A puppy mill, also known as a puppy farm, is a commercial dog breeding facility characterized by quick breeding and poor conditions. Although no standardized legal definition for "puppy mill" exists, a definition was established in Avenson v. Zegart in 1984 as "a dog breeding operation in which the health of the dogs is disregarded to maintain a low overhead and maximize profits". They are cited as being a result of increased demand for household pets, especially after World War II. The Veterinary Medical Association of the Humane Society of the United States defines the main characteristics of a puppy mill as "emphasis on quantity over quality, indiscriminate breeding, continuous confinement, lack of human contact and environmental enrichment, poor husbandry, and minimal to no veterinary care." 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. In these puppy mills, breeding dogs are often subjected to living the entirety of their lives in cages, which are cramped and uncomfortable for the dog. An estimated 500,000 dogs are kept solely for the purpose of breeding in puppy mills.
Background The socialization period in a puppy occurs between the ages of 4 weeks and up to 14 weeks of age. This period is crucial for adult development as almost all adult abilities are learned during this stage. With puppy mills essentially skipping the process of socialization, the result is often social problems when the puppy matures to adulthood.
Conditions in puppy mills The ASPCA states that some puppy mills can have up to 1,000 dogs under one roof. Because of the high volume of animals, the mill runner will often resort to housing them in wire cages. This results in the animals having poor locomotion. Keeping dogs in wire kennels can lead to injury and damage to the dogs' paws and legs. It's also fairly common for these kennels to be stacked on top of each other in columns. The conditions in these mills are so unsanitary that the animals are often coated in their own urine and feces, causing mats in their fur. Due to unsanitary conditions, puppies from mills will often have internal parasites, affecting their health. Puppy mills are often unheated and this increases the number of deaths due to cold among the dogs used for breeding. Conversely, the mills can also be too hot in warmer weather leading to hyperthermia. Other common conditions in mills include malnutrition and untreated injuries. Due to the frequently poor breeding conditions in puppy mills, puppies bred there often suffer from health and/or social problems. Puppy mill dogs are usually housed in a small, wire cages similar to rabbit hutches and chicken coops. Puppies raised in these cramped environments 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 having 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. A high population of puppies from mills are inbred due to uncontrolled breeding. 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 estimated number of puppies per breeding female per year is 9.4. In most puppy mills, the dogs live in cages that are only 15 centimetres (6 inches) larger than the dog on all sides, which is the minimum legal size allowed. Two million puppies are bred in mills each year and almost 1.2 million dogs are euthanized in shelters every year. 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 Puppy mills originated in the post-World War II era. Midwestern farmers, suffering crop failures, turned to puppy farming as an alternative crop. An increasing demand for household pets resulted in the development of the "commercial puppy business". Conditions in puppy mills were well known to be poor. 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
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