Puppy mill

A puppy mill, sometimes known as a puppy farm, is a commercial dog breeding facility.

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. 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 in order to maintain a low overhead and maximize profits". The ASPCA uses a similar definition: "a large-scale commercial dog breeding operation where profit is given priority over the well-being of the dogs." Commercial kennels may be licensed by the United States Department of Agriculture and state and local jurisdictions which may inspect the kennels routinely.

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.

The Kennel Club and the American Kennel Club state that responsible breeders should raise their animals with the intent to produce healthy dogs, and to ensure that all animals are provided responsible homes and socialization, though there is no way to enforce these wishes or records kept to prove this is the case. The socialization period in a puppy occurs between the ages of 4 weeks up to 14 weeks of age. This period is crucial for adult development as almost all adult abilities are learnt in this stage. With puppy mills essentially skipping this stage, it can result in problems when the puppy matures to adult.

In puppy mills, females are sometimes bred every time they are in heat, 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.

The ASPCA states that some puppy mills can have up to 1,000 bitches under one roof. With high volumes of breeding bitches, the mill runner will often resort to housing the bitches in wire cages, resulting in the animals having poor locomotion. 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 puppy mills will often have internal parasites, affecting their health. Puppy mills are often unheated, increasing deaths from cold among the breeding bitches. Conversely, the mills can also be too hot in warmer weather leading to, hyperthermia.

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