What is a Puppy Mill?

A puppy mill is a commercial breeding facility that mass produces dogs for resale in pet stores.

Where are those facilities primarily located?

The majority of puppy mills are located in the Midwestern states of Nebraska, Iowa, Kansas, Missouri, Oklahoma, Arkansas and in adjoining states.  These states are known to have at least 5,000 puppy mills combined, Kansas and Missouri having the largest amount.  In Missouri alone, puppy breeding is a $50 million-a-year business.  But they are not alone.  Since the mid-1970s, the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania has had its own puppy mill problem.

What kinds of problems exist?

Puppy mill dogs are often the victims of filth, inadequate shelter, overcrowding, insufficient food and water, incessant breeding, and lack human contact, socialization and veterinary care.  Cruelty investigators have observed dogs with open wounds, suffering from starvation, forced to eat, sleep, and sit all day in their own excrement.  Dead animals are found as well.  Because profit, not the breeding of quality dogs, is the ultimate goal of the puppy mill owner, breeding practices are often shoddy.  In addition, the breeding dogs are kept under the most inexpensive conditions that will keep them alive and producing. 

    
Do these dogs make good pets?

Many do not.

      * They lack proper socialization with people and discipline from their mother, thereby resulting in the possibility of an "uninhibited bite" and excessive biting and nipping when young along with the possibility that they many never emotionally bond with their owners. 

      * They may be quite ill due to unsanitary and stressful conditions, overbreeding and its taxation on the mother's body, and lack of veterinary care.

      * Bad breeding practices lead to genetic problems (The cost of checking for these defects would rule out a profit).

Are the puppies removed from puppy mills when they’re too young?

At only 4 or 5 weeks of age (much too young to be removed from the mother), the puppies are bought by a broker for $50 to $100 each.  The broker ships the underage puppies to a pet shop where the puppies are purchased for $100 to $200 each by the pet shop owner.  The pet shops then sell these poor quality, underage pups for $500 to $2,000 or more.

Do any puppies die at these mills or during shipment?

A majority of puppy millers feel that if three out of a litter of five survive, they’re doing well.  That’s a high mortality rate.

The lucky survivors leave the puppy mills and face a stressful journey of hundreds of miles across the country to pet stores - during a time when they are highly susceptible to disease and are behaviorally impressionable.  These puppies change hands numerous times through middlemen called “dog brokers” before they reach their final destination - the pet store.                

Sadly, some puppies do die while in transit. In Connecticut, one-hundred puppies died when the truck caught fire, and fifty died from heatstroke in a truck that wasn’t air conditioned.         

What is the fate of their parents?

Left behind are the saddest victims of puppy mills - the mothers and fathers, who serve as the breeding stock.  These animals spend their entire lives in wretched conditions.  They often live in cramped, filthy wire cages with no solid resting surface for their feet and no shelter from the blistering hot sun or cold bitter winds.  Often the mothers are near starvation and dehydration because of the enormous drain on their systems created by the never ending litters they nurse.  These females are bred about twice a year and are expected to survive on a minimum amount of food and water.  Socialization and exercise are not part of the dogs lives as these activities require additional resources of people's time and energy and the puppy mill owner is not willing to invest anymore than they must to maximize their profit.

Why do puppy mills exist at all?

Puppy mills, also called puppy farms, came about to supply the large chains of pet shops that appeared in the 1970’s.  These chains have proliferated throughout the country.

Is there a connection between pet stores and puppy mills?

Yes.  Puppy mills provide the largest source of pet store dogs.  Like all businesses, many pet stores want to obtain the least expensive product to sell for maximum profit.  And puppy mills supply cheap puppies.

Can commercial breeding be cleaned up and made acceptable?

Not likely.  Puppy mill owners take health care and environmental short cuts in order to be profitable.

The breeding of a quality purebred dog requires good examples of the breed, which must be genetically cleared before breeding.  This process can be very expensive: hips and shoulders x-rayed and certified by the Orthopedic Foundation of Animals (OFA); eyes examined by a canine ophthalmologist; heart checked for any abnormalities; blood work; etc.  The parents must have good even temperaments, which can only be developed if the dogs have learned to socialize with people.  Prenatal care for the dam (mother), and vet care of the puppies is quite expensive.  Puppies need individual interaction with people - lots of handling - and an introduction into an environment similar to that of the permanent home it will hopefully have with its future owner.

With the mass production of puppies, as in puppy mills or puppy farms, it is highly unlikely that these necessary procedures will be provided if the puppy mill owner wants to keep his product at the lowest marketable price.

Do pet stores care to whom they sell their puppies?

Not usually.  Many pet store salespeople work on a commission basis - the focus is the selling of the puppy, not the future happiness of the dog.  That is why ethical, reputable breeders don’t sell to pet stores.  Good breeders want to know the people to whom their dogs are sold and they want to screen buyers to ensure a proper home.  Good breeders don’t want their puppies exposed in pet stores to commercially bred dogs, which are frequently ill with infectious diseases or heavily infested with parasites. Conscientious breeders also want their dogs to be socialized in a home environment, not confined in a small cage, exposed to the public all day.  Therefore, pet shops are the commercial outlet for the product of puppy mills.  In short, pet shops and the people who buy from them enable puppy mills to be profitable, and contribute to the continual suffering of the dogs and puppies in puppy mills.

Aren’t the dogs bred in these puppy mills purebred animals?  Don’t some have American Kennel Club papers?

