You walk into a pet store to buy dog food or cat litter. From wire or glass enclosures puppies peer at you with soft brown eyes, looking lonely and forlorn.  Tails wagging, some scratch at the glass excitedly, hoping you're the kind soul to take them home. 

You have good intentions, and it's hard to resist a cuddly puppy.  But if you take this warm, wagging bundle home to the kids you're inadvertently sentencing puppy mill breeder dogs to a lifetime of hell.

This week I was invited to a screening for the powerful documentary Madonna of the Mills at the Artivist Film Festival at the Tribeca Cinemas.  It's the inspiring story of Laura F., a doe-eyed Staten Island crusader who stumbled onto a dark secret in picturesque Lancaster County, Pennsylvania.

Noticing a puppy caged in 95-degree heat while traveling through the scenic Amish country, she was shocked to discover numerous animal factories dotted throughout the community, in which dogs are treated more like a soybean crop than man's best friend.

Trapped by the hundreds in tiny, wire cages with no opportunity to run for a stick with the grass under their feet, these dogs are a heartbreaking sight.  They have rotting teeth, ear infections, open sores, and joint problems.  When some are first coaxed from their cages  - fearful of human contact - they can hardly walk.  Tears flowed in the theatre as one traumatized dog buried its head in the corner at every opportunity.

We're told that the vocal cords of these dogs are often smashed with a pipe down the dog's throat to contain the barking, so as not to arouse the suspicions of passersby.  When these breeder dogs are too old (7 years or so) to pop out any more puppies, they are often shot and killed. 

Laura's noble mission is to give these dogs a home.  Prowling the rolling hills of Pennsylvania in an SUV loaded with crates, dog food, paper towels, and puppy pads, she has earned the trust of puppy mill owners and persuaded them to release their unwanted animals.  This requires that she look the other way and steel her heart against the abhorent conditions under which these animals live.  To date she has personally rescued more than 3,500 dogs (the movie mentions more than 2,000).   The animals are bathed, given veterinary treatment, and turned over to rescue groups that find loving homes.  Laura tries not to think about the dogs left behind.

One of these Pennsylvania rescue dogs is my best friend, Biscuit.  A fluffy Bichon, she's been with us for a year now, and is a different dog than she was in December 2009.  When we first adopted her through Norwalk-based Tails of Courage, she exhibited many of the behaviors of the dogs shown in the film:  cowering, tail tucked, panting and drooling, walking in circles, and trembling.  She is still easily startled and pulls back if a hand is raised to pet her.  She has what we jokingly refer to as a "smoker's bark" from damaged vocal cords.

While Biscuit now romps in the leaves and greets me enthusiastically with her wagging tail and strange bark, I am outraged about her past.  I want to blame the farmers, though in reality what they're doing is mostly legal.  Dogs - like chickens and cattle -  put food on the table and keep them on the family farm.  

I want to picket the offending pet stores.  I want to shut down the puppy mill web sites with photos of cute little dogs with ribbons in their ears.  I want to fire off angry letters to lawmakers and the USDA, the government agency charged with regulating animal factories. 

But the reality is that we have no one to blame but ourselves.  It's our ignorance that keeps the puppy mill business thriving.  If we refuse to buy pets from pet stores, Amish and Mennonite farmers would go back to producing beans and corn instead.  

Most of us won't save thousands of dogs like the Madonna of the Mills.  But if we adopt one dog from a no-kill shelter or rescue group, we save TWO:   the one we bring home and the one who will take its place and be a stop closer to romping in the leaves.    

For the movie trailer and more information on Laura F's amazing story, www.madonnaofthemills.com.  

Strays and Others has lovable pets available for adoption, as does Tails of Courage in Norwalk.  The Connecticut Humane Society is privately-funded and operates three area shelters, the nearest in Westport. 

Make this a holiday season to act on your good intentions; please adopt, contribute, or volunteer.