or sickness.

We all know too well how important social distancing is from the past three years, right?

It was National Mill Dog Rescue that came to save Delilah.

These rescue organizations have their work cut out for them.

If only they could rescue every dog stuck in a puppy mill.

Whichever family adopts Delilah, I hope they give her the best care in the world. It’s what she deserves.

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