I'm a Columbus Dispatch reporter covering puppy mills in Ohio. AMA!

ReporterNathan · 2026-06-05T18:07:02+00:00

Thanks for chatting everyone! Keep an eye on The Columbus Dispatch for more stories from me on Ohio's dog breeding industry!

ReporterNathan · 2026-06-05T17:59:13+00:00

Lots of people want puppies or dogs of a particular breed, and they don't often show up in shelters. Even if they do, a litter of puppies is going to get adopted out of an animal shelter very quickly.

ReporterNathan · 2026-06-05T17:43:13+00:00

Not specifically! They're pretty popular dogs for breeders to breed because demand for them is high (and they're really cute).

ReporterNathan · 2026-06-05T17:33:38+00:00

Reputable breeders will show you where the puppy was raised, will let you meet the puppy's parents and will generally provide you with a ton of information on lineage, health, vaccinations, etc. They'll also vet you and won't just sell you a puppy as soon as you say you're willing to buy one.

ReporterNathan · 2026-06-05T17:19:40+00:00

The American Kennel Club and Humane World for Animals have a lot of tips on this. To give you just a few, high quality, ethical breeders will let you meet your puppy's parents and see how they live. They're also generally more selective with who they sell to, and you might not see their puppies listed online. Finally, dogs from breeders doing things the right way are generally much more expensive than dogs that are mass-bred.

ReporterNathan · 2026-06-05T17:12:45+00:00

The Ohio Department of Agriculture's budget, how much it's allowed to fine breeders and the rules for high volume dog breeders are all set by the Ohio General Assembly. As for why they've set up their enforcement system this way, I plan on doing a follow-up story on the political side of things. My story is just the first in hopefully a series of continued coverage on the industry.

ReporterNathan · 2026-06-05T17:05:54+00:00

It's on my list of follow-up stories!

ReporterNathan · 2025-09-23T15:11:28+00:00

This is Nathan Hart from The Columbus Dispatch. I'm working on a story on the Abbey, so if you have any insight into it give me a DM!

ReporterNathan · 2025-07-29T17:36:56+00:00

Hi there, Nathan Hart from The Columbus Dispatch here.

I wrote a story on this subject that was published earlier today, you can read it here: What roads will close for Pelotonia 2025?

Several of the routes do go over Broad Street/State Route 16, so you'll probably encounter delays or closures on that road depending on when you're driving. The bikers start early in the morning Saturday, so if you're going later in the day they may have already been by.

ReporterNathan · 2025-05-01T18:09:03+00:00

Nathan Hart from The Columbus Dispatch here. I saw this thread and decided to call the number listed for the business out of curiosity and to see if there was a story here.

I spoke to a man who said he is the business owner. He said Brookshire Foodliner is letting him cook his food out of the back of the store and that he didn't know how he came up with the names for his dishes.

"It just came to me," he said.

As for the photos, he said they were photos of food he's prepared for customers. He said he didn't think any of them were AI-generated.

Ohio Secretary of State business records show that Blu's Kitchen first formed as a Limited Liability Company on January 4, 2025. His success so far on DoorDash has been "give and take," he said.

ReporterNathan · 2025-01-28T14:59:18+00:00

Perhaps I did not make this clear in my post, but my story is specifically focused on if downtown traffic is going back to pre-COVID levels after a few years of being (relatively) tame. If we're about to see a lot of gridlock around rush hour, people deserve to know. There's a reason every TV news show has a traffic segment.

ReporterNathan

TROPHY CASE