Out Of The Mouths Of Babes
By Kelli Ohrtman

It is both beautiful and sad that kids are often so much more aware than we are. This weekend, my aunt and two young cousins (ages seven and eleven) came to visit. My aunt asked what exactly my job is. So often when I tell people that my job is a puppy mill campaign specialist, they ask “what’s a puppy mill?”

It kills me to hear that because my entire job is devoted to educating people about where pet store puppies come from. When I come across someone who isn’t aware of “my” issue, I feel that I’ve fallen short. Or rather, all of us in animal welfare have fallen short—right there in front of me is someone whom we haven’t reached.

The kind of situation I dream of is when someone wants to hear what I have to say about puppy mills. The worst-case scenario are the times when I’m chatting with someone about dogs, and they tell me they got their dog at a pet store. My heart sinks. Not only has this person not gotten the message, but I’ve gotten to them too late.

And so, when my aunt asked about my job and I told her I work on a puppy mill campaign, I did so with a twinge of adrenaline—would she ask, “What’s a puppy mill?” Would she tell me she just bought the kids a puppy at the local pet store? Neither.

Instead, before she could answer, my eleven-year old cousin piped up from the back seat of the car, “Puppy mills and pet stores are bad!” I swear she hadn’t been prepped.

Later, I asked her where she’d heard about puppy mills. I expected that she’d seen the Oprah special about them, or she’d read a news story. But again, no. She answered in that matter-of fact way that eleven-year-olds are so good at (like, duh—everyone knows). She said, “Because I read books.”

Oh right, books... well that does make sense. It’s where I first read about a puppy mill, too. My young cousin explained that she’d read about a puppy mill and a cat mill in a book—the same book I read nearly ten years ago. It’s called "Lost and Found: Dogs, cats, and everyday heroes at a country animal shelter", by Elizabeth Hess.

For anyone who loves animals or is unsure of what a puppy mill is, read the book. You’ll be prepared the next time an animal-loving, book-reading fifth grader crosses your path.

Kelli Ohrtman is a freelance writer from Minneapolis who works at Best Friends Animal Society in Kanab, Utah. www.kelliohrtman.com