Puppy Mills Bite!

Want to support a great cause and give the dog lover in your life the perfect gift? Local canine lover and fashionista, Mary-Jo Dionne, is a Vancouver-based writer and T-shirt designer with a very big heart. Mary-Jo’s company, The Fleas Knees, designs and produces stylish T-shirts with witty messages worn by dog lovers all over North America.

Mary-Jo’s “Puppy Mills Bite” shirt was designed to help raise much needed funds in the fight against the mistreatment of man’s best friend by puppy mills. This is where Mary-Jo’s big heart comes into play: she donates $5 from every T-shirt sold to the non-profit rescue group, Best Friends Animal Society, and their “Puppies Aren’t Products” campaign. Twilight’s Rachel Lefevre is the campaign spokeswoman and a big supporter of the tees.

For people who don’t know what a puppy mill is: it’s a warehouse of dogs, row after row, and shelf after shelf, crammed with inventory. “That inventory is puppies,” says Dionne. “It simply has to stop.” These poor dogs are forced to produce litter after litter of puppies with no proper care or medical services, no affection, no interaction, no exercise... when they are deemed too old or sickly to continue producing, they are euthanized.

At Love on a Leash we beg you NOT to buy a puppy from a retail store-front or backyard breeder. These are the most common places for puppy mill breeders to sell their product to the unsuspecting public. Ensure you buy your dog from a reputable breeder with proper references, and is willing to show you their entire facility.

Better yet, adopt a dog who desperately needs a home. Petfinders.com lists thousands of dogs all over North America who desperately need homes. Help spread the word and purchase a “Puppy Mills Bite” T-shirt. Never thought a tee could help save a life? These ones can. Mary-Jo says it’s her way of sticking her tongue out at an industry that’s just got to go.

Available in fitted Bitch-Pink and loose-cut Stud-Grey. Animal-loving media mavens who own this tee include: Oprah, Charlize Theron, Katherine Heigl, Martha Stewart, Rachel Ray, Drew Barrymore, Miley Cyrus, Fergie, Tori Spelling, Alicia Silverstone, Glen Close, Kathy Griffin, Mickey Rourke, and others. The cost is $42 and they are available at the following merchants: Three Dog Bakery in Point Grey and Port Moody, The Dog and Hydrant in Yaletown, Woof! In Kitsilano or online at www.FleasPlease.com.