Special Reports

David Goldstein Exposes Puppy Mills

PALMDALE, Calif. (CBS) ― When you look for a puppy, do you make sure they came from a loving and caring environment? Unfortunately, some breeders that claim to be responsible, when they are little more than puppy mills. David Goldstein goes undercover to investigate one such "breeder" near Palmdale.

On their website they say puppies are carefully bred--in the house with constant attention.

But this is what we uncovered at World Kennel USA near Palmdale. Dogs in cage after cage after cage. A neighbor has two words for it.

"Like a puppy factory?"
"Like a puppy factory."

Cute, cuddly dogs are all the rage in Hollywood and can fetch big bucks. That's why it's big business. But some kennels try to hide that. World Kennel USA's Web site claims to be written a girl named Kelly. She says she and her parents raise the dogs. Her sister Jesse even has a boutique.

With a hidden camera we went into a pet store in Koreatown that claims to be run by the family. The dogs there sell for $900.00. The clerk said they're not from a puppy mill, but raised on a ranch.

"So these guys run around the ranch."
"Yeah."
"And the puppies, too?"
"They run around?"
"Yeah"
"That's cool."

But that's not what we found at World Lennel's ranch. This man's family works there.

"Do the puppies run free on a ranch?"
"They're in cages right?"
"Yeah"
"They don't run free?"
"Not literally. Not literally no."

We discovered hundreds of dogs. Some outside in kennels. Sitting cooped up. Under wooden roofs. And inside wire mesh. Some fighting like we showed you earlier. And some in trailers. Stacked halfway to the ceiling, one on top of the other. The only fresh air --- when they push their faces up to the window screen. We did see water. And food. But not much more.

"Do you think that's a good way to keep them, stacked up?"
"I don't know, I'm not kennel professional."

The kennel professionals, the County of L.A., came down hard on the facility in October. They found contaminated water. And a 24 hour accumulation of feces. The kennel was ordered to make changes. And two weeks later was re-inspected and awarded an "A" grade.

"It's substandard at best."

Chris Derose runs Last Chance For Animals, an animal rights group that investigated world kennels. He calls it a puppy mill. 

"I gotta tell you I've been to dozens of these places and never seen animals frolicking and running free. They are all in cages."

But that's not what the kennel claims. In ad after ad we found on the Internet, they say the dogs are home raised with loving attention. And they attach cute pictures that seem to mask the conditions of where they really came from.

After we started asking hard questions, the county animal control re-inspected the kennel. They found 402 dogs. Way more than the limit. They received a failing grade and were ordered to reduce the number of animals to 100 or else they would be shutdown.

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