What exactly is a puppy mill?

Question

I've always been confused on what a puppy mill is ? And what they do there that makes them "so bad"

Answer 1

Puppy mills are a business built around selling puppies.



What's wrong with breeding puppies and making money at the same time? Isn't that what breeders do?



There is a difference between true breeders and puppy mills. True breeders are breeding dogs to better the breed. They want to make good breeding decisions that produce healthy, good temperament, good body conformation, etc. They have a standard that they strive to meet and surpass. They often have a lot of emotional investment in the breed as well, and so they take a personal interest in where all puppies end up, keeping in touch with owners through the years, and taking back puppies or even adult dogs if they don't work out in their new home.



Puppy mills are in it solely for the money. The health and well being of the dogs being bred is not really taken into consideration so that they are left outside, over crowded, filthy, no clean water or no water at all, and may be fed dog food or may be fed dumpster finds. Females are bred before they are even physically mature, and are bred every year until they stop producing puppies, and then they are often dumped somewhere because they are not healthy enough - and therefore not attractive enough - to sell. Puppies are mass produced in the same filthy conditions as their parents and are only cleaned up enough to make a nice show for picture advertisements online and when potential buyers come to pick them up. Often these puppies have behavior problems, health problems, developmental problems, or are the main suppliers for pet stores who want puppies in bulk. It is also not uncommon to find it difficult to get with the 'breeder' to complain about these problems, because their operations are often illegal, both because of the number of animals on a property, as well as the overall animal welfare violations and health hazards they present to neighbors, therefore they pick up and move often.



To be fair, there is a gray area between. Sometimes 'puppy mills' are really just an unfortunate person with a hoarding disorder. They do not have the capacity to see that they are failing to care for the animals properly, even if the business itself is otherwise honest.

Answer 2

A puppy mill is where people take a certain breed of dog (or mixture of breeds depending on what they are trying to produce) and keep them in very poor conditions. They continuously breed them until they can no longer produce and then they are killed and replace (obviously this is usually the mother in this situation as animals are built to breed non stop). They sell the pups at a very high price and make a lot of money out of exploiting the lives of harmless dogs.



There is a lot more to it but that's basically the gist of it.

Answer 3

they breed dogs on a large scale, and often in horrible conditions.



The breeding dogs are kept in tiny cages with wire floors so their waste falls through. They have nowhere to escape from this, so they spend their lives with painful dirty wires cutting into their paws. Their only purpose is to make more puppies, and if they cant, they are killed.



Their puppies are taken away young to be sold at extrodinarily high prices while their mothers waste away in dirty wire cages. None of that money goes to the dogs, it all goes into the mill owner's pocket.



Buying a pet store puppy doesn't save it, it just gives more money to the puppy mill to continue abusing that puppy's mother.

Answer 4

A mass breeding facility where dogs are bred, inbred and over-bred constantly in large numbers for profit.



Since these dogs are only bred for money/profit, these dogs are kept like cattle for the most part, except only worse, usually in cages, with 6 or 9 dogs that can barely house 3 dogs at the most and they're left to live, eat, sleep and die where they crap and urinate. Most of these dogs used for breeding are severely neglected, abused and are even killed once they cannot produce puppies anymore and others are kept in such horrific conditions one is left to ponder, what kind of human being could commit such heinous acts, on ANY "living thing".



The puppies are the profit. The adults are the slave labor. The adults are bred constantly, until basically they can't and then they are disposed of like trash. The puppies however, are sold in mass numbers to pet stores, or to the ignorant pet store buyer, who squeals at Petland when they see that cute little malformed Chihuahua in the window of a puppy play area.



Since the abuse and neglect of dogs is so horrid at puppy mills. Animal Welfare organizations are cracking down on those who run them, and the charges for running mills can result in years of prison time or worse, depending on the severity and abuse of the animals condition.



Since Animal Welfare groups have stepped up, and the public, educated themselves, the nasty morons who run these sh*t holes of terror have thus went into hiding, and now masquerade as Pet-shop owners, or just "hobby breeders" or even "dog shelter owners and runners".

Answer 5

It literally means a place that churns out puppies as a product.

The emphasis is on making profit. To do that, the dogs have as many puppies as they can, then when they are worn out they are either dumped in rescue, given away or put down.

The dogs are typically kept in battery cages like battery hens. They don't get let out or taken for walks. Or groomed, or seen by a vet.

The adult dogs may have any genetic disorder, they will still be bred from. Imported foreign bred puppies are a Rabies risk. Puppies are sold with diseases such as Parvo virus, many die.

The dogs may still be KC or AKC registered and full pedigree.





Typically the pups are either sold through a pet shop, or by local people through local free ad papers. They usually give a sob story that the mother died and the pups were hand reared.

Or they breed their own dog and buy in extra pups to sell as ringers.

They also get sold at car boot sales, auctions, in pubs and at motorway service stations.





Stop puppy farming

http://www.puppylovecampaigns.org/

http://www.rspca.org.uk/getinvolved/campaigns/companion/dogwelfare/borntosuffer/pedigree

http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=puppy+mills+exposed&sm=1

http://www.pets4homes.co.uk/pet-advice/puppy-farms-how-and-why-to-avoid-buying-a-farmed-puppy.html

http://cariadcampaign.wordpress.com/

Eastern European puppy farms supply UK pet shops;

http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/pups-trafficked-young-dogs-are-being-1391112



Would the money be better spent in supplying humane euthanasia to a larger number of animals?

http://www.secondchancerescuekennels.co.uk/

http://bepuppyfarmaware.webs.com/yourstories.htm

Answer 6

A large breeding operation that doesn't really take care of the animals they are breeding or the puppies that result from said breeding. The whole thing summed up is mainly just inbred dogs in horrible living conditions. The puppies that grow there usually end up deformed from the small cages and the adults end up dieing from over breading or birthing complications.



https://www.google.com/search?q=puppy+mill&rlz=1C1GGGE_enUS513US516&espv=210&es_sm=122&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ei=7AaQUvOkJpH0oASp7oGQAw&ved=0CEwQsAQ&biw=1280&bih=898



take your pick, they are all pretty much the same. Just people over breading animals that trust them to make a quick buck.

Answer 7

There are mainly 2 big problems which makes puppy mills hell.



1. Serve inbreeding, terrible genetics, MANY genetic problems passed down without anyone batting an eye.



2. The neglect is beyond horrifying. They care locked in tiny cages with multiple dogs, and are NEVER let out, ever! Their water is black, NEVER cleaned, and usually nothing protecting their paws from the wire on the ground, constantly cutting their paws. Along with that is NO socialization.



Here's a classic example.



http://animalrescuecorps.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/DSC_1899-tagged.jpg



They never get to leave that cage- ever. It's never cleaned, either.



Here's some more examples.



http://www.animal-rights-action.com/images/dogs-dead-in-filth-at-puppy-farms.jpg



http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_QQ6eQWnI1Wo/TAHRYEFKhfI/AAAAAAAAAB0/CbzCKPcFFgs/s1600/Puppy-mill1.jpg



http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/f4/Puppy_mill_01.jpg



^ Look at their nails!

Answer 8

A forced breeding farm where dogs are inter mated many times over. (Causes bad breeding)

Answer 9

In at nutshell to answer your question. Take your pick.

https://www.google.com/search?q=Pyppy+mill&rls=com.microsoft:en-us&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&startIndex=&startPage=1&rlz=

Check out the images.