Puppy mill

A puppy mill in the rural United States

A puppy mill, sometimes known as a puppy farm, is a commercial dog breeding facility that is operated with an emphasis on profits over the welfare of the dogs bred, with substandard conditions of care often the norm. Similar types of operations exist for other animals most commonly kept as pets or used as feed for other animals.

There are an estimated 4,000 puppy mills in the U.S. that produce more than half a million puppies a year. Commercial kennels may be licensed by the United States Department of Agriculture and state and local jurisdictions which may inspect the kennels routinely.

No standardized legal definition for "puppy mill" exists. The term "mill" is also applied to operations involving other animals commercially bred for profit, including cats. For-profit breeding on a smaller scale may be referred to as backyard breeding, although this term has negative connotations and may also refer to unplanned or non-commercial breeding.

In the last decade, an increase of organizations posing as animal rescue and using tax-free donations to acquire by purchasing, stealing, importing, or breeding dogs from unknown sources have been seen, for the sole purpose of profit, they are also known as Puppy Mills.

Differences in breeding conditions

The Kennel Club and the American Kennel Club state that responsible breeders raise their animals with the intent to produce healthy dogs, and to ensure that all animals are provided responsible homes and socialization.

In puppy mills, females are sometimes bred every time they are in heat to increase profits, resulting in gradually decreasing sizes of litters. As puppies, mill dogs are also often weaned from their mothers well before the eight to ten weeks recommended. Bark Rescue in Belleview, IL also explains, “Puppies are taken from their mother when they are 5 to 6 weeks old and sold to brokers who pack them in crates for resale to pet stores all over the country.” Only half of the puppies survive during this exhausting travel only to make it to the pet shop until they are sold. Dogs in puppy mills are often bred indiscriminately. While the puppies produced may come with pedigrees, the pedigree itself is neither an indication of quality nor authenticity.

Treatment at puppy mills

Puppy mills usually house dogs in overcrowded and unsanitary conditions, without adequate veterinary care, food, water and socialization. Puppy mill dogs do not receive adequate attention, exercise or basic grooming. To ease waste cleanup, dogs are often kept in cages with wire-mesh flooring that injures their paws and legs. It is not unusual for cages to be stacked up in columns, which allows for waste to pass downward from the top of the column. Breeder dogs at mills might spend their entire lives outdoors, exposed to the elements, or kept inside indoor cages all their lives. Often, after the breeder dog has reached the age of 4 years, it is no longer needed and killed. Those who are not killed might be brought to dog auctions, where dogs are auctioned off one by one to the highest bidder. Sometimes the puppy mill owners will have a contact person who collaborates with rescues. The rescue will receive a phone call with the number of breeder dogs and types. The rescue then can save the breeder dogs from death. Once adopted, it can take a year or more for the dog to relax and allow human touch.

In a 2005 investigation conducted on pet shops and puppy mills in California, 44% of the locations visited had sick and neglected animals, 32% of the animals were confined in unhealthy, cramped, or crowded conditions and 25% of the animals did not have adequate food or water.

Common problems

Due to the frequently poor breeding conditions in puppy mills, puppies bred there often suffer from health and/or social problems. Puppies raised in a cramped environment shared by many other dogs become poorly socialized to other dogs and to humans. Dogs are then transported over long distances in poor conditions, sometimes resulting in animal stress and death. As the surviving mill dogs grow older, they are more prone to developing respiratory ailments and pneumonia, as well as hereditary defects such as hip dysplasia. In addition, mill dogs are more prone to have problems with their temperament due to lack of socialization, enrichment, and positive human contact. Puppies from mills are usually sold as purebred dogs in an attempt to attract the higher prices associated with purebreds. However, due to the indiscriminate breeding practices of puppy mills, the dog may not actually be a purebred puppy. The vast majority of puppy mill animals are sold to pet stores by "dealers" or "brokers". Some puppies are sold by dealers masquerading as authentic breeders.

Puppy mills in the US often start with hundreds of female dogs which serve their entire lives in the establishment. The females are bred until they can no longer conceive puppies, and are often euthanized after that. The conditions in puppy mills are considered inhumane because all of the dogs are in a small, dirty area which is confined with disease and bacteria. Because of the poor living conditions, dogs are often sick and malnourished. Food is often found crawling with bugs and feces is almost everywhere. Health issues that are prevalent in puppy mills consist of giardia, mange, heartworm, respiratory infections, and much more.

History

According to Chanis Major V. publications, puppy mills originated in the post-World War II era. Midwestern farmers looking for an alternative crop reacted to a growing demand for puppies, resulting in the development of the first commercial puppy business. As the business grew, both small and large retail outlets began to sell puppies through pet departments. At around the same time, the first pet store chains were born.

Through indifference or ignorance, many puppies were left unsocialized or exposed in existing chicken coops or rabbit hutches. In addition, veterinary care for these puppies was often overlooked because of an inability to pay. As a result, organizations such as the Humane Society of the United States began to investigate breeding kennels, leading to the passage of the Animal Welfare Act of August 24, 1966.

Prevalence

According to the Humane Society of the United States, there are an estimated 10,000 licensed and unlicensed puppy mills in the United States, in total selling more than 2,000,000 puppies annually.

A high concentration of both puppy mills and breeders has been reported in the states of Pennsylvania, Arkansas, Kansas, and Missouri.

Pennsylvania, and in particular, Lancaster County, has been labeled the "Puppy Mill Capital of the East" due to its high volume of puppy mills.

