They often spend their entire lives in small cages, stacked one on top of the other.

They endure intense heat and cold, rarely get medical care and never get any exercise. Some lose the ability to walk because they never leave their cages.

Vocal chords are crushed with a metal pipe so they won't bark.

Mothers are forced to have two litters a year, year in and year out. And when they've served their purpose, they're often shot and dumped in a compost pile.

Millions of viewers of "Oprah" recently discovered just how brutal conditions are for some dogs when the popular daytime talk show focused on the puppy mills here in Lancaster County.

Helen Ebersole, 59, knows all about it.

Three years ago she founded United Against Puppy Mills, which has been fighting to educate the public, change legislation and fight zoning laws that allow puppy mills to thrive on the seemingly bucolic farms that are so popular with tourists.

"Oprah has raised the level of awareness about the issue," says Ebersole. "We hope it's going to get people to take action, particularly legislative action."

 Ebersole is a longtime animal lover, though right now she has only two cats and no dogs in her Wheatland Avenue home, something she says she'd like to change soon.

She decided to get organized after reading about the Puppy Love Kennel in Peach Bottom, which was in trouble for animal cruelty and sick dogs since the early 2000s.

After reading about a police raid and a description of the conditions under which the dogs lived, Ebersole decided to do more than get upset about it.

"I was talking to a friend and I said, 'Let's start an organization,' " she remembers. "I knew puppy mills existed here, but they were hidden under the radar."

So they organized a 501(c)(3) nonprofit and announced a meeting in March 2005.

"We had our first general meeting at the Quality Inn on Oregon Pike," Ebersole recalls. "There was a huge storm that night, with thunder and lightning and rain and wind, but still, there were more than 100 people there."

Ebersole didn't want the organization to become an overly emotional haven for dog lovers. There was too much work to do.

"We have been based on fact and research since day one," she says.

•••

Indeed, many of the things United Against Puppy Mills does are not exactly thrilling and exciting. It doesn't rescue dogs, as Bill Smith of Main Line Animal Rescue did on the "Oprah" show. In fact, Ebersole has never been to a puppy mill.

A lot of their work is about keeping puppy mills from being established in the first place.

"We have a specific strategy," Ebersole says. "We make sure kennel owners are adhering to the rules with the land use, the building structure. We find out where their water sources are to see if the puppy mill would foul the water."

That means hard, often tedious work reading through the endless legal notices in the newspaper, where zoning boards are required by law to announce meetings and agendas so the public can attend.

If a farmer is looking to open or expand a kennel, he has to submit proposals to the township that follow the established laws. In most cases, the public has the right to see those proposals.

"(Our) people are looking in the newspapers every day at the legal notices. And we contact members from that township and coach them about how to deal with the zoning boards," Ebersole says.

Zoning officers often tell them that, from a legal standpoint there is only so much they can do. What goes on inside the kennel building is not under their jurisdiction.

For example, when members of United Against Puppy Mills provide evidence that the water may become tainted from a kennel, the zoning officials tell them that is not under their jurisdiction, but is the responsibility of the Environmental Protection Agency.

"But we always get it on the record," says Ebersole.

And townships often don't communicate well with the state, which oversees the conditions under which dogs live.

"We want the state to be more proactive," Ebersole says.

She is pleased that in October 2006 Gov. Ed Rendell created the job of special deputy secretary of dog law enforcement, now being held by Jessie Smith.

"They are making an effort to clean up the industry," Ebersole says. "But they have a long way to go."

Laws have to be changed, Ebersole says. When animal cruelty is found, kennel owners often get only a slap on the wrist.

•••

She is concerned that the owners of Puppy Love Kennels now run a kennel called C.C. Pets LLC. Others, Ebersole notes, have gotten their dogs returned to them, which she says is obscene.

Part of the problem is that dogs are under the oversight of the Department of Agriculture.

"We want them under their own jurisdiction. They are companion animals, not livestock," she says. "They have to be socialized. They will be living with families."

Under the brutal condition of puppy mills, dogs' health and behavioral problems only intensify.

Another part of United Against Puppy Mills' mission is education.

"A lot of people don't realize that when you get a dog from a pet store, 99 percent of the time it comes from one of these puppy mills," says Ebersole. "Our mission is to educate people, to tell them to go to reputable breeders or to a rescue or a shelter.

"I find any excuse I can to talk about puppy mills," says Veronica Craig, of Ephrata, a member of United Against Puppy Mills and a friend of Ebersole's. "I find so many people didn't know they are right here in their backyard. Education is so important."

She heard about United Against Puppy Mills when she was on vacation in Africa and joined as soon as she came home.

Craig also works with Tails to Tell, a group that takes unwanted puppy mill dogs and finds them homes.

Both women know how depressing it can be to become immersed in the world of puppy mills.

"But when I see a dog rescued who is getting a wonderful home, it makes it all worth it," says Craig.

"Dogs do so much for us," adds Ebersole. "They bring out so much in us."

A petite and energetic woman, Ebersole always has taken an active role in the community. A former elementary school teacher in Derry Township, she and her husband, J. Glenn Ebersole, moved here in 1986.

"I joined the Humane League's auxiliary and volunteered at the shelter when I first moved here," she says.

She has been involved in a number of other causes, including the Second Mile, an organization that helps troubled children in foster homes, the Women's Symphony Association and the Penn State and Elizabethtown alumni associations.

She currently works part time for Intellectual Properties Administrators.

She has a bachelor's degree and two master's degrees in education and worked with sales and marketing in adult education for Penn State for 16 years.

That experience has helped her run United against Puppy Mills.

"Helen may be small," says Craig. "But she is mighty."

•••

Anyone interested in learning more about United Against Puppy Mills can go to www.unitedagainstpuppymills.org or head over to Long's Park Pavilion 2 on April 26, for "Ruffin It … A Day in the Park."

This is a fundraiser for the organization and will include activities for kids, a K9 dog, a pet communicator, the Barnstormers' Cylo and an agility demonstration. A number of vendors will be there, too, and, of course, dogs are welcome as long as they come on a leash.

Anyone who would like to help sponsor the event can call Ebersole at 393-3663.

E-mail: jholahan@lnpnews.com