What is a Puppy Mill?

"Puppy Mill" is a general term that refers to commercial canine and/or feline breeding operations that mass produce large quantities of pets in substandard, overcrowded, unsanitary conditions with little regard for the pets health, safety, or welfare; which frequently results in an inferior pet for the consumer.

Photo courtesy of Companion Animal Protection Society (CAPS)

Puppy Mills are defined variously as:

• Any high-volume breeder whose "cash crop" is puppies (small-scale puppy farmers by this definition are usually referred to as "backyard breeders");
• Just those high-volume breeders who breed pets as their livelihood and keep them in unsanitary, cruel, or abusive conditions;
• Just those commercial breeders who sell their "crop" to pet stores;
• Any breeder of puppies purely for commercial gain, regardless of how many parent dogs or breeds are on the premises, how they are housed and treated, or whether they are sold through pet stores, wholesale to brokers, direct to the public either at the facility or at swap meets, out of the back of cars, through the internet, with advertising in newspapers, signs along the road, etc

All sources agree, however, that even the best "commercial breeder" is an undesirable source for happy, healthy, well-socialized pets. It's a little known fact that many, if not most, pet store kittens, birds, reptiles, and other animals come from the same type of breeding facility.

The problem with large commercial breeding facilities is, they are in the business solely to make money. They "farm" pet animals as other livestock breeders "farm" pigs, chickens, and cows (and, if they sell pets wholesale, are governed by the same agency). The goal is profit, pure and simple.

The "breeding stock" — parents of the "cash crop" — will probably never make it out of the mill, subsisting with poor quality food and shelter, often in overcrowded, filthy, wire-bottomed cages; receiving minimal veterinary care, if any; lacking socialization with humans; enduring active physical abuse, and being killed or left to die when no longer "productive." They will be bred as often as possible to increase profits, inbred (meaning that the parent dogs are brother and sister, father and daughter, mother and son, etc.); and sometimes bred indiscriminately. Altogether too frequently, "defective" pups rejected by brokers, pet stores, or consumers, end up at mill auctions as breeders.

Investigations of some millers have even uncovered falsified lineage records (fake AKC/UKC registrations). If this type of fraud is discovered, these facilities lose their "registration privileges" with the AKC or UKC (see What Does AKC/ UKC/ Breed Registration Really Mean?), but some other registries have been invented by and for breeders who have been barred from the legitimate breed registries just to impress prospective puppy purchasers who haven't "done their homework."

Because of these indiscriminate breeding practices, pups may not actually be purebred, or may be born with serious genetic disorders such as heart murmurs, hip problems, skin problems, deafness, allergies, plates in the skull that don't close properly, aggressive temperaments, or a host of other hereditary defects. Some of these problems may show up as soon as the customer gets the new pup home. Some may not become evident for several years.

Puppies born in commercial breeding facilities are also generally separated from their mother and siblings weeks before they are ready. Studies have shown that pups are taught important lessons in socialization, pack order, and discipline in the first eight weeks of their lives. Puppies removed from their mothers' gentle discipline and their siblings' play before the age of eight weeks may never learn important lessons about getting along with other animals — including non-dominant members of their new human families. And puppies whose only contact with humans is as "merchandise" may never learn how to respond to humans as friends and pack leaders.

For the consumer who purchases a pet that started life with a commercial breeder, these factors all too often result in the heartache of a new animal companion facing severe physical and temperament problems and even early death. At the very least, a pet store customer may take home a completely unsocialized — and unsociable — puppy who may, within a matter of days, end up in a shelter because of excessive nipping, biting, or refusal to bond with his/her new family members.