What is a Puppy Mill? How can I spot one?

I have been asked this question many times by pet owners and dog enthusiasts.

A puppy mill is any facility or breeder whose only purpose is to produce puppies for sale to the general public, brokers, and pet stores. Many offer no health guarantees or replacement puppies for extremely sick puppies or genetic defects. Dogs and puppies are commodities--not cherished members of the breeder's family. Usually the facility will have over 3 different breeds of dogs to include designer breed dogs like yorkie-poos. Many will make claims about affiliations with AKC (American Kennel Club), UKC, Animal Control, etc. Some may even be licensed by the USDA in attempt to seem legitimate; however, what puppy from a facility like this will make a good pet when they have had minimal human contact; the mother is constantly bred without allowing her body to rest; and there is no research on health/genetic problems for the breeding lines? USDA tries to get around to these facilities once a year; however, as you and I know, with so many of them and other responsibilities, this is not possible. It is not the fault of the USDA; it is the fault of unethical breeders and facilities.

How the process works is that these facilities will have many litters on the ground at any given time. If you find a breeder with more than 2 litters on the ground at the same time then they are most likely a small puppy mill. The reason why I say this is that a litter of puppies requires a lot of attention, care, and costs. No ethical breeder can justify having more than 2 litters on the ground at the same time and give each puppy and mother the attention that they need. Many of the dogs in these facilities are housed in pens or kennels that are meant to conserve space. You will see methods that will enable a speedy clean up like wire bottom cages or all concrete pads so that the excrement can fall through or be hosed off. After the puppies have been weaned and they are between the ages of 6-8 weeks, they are either sold directly to a pet store, broker, or placed in a dog auction to the highest bidder. The larger the operation, the cheaper the price that a facility is willing to accept for a puppy. Bids can start at $20 or even less and the highest bidder (usually a broker) walks away and cleans up the puppy, and then resales it to a pet store for maybe $100 . Consequently, the pet store turns around and marks up the puppy to $500 -$1000. Please look at the below link, you will even find AKC registered breeders here who have registered their dogs with other registries in order to sell them to brokers. The dogs pictured at this link are dogs from a dog auction.

http://www.nowisconsinpuppymills.com/thorpauction-dogstats.html.

Hopefully, this answers your questions about puppy mills. Do your research carefully.