There are thousands of puppy mills currently operating across the United States. Life inside these intense breeding operations—which can see dogs crowded into someone’s basement, barn or shed, stacked in outdoor cages exposed to the elements, or hidden in a windowless concrete building—is one of endless suffering for the dogs involved. Mother and father dogs often spend their entire lives in the dark and in misery, deprived of basic needs like adequate food and water, medical care, fresh air or room to move freely. Mill owners treat them as breeding machines and the litters of puppies they produce as units of production. They hide the noise, smell and squalor by operating in rural areas. And they use deceptive advertising to hide the grim reality of where pet store puppies come from.
The Humane Society of the United States is leading the fight to end retail sales of puppies, drive inhumane puppy mills out of business, strengthen care standards at and oversight of mass breeding operations, and move consumers away from purchasing a pet and toward adoption. More than 34,850 homeless pets have been saved as a result of our Puppy Friendly Pet Stores conversion program, which encourages pet stores to help with homeless pet adoptions rather than selling commercially-raised puppies.
Our work on puppy mills has changed the landscape for dogs used in the breeding industry. We have helped pass 335 local ordinances and three state laws that ban or regulate sales of puppies (and other animals) in retail pet stores, carried out multiple undercover investigations that led to the closure of stores and mills, publicized violations and abuses by mill owners from inspection records and data, and run national campaigns that educate consumers about how and why to adopt their next family member from their local shelter or rescue group. In May, the USDA finalized a new rule requiring commercial dog breeders to obtain regular veterinary care and vaccinations for dogs, provide continual fresh water, and to demonstrate compliance with the Animal Welfare Act before obtaining a new license. The rule encompasses several standards that HSUS requested in a 2015 legal petition to the agency and had been pressing the agency to adopt ever since
We’ve made great progress but much more needs to be done. With your support, we will continue to:
• Expose cruel conditions at mills and animal neglect at pet stores
• Reduce the market for puppy mill dogs by restricting or banning retail sales, creating partnerships between pet stores and shelters and moving consumers toward adoption and responsible breeders.
• Enact strong standards of care and higher penalties for violations in the biggest puppy-producing states, reform US Department of Agriculture regulations for commercial dog breeding and ensure vigorous enforcement of oversight laws.
• Save dogs trapped in puppy mills through direct rescues and assistance to law enforcement and other rescue groups
Our Animal Rescue Team has rescued more than 10,000 dogs;
• The Animal Rescue Team deploys to scenes of suspected cruelty and neglect at puppy mills and launches a rescue as soon as law enforcement gives the green light.
• Use the courts to hold retailers and mill operators accountable: Our findings and investigations have triggered multiple consumer lawsuits against retailers and mill owners and shut down dozens of mills and pet stores.
• Change bad federal policy: We got the US Department of Agriculture to crack down on the import of puppies from foreign mills, saving thousands of dogs from transport before they were fully weaned and vaccinated.
• Move customers toward adoption instead of purchases: Our Puppy Friendly Pet Stores program has helped more than 3,000 pet stores pledge not to sell puppies, and led to adoptions of more than 20,000 local shelter pets instead.
• Video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1D19CeyWaa8
Factory farms for dogs
Every year, some 1 million adoptable dogs are euthanized in shelters in the US while puppy mills churn out an estimated 2 million puppies.
In most states, breeders can keep dozens or hundreds of dogs in tiny cages for their entire lives. The federal Animal Welfare Act (AWA) sets minimum standards for care, enforced by the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) but many licensed breeders retain their licenses despite having a long history of repeated violations.
Although all 50 states have anti-cruelty laws, they are seldom applied to puppy mills if the dogs in question have the rudimentary basics of shelter, food and water. Mill dogs are often treated as agricultural “crops” and not as pets, with little concern for their health and well-being.
Puppy mill dogs are often sold to unsuspecting families despite having serious and even fatal health and hereditary conditions such as seizures, neurological conditions, liver disease, parvovirus, distemper, parasites, pneumonia, or skin and ear infections.
More than 5,000 consumers have told us about sick or dying puppies bought from sellers supplied by puppy mills.
The Humane Society of the United States receives complaints from buyers of sick puppies on a daily basis—more than 5,300 in the last 10 years via our online complaint form, email and our puppy mill tip line. In July 2018, we published the results of 10 years of complaints and stories from consumers who purchased puppy mill dogs. The accounts are heartbreaking and hard to read. And they are far too common.
It’s not unusual for puppies to seem healthy at the time of purchase— deadly diseases and conditions can have weeks-long incubation periods— only to become sick or even die within a few days of arriving in their new home. Some buyers report spending thousands of dollars trying to save the life of a sick puppy, with a few spending more than $10,000 on veterinary care to save the life or ease the suffering of a beloved pet.
Our Stop Puppy Mills campaign exposes inhumane breeding operations and sales in states with high numbers of mills. We investigate suspected cruelty and neglect at pet stores that sell puppies from mills. We collaborate with and assist law enforcement authorities to enforce laws and prosecute offenders, and provide ongoing law enforcement training, tip lines, rewards, and investigations. And our annual “Horrible Hundred” report publicizes the worst mass breeding facilities in America
With your help, we will continue to:
• Expose abuse, reduce demand, and change laws saving dogs’ lives
• Make it harder for puppy mills to operate: We’ve led the fight for stricter laws in more than 30 states on a range of puppy mill-related issues, from licensing and inspections of breeders to higher welfare standards for dogs and protections for consumers.
• Win historic reforms of the commercial breeding industry: In Ohio, a state with one of the worst records on puppy mills, we helped set a new national standard for the care of dogs in commercial breeding operations; and we passed stricter regulations for breeders and facilities in Georgia, New Hampshire and Iowa.
• Reduce the market for puppy mill dogs: We’ve helped pass 335 local bans or restrictions on the retail sale of puppies (and often kittens, too) and three state bans.
• Defeat the retail pet industry lobby: We’ve thwarted dozens of state-level attempts by retail pet industry lobbyists to block new restrictions and bans on retail pet sales.
