Every week, volunteers with Stop the Suffering drive across Ohio to collect dogs that high-volume breeders have handed over to be euthanized. Sometimes, breeders make that call because a state inspection is coming. "We've gotten calls before where the breeders are like, 'I'm going to kill these dogs unless you guys take them 'cause I have an inspector coming,'" said Elle Miller, a volunteer with the Columbus rescue.

These are not isolated incidents. A Columbus Dispatch investigation published in May 2026 found that nearly 350 of Ohio's licensed high-volume dog breeders — commonly called puppy mills — violated the state's animal care rules over the course of 2024 and 2025. Sick dogs lived in overcrowded pens. Puppies had their tails docked with dirty pliers. Breeding dogs were never examined by a vet. 

In the past 10 years, Ohio has not fully revoked a single breeder's license.

The Ohio Department of Agriculture (ODA) has five inspectors for hundreds of breeders across the state, and most inspections are announced in advance. When violations are found, fines typically run between $1,000 and $2,500 — small enough that repeat offenders have little reason to change. "They have no incentive to really improve the conditions for their animals," said Mark Finneran, Ohio state director for Humane World for Animals. "They know they're never going to get kicked out of the program. They're never going to face real repercussions beyond just that monetary slap on the wrist."

The dogs are the ones that suffer. Poppy, an 8-year-old Golden Retriever used for breeding, arrived at a rescue covered in mud and excrement, with a heart condition so severe that a cardiologist was shocked she had lived past age 2. She likely passed the inherited defect on to eight years of litters. Harper June, a Bernese Mountain dog, was bred at just 8 months old. Her uterus twisted and ruptured. It took her breeder a week to bring her to a vet. Her puppies were delivered dead.

Families who buy these dogs pay the price too — sometimes more than the purchase price in vet bills within the first week. Kristina Woods paid $850 for a puppy named Otie, then spent roughly $900 on emergency veterinary care in his first seven days. "I told my wife this is probably one of the worst things that ever happened to me," she said.

Ohio can fix this. We are calling on the Ohio General Assembly and the Governor's office to take three concrete steps:

• Raise the maximum fines for high-volume dog breeder violations to levels that actually deter bad actors
• Reform Ohio's license revocation process so that repeat violators lose the right to operate
• Pass a puppy lemon law requiring breeders to refund or cover veterinary costs when a dog is sold sick.

These changes protect dogs from years of suffering in facilities that state regulators cannot adequately monitor. They protect Ohio families from the financial and emotional toll of unknowingly buying a sick animal. And they send a clear message that Ohio will not remain one of the easiest places in the country to run a puppy mill without consequences.

Sign this petition to demand the Ohio General Assembly act now.