Missouri has been labeled the "Puppy Mill Capital of the U.S." by animal welfare and consumer protection groups. A study by the Better Business Bureau concluded that the southwest corner of Missouri is the hub of the nation's puppy mill industry, and termed it the "national hot spot of the puppy industry."

Hobby breeders

Miniature breeds at a US puppy mill

The term "puppy mill" has been widely used by animal rights groups in protests against breeders who have substandard breeding conditions. Critics in the breeder community claim that emotional rhetoric, sensationalism, and pictures of dirty kennels are used to justify additional legislation or additional restrictive licensing that travels well beyond the initial goal of removing dogs from truly deplorable conditions, or that attempts to legislate puppy mills would put them out of business. They argue the laws requiring additional costs in updating and maintaining their facility and licensing would be detrimental to the dogs in their care. They cite existing lemon laws for puppies as sufficient protection for both dogs and prospective buyers.

Media coverage

On May 29, 2008, MSNBC aired a report about puppy mills, in which talk show host Oprah Winfrey revealed an industry fraught with problems and apparent cruelty. The broadcast showed puppy mills with small cages, with chicken wire floors, stacked in rows from floor to ceiling, and stated that many dogs spend their entire lives within these tiny cages. Many of these dogs are sold on the internet or by pet retailers to buyers who are unaware of the dogs' background. The report claimed that customers who object to this treatment of puppies unknowingly allow the industry to thrive. It also pointed out that many of the puppy mill bred dogs suffer long-term health problems.

Legislative response

United States of America

In the United States, some elements of the dog breeding industry are regulated by the Animal Welfare Act of August 24, 1966.

In recent years, state legislatures have passed new laws aimed at eliminating the worst abuses at puppy mills. New laws include limits on the number of breeding females, requirements that facilities be licensed and inspected, and requirements that dogs be given proper veterinary care. Louisiana, Pennsylvania and Virginia passed puppy mill laws in 2008, and 10 states passed laws in 2009 to crack down on abusive puppy mills. In 2010, Missouri voters passed Proposition B, the "Puppy Mill Cruelty Prevention Act", which establishes minimum standards of humane care and limits breeders to 50 intact dogs.

However, voters experienced push-back from the industry in the state of Missouri. Dog breeders and other farmers, worried about costly animal welfare measures spreading to their farms, pressured the state to repeal the law. In April 2011 Proposition B was repealed.

A compromise, dubbed the Missouri Solution, was signed by Missouri Governor Jay Nixon.

It retained some of the provisions of Proposition B, and made available some state funding for inspections. Humane Society of Missouri President Kathy Warnick reacted favorably, seeing a step in the right direction for animal welfare.

Detractors, which include the President and CEO of the Humane Society of the United States, point to the "shameful" overturn of the voter's will to weaken Proposition B.

“Lawmakers should never have substituted their judgment for the people of Missouri and gutted core provisions of Prop B,” said Wayne Pacelle, president and CEO of the Humane Society of the United States. “The so-called compromise was not about protecting animals, it was about placating agri-business.”.

Below is a set of lists describing some of the key differences between Proposition B and the so-called Missouri Solution.

Proposition B (approved by Missouri voters in November, 2010) Wire flooring for cages eliminated by November 2011; Maximum allowable breeding females per business = 50; Cage height = taller than any dog standing erect; Maximum number of times a female may be bred within 18 months time = 2; Larger enclosures by November 2011.

the “Missouri Solution” (compromise law signed by Missouri Gov. Jay Nixon, April 2011, after repealing Proposition B) No wire flooring for new enclosures in 2016, existing wire flooring permitted to remain indefinitely; No limit on number of breeding females; No restriction on cage height; No restrictions on how often females are impregnated; Larger enclosures in 2016.

Australia

Sydney Lord Mayor Clover Moore has responded to the problem of puppy mills in Australia by proposing the Animals Regulation of Sale Bill. It would ban the sale of dogs through pet shops, the internet or newspapers. The aim is to crack down on impulse purchases and shut down unregistered backyard breeders. These breeders should no longer easily profit from the sale of the dogs and the number of unwanted and abandoned animals could drop.

Opposition to the bill comes from the Australian Veterinary Association and the Pet Industry Association. They say that the bill makes no difference to shelter admissions or euthanasia rates.

Some claim that the bill will only serve to push unregistered breeders further underground.

In New South Wales alone, more than 60,000 animals are put down each year. Australia-wide the number is over a quarter of a million.

United Kingdom

In 1996, Britain passed the Breeding and Sale of Dogs Act which requires annual veterinary inspections for anyone breeding five or more litters in one year. Breeding females are restricted to one litter per year and four per lifetime.

Breeders who choose to be members of the UK Kennel Club are required to register purebred puppies for sale with that organization and must certify the conditions under which the puppies were raised. Breeders who sell puppies by misrepresenting these standards may be liable to prosecution under the Sale of Goods Act 1979.

Legal cases

In July 2014, the Animal Legal Defense Fund and three Pennsylvania residents filed a lawsuit against the Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture, alleging illegal expenditure of state tax dollars on unlawful regulatory activity. According to ALDF, the Pennsylvania General Assembly amended the Dog Law in 2008 to strengthen standards of care for dogs housed in commercial breeding facilities known as “puppy mills.” Just two years later, the Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture weakened those minimum standards by creating regulatory exemptions for nursing mothers and their puppies. The lawsuit asks the court to order the Department of Agriculture to follow the law and end the suffering of mother dogs and their puppies.

See also

• Factory farming
• Overpopulation in domestic animals
• Texas puppy mill bill