The American Kennel Club, by its own admission, states that a dog having AKC papers “in no way indicates the quality or state of health of the dog.”  No one should believe a dog is of good quality or healthy simply because it has AKC papers.  The AKC also said, “A registration certificate indicates the dog as the offspring of a known sire and dam, born on a known date. Many people breed their dogs with no concern for the qualitative demands of the breed’s standard.  When this occurs, the animals, while still purebred, can be of extremely low quality in terms of their breed standards.”

It is important to note that the accuracy of AKC papers depends on the honesty of the breeder who filled them out.  Besides the AKC, another respected body in the United States is the United Kennel Club (UKC).

Sometimes pet stores will claim that their dog is “registered” under the World Wide Kennels (WWK), the American Canine Association (ACA) or the Universal Kennel Club (UKC).  There is no proven validity of these registering groups, which may merely have been set up to impress an uneducated purchaser into thinking they are getting a high quality and healthy purebred dog.  

Are puppy mills the same as back yard breeders?

In between the puppy mill operators and responsible and knowledgeable breeders are the so called “backyard breeders”, whose newspaper ads dot Sunday papers each week.  These are people who own one or two purebred dogs and produce a litter of puppies once a year or so for extra money or “because I wanted my dog to have the experience of being a mother before I had her spayed.”  Like puppy mill puppies, these animals are often haphazardly bred with no regard for the future health and happiness of the offspring, many of which end up crowding the nation’s animal shelters.

There are also pet owners with an animal use mindset that will breed their dogs and sell the puppies to a pet store in order to turn a profit.  A person with an animal use mindset believes that animals are here to meet a human need.  Some of the owners breeding their pets may maintain the dog in conditions that are just as marginal as a puppy mill. 

Should people buy puppies from pet stores, whose animals were obtained from puppy mills, to “rescue” them?    

NO!  Many people feel sorry for the puppies in the pet store window. But purchasing these dogs only keeps the industry profitable and encourages breeders to churn out more puppy mill puppies.  Every time someone buys a puppy mill puppy, an adult breeding dog is sentenced to a lifetime of misery in the puppy mill prisons.

What is being done to address this problem?     

To start, don’t purchase a commercially bred puppy from anywhere in or out of the United States.  Do not support pet stores that unscrupulously try to sell puppies.  If you tell the employee that you will be out of your home 12 hours a day and their only solution is to encourage you to buy a crate, puppy pads, and lots of toys, they are placing their profit ahead of the probability of a fulfilling life for you and your pet.  Many pet store chains are beginning to partner with shelters and rescue groups to offer adoption services through their store.

A law was enacted to protect the consumer: The Dog Purchaser Protection Act.  For a copy of the Act contact the PA Attorney General at 717-772-0907 or http://www.attorneygeneral.gov/pei/dog/index.cfm.

Then why don’t these laws prevent the cruelties common in puppy mills?     

Prevention of cruelty to animals requires effective state anti-cruelty laws.  Unfortunately, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), which is the federal agency responsible for the Animal Welfare Act’s enforcement, is frequently under-funded for enforcement of the Animal Welfare Act.  In addition, State Dog Wardens are also under staffed and under funded.  Also, just as animal rescuers vary in their opinions about adoptability, people with an animal use mindset vary in their opinions about their rights and responsibilities when it comes to their pets or breeding stock.

    
Could state laws be enacted to address the puppy mill problem?     

Yes, but again, it takes funding and commitment to enforce the law, and there are constant efforts to weaken these laws such as in Kansas where a law makes it a felony to enter an animal facility and take photographs.  Supporters of this law say it’s meant to protect farmers and ranchers from attacks by “militant animal-rights groups,” but this law hinders a cruelty investigator’s power to investigate and document cruelty to animals.

Can cruelty investigators from Humane Societies cite puppy mill owners for animal cruelty?     

For Pennsylvania, and probably most other states, the answer is “Yes, but”.

A humane society cruelty investigator/officer in Pennsylvania can only enforce specific laws [Section 5511 (c)] pertaining to animal cruelty.  For example, the law states that a person may not deprive “any animal of food, water, shelter or necessary veterinary care.”  Yet, a “witness” must contact the investigator about a problem. Then, assuming the officer can show “probable cause” (reasonable belief a crime has been committed), the officer may obtain a warrant and be allowed on the property.  Except in extreme cases, most perpetrators are able to rectify the conditions before the agent returns with a warrant.  There are also breeders whose own personal hygiene practices are consistent with that of the care of their dogs and the conditions will never be far from marginal.  A dog breeder recently elected to shoot and kill 80 of his breeders as opposed to following through on the costly vet exams ordered by cruelty agents.  Under the law, this is allowed.

Have any puppy mills or pet shops been charged with cruelty or not providing proper care?     

Yes, but the fines are low enough to allow puppy mill or pet shop owners to keep their businesses open.  In 2005, the owner of Puppy Love Kennels, Joyce Stoltzfus, was charged with selling sick dogs and having an unhealthy facility.  She had to pay more than $50,000 in enhanced restitution to 171 consumers who filed complaints with the Office of the Attorney General. She must also pay $25,000 in fines and investigation costs, and be required to comply with stricter standards pertaining to the sale of puppies in the future.  That may sound like a lot of money, but Joyce Stoltzfus will continue to sell puppies to the public, since the profit is so high.  Puppy Love Kennels remains open to the unsuspecting public.

      
What can I do to bring about more effective enforcement of existing laws?