Pretty much all the honest truth-telling there is in the world is done by children, Oliver Wendell Holmes famously wrote. Members of Girl Scout Troop 6811 from Sandy Springs, Md., are demonstrating this truth-telling by fighting to protect dogs, including those languishing at puppy mills. They testified in Maryland last year for a bill that would require large commercial breeders to be licensed, and when the governor had the bill put on his desk, these young ladies were on hand to make sure he signed in the right place.

Girl Scout Troop 6811 visited USDA's headquarters
to stand up for dogs in puppy mills.

More recently, the troop learned that the U.S. Department of Agriculture had proposed to license and regulate puppy mills selling over the Internet. The scouts took their concerns directly to Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack’s office, where they met with one of Vilsack’s chief deputies, to explain their support. They also asked what else they can do to help. He told them that the best thing they can do is encourage more people to write to the USDA with their comments, especially personalized letters.

The scouts felt so strongly about the need to protect puppies that they also wrote to the American Kennel Club and asked its leaders to explain why they oppose this common-sense regulation, but they received a dismissive response.

Please comment before Aug. 15 to join your voice with Girl Scout Troop 6811 and more than 100,000 other advocates who have signed our letter to the USDA in support of this proposal to protect dogs in puppy mills.