Paris Hilton's Dog - Truth Behind the Cute

Last summer, Paris Hilton brought home a new Chihuahua and Britney Spears a Yorkie -- both purchased from Pets of Bel Air, L.A.’s pet boutique to the stars.

At Pets of Bel Air, staff members perfume and coif their tiny puppies for sale, creating an illusion of perfection. That illusion fooled Paris, Britney, and many others -- showing that even the rich and famous believe what pet store clerks tell them about the puppies they sell.

The HSUS's undercover investigation revealed that many of the puppies sold at Pets of Bel Air come from puppy mills in the Midwest including Arkansas, Kansas, and Oklahoma. At these large-scale factory farm operations, HSUS found hundreds of breeding dogs living in barren wire cages where they are treated like production machines. Some had untreated injuries, were pacing frantically, and were housed in overcrowded cages that reeked of urine.

Each mother dog at these mills is sentenced to a miserable life in a cage so her puppies can be sold at pet stores across the country. In addition to the lifetime of neglect their parents will suffer, the puppies are also much more vulnerable to illnesses and disease due to the conditions in which they were born -- with many falling ill or dying within days or weeks of purchase.

Source: Humane Society of the United States. Click to watch their exclusive undercover video