What is a puppy mill?

• Puppy mills are commercial breeding facilities that mass-produce puppies for sale to pet stores, over the Internet, or directly to the public.
• Puppy mills commonly house animals in overcrowded, filthy, and inhumane conditions with inadequate shelter and care.

Aren’t there laws to stop this?
• Puppy mills are legal in the United States.
• There are some state and federal laws designed to provide dogs with the most basic of care but inadequate funding and loopholes in these laws make them ineffective.
• Some puppy mills (those that sell wholesale, such as to pet stores) are regulated under the federal Animal Welfare Act. The Act is enforced by the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA).
• Due to a loophole in the Animal Welfare Act, large commercial breeders who sell puppies directly to pet owners, including those who sell over the Internet, are exempt from any federal oversight. These unregulated Internet sellers and other direct sales facilities sell thousands of sick and sometimes dying puppies a year to unsuspecting consumers. Some states have licensing and inspection programs for these breeders but most do not.
• This loophole is enormous. For example, in 2007 in Virginia, only 17 breeders were required to be licensed by USDA and fell under USDA regulations. However, investigations by the The Humane Society of the United States (The HSUS) revealed almost 1,000 commercial puppy breeders in the state. The vast majority of puppy mills fall into this loophole and often are not subject to any federal or state oversight.
• As of 2007, the USDA Animal Care program employed 102 inspectors for all regulated businesses, including more than 4,600 licensed Class A breeders. Over the years The HSUS has encouraged better staffing and funding for USDA inspection programs in order to increase enforcement capabilities. Inspection records obtained by The HSUS show that many USDA-licensed breeders get away with repeated violations of the Animal Welfare Act. These violators are rarely fined nor are their licenses suspended. Facilities with long histories of repeated violations for basic care conditions are often allowed to renew their licenses again and again.
• In 2008, precedent-setting legislation passed in Virginia and Louisiana that placed an actual limit on the number of intact dogs that can be kept by any one breeder, in order to prevent the operation of “mega mills,” enormous factory-farm style breeding facilities.
• Some states have “Puppy Lemon Laws” designed to protect the consumer by ensuring they can get their money back if their puppy dies or is severely ill soon after purchase. However, these laws do nothing to address the cruelty that is typical in puppy mills.

How many puppy mills are there in the United States?
• There are over 4,600 breeding operations licensed by the United States Department of Agriculture; The HSUS estimates roughly 80% of those operations are breeding dogs for the pet trade (roughly 3700).
• There are an unknown number of puppy mills not required to be licensed. The HSUS estimates there are about 10,000 unlicensed operations.
• Unlicensed operations vary greatly in size from over 1,000 dogs down to smaller “mini-mills” that have 20-40 dogs. Conditions in these smaller puppy mills often are just as bad as conditions in massive operations.
• The average female breeding dog has an estimated 4.7 puppies per litter (an average provided by AKC during the legislative process). Each female produces an average of 2 litters per year. Therefore a puppy mill with 50 females can produce 470 puppies per year.

What is it like for dogs in puppy mills?
• The dogs used for breeding will live their entire lives in cages, forced to breed as frequently as possible.
• Conditions are often cramped and unsanitary and veterinary care is lacking, leading to disease.
• Dogs who can no longer breed are destroyed or discarded.

Where should people get dogs and puppies?
• We encourage everyone to make adoption their first choice; with so many animals in shelters in desperate need of a home, all animal lovers should be looking to help solve the problem of pet homelessness.
• Nationwide, one out of every four dogs in a shelter is a purebred.
• There are purebred rescue groups for every breed of dog.
• The latest fad, “designer” or “hybrid” dogs, are showing up in shelters, and rescue groups are forming for them as well.
• For families who want to purchase a puppy from a breeder, it is imperative that they see where their puppy was born and how the parents live and are treated.

Do puppy mills affect animal shelters?
• Absolutely. Puppy mills are part of the pet overpopulation problem in the U.S.
• The HSUS estimates puppy mills pump 2-4 million puppies into the marketplace each year; these sales take homes away from dogs in shelters and rescue groups.
• In 2001, the most recent update available, The ICMA (International City/County Management Association) Animal Control Management Guide suggests that cities and counties budget between $4-7 per capita for regular operations of animal control programs.

Is The HSUS against all dog breeding?
• The HSUS is not opposed to responsible dog breeding, but we do take an unapologetic stand against puppy mills and irresponsible breeders. Although we always recommend a shelter as the very best place to get a pet, The HSUS also publishes several guides for the public to help them find and identify a good dog breeder, including our Puppy Buyer's Guide and our Good Breeder Checklist. These are available for free on our website.
• A reputable breeder: believes that dogs who are used for breeding should be kept as part of the family; believes that housing dogs in cages 24 hours a day for years on end is an inhumane way to treat such an animal, one who thrives on companionship; supports excellence in care and attention for breeding dogs and their puppies
• We support legislation that takes a comprehensive approach to protecting dogs in breeding facilities, such as: capping the number of breeding dogs that can be kept; allowing female dogs only between the ages of 18 months and 8 years to be used for breeding; breeding each female dog no more than once per year; prohibiting wire flooring and stacking of cages; and providing dogs with adequate space, shelter, exercise socialization and vet care.
• You can see the Puppy Buyer's Guide at www.humanesociety.org/puppy.
• You can see our Good Breeder Checklist at http://www.hsus.org/web-files/PDF/Good_breeder.pdf. (Please note that this is a list of good breeder characteristics, not a list of breeders.)

Source: HSUS (http://www.hsus.org/index.html)