Why We Started TheLaineyProject

A few weeks ago we brought home a silver French Bulldog with one floppy ear. Her name is Lainey. She went straight for the couch and has been there most of the time since.

We adopted her through a Connecticut veterinary clinic that rescues dogs from commercial breeding operations. We knew going in that she had come from a difficult situation. We did not know the full picture until we started looking.

What we found made us angry in a specific, productive way. The kind of angry where you want to build something.

The information is all public

The USDA inspects licensed commercial dog breeders. Their inspection reports are publicly available. Violation histories, animal counts, specific citations — all of it is searchable through the APHIS Animal Care database. There are nonprofit organisations like Bailing Out Benji that have spent years compiling this data, connecting specific breeding facilities to the pet stores that sell their puppies, and publishing quarterly violation reports.

The information exists. What has been missing is a clean, well-designed place to find it that does not require you to already know where to look.

What TheLaineyProject is

We built a searchable database of known puppy mills and pet stores that source from them, with USDA records linked as sources on every entry. We built an ethical breeder directory for people who have decided to work with a breeder and want to find someone who actually cares about their dogs. And we built a partners page pointing to the rescue organisations doing the real work — because we are not a rescue, we are a directory and an awareness project, and the people pulling dogs out of mills deserve your support more than we do.

The site is named for Lainey because she is the reason it exists. She is also currently asleep approximately eighteen inches from where this is being written, one floppy ear pointing in no particular direction.

What you can do right now

If you are thinking about getting a dog, look up any breeder or pet store before you spend money. The USDA search tool at aphis.usda.gov is free and takes two minutes. If you find something concerning, submit it to our database. If you know an ethical breeder who should be listed, send them to our application page.

And if you have a dog right now who came from a pet store or an online listing and you are wondering whether to look into it — you should. Not because you did anything wrong, but because knowing is the only way the industry changes.