This chihuahua, half blind from cataracts, was one of dozens of rescues from a Colorado puppymill. The tongue problem, common of inbred chihuahuas, was corrected with surgery before the dog was adopted out.

Some of the dogs were in really sad shape. One had a fist-sized mammary tumor and did not survive.

And yet, unbelievably, the puppymill is legal, still exists, and is pretty much no different than 99 percent of puppymills. So never buy a dog from a petshop whose dogs are of unknown origin, or anyone who potentially operates or deals with puppymills.

And note that it has now become customary for vendors of dogs to claim their puppies are raised by individual breeders in their homes, which is virtually never true of vendors selling lots of dogs.