Pennsylvania legislators are coming together to take one more step in the direction of protecting dogs used for commercial breeding purposes and also protecting consumers from purchasing sick or genetically defective dogs. Senate Bill 44, nicknamed Victoria’s Law after a German Shepherd dog who was bred for 10 years by a commercial breeder despite carrying a genetic defect she likely passed on to dozens of puppies has a long and bipartisan list of co-sponsors. It seems that the time may finally have come for a statewide ban on the sale of commercially bred puppies in retail stores. Victoria’s Law covers not only puppies but also cats and rabbits.

So, why is this necessary? Are all breeders bad? To be sure, not all breeders are puppy mills, but breeders who sell their puppies to pet stores through wholesalers generally are. A decade or so ago, Pennsylvania was known as “the puppy mill capital of the East.” Much has been done to try to eliminate the worst abuses of the industry but the clandestine nature of dog breeding (particularly in rural areas) and the anonymity afforded by the internet has kept the business of puppies sufficiently profitable to continue to attract people who are not in it for the love of dogs.