Vazquez 1

Jennifer Vazquez

Charlene Keeler

Writing 39C / HCP Final Draft

May 10, 2018

Puppy Mills: An On-going Battle to Ensure the Best Environment

It is estimated that there are 10,000 puppy mills in the U.S, which include both licensed

and unlicensed puppy mills; furthermore, about 2.02 million puppies are sold annually from

USDA and non-USDA licensed puppy mills (The Humane Society of the United States(HSUS)).

The issue with puppy mills is that the current laws in place as an effort to ‘oversee’ puppy mills

create complications in regulation. Consequently, many puppy mills have managed to stay

clandestine and don’t adhere to the current laws. Unlicensed puppy mills have the puppies

undergoing inhumane treatment. In

Cabarrus County, North Carolina; 20

staffers from the HSUS, forensic camera

crew members, vets, “sheriff of Cabarrus

County and his deputies” rescued dogs

from an illegal puppy mill that Patricia

Yates was running; the inhumane

treatment that these dogs were found in

was shocking(Solotaroff). The dogs were
found with their fur “so matted and
Figure 1. This image shows the conditions some of the animals
that were rescued, from Patricia Yates' puppy mill, were in.
https://www.rollingstone.com/culture/features/the-dog-factory-
inside-the-sickening-world-of-puppy-mills-w457673

excrement mottled” (Solotaroff). A problem that is closely connected to the prior issue are that

not many states have strict laws against or controlling puppy mills and the part of the U.S
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government in charge of making sure that the “legal” puppy mills are following the “correct”

regulation isn’t fully helping these poor animals.

A Puppy Mill is a facility in which dogs are bred for monetary purposes. Many of these

puppy mills keep dogs of all ages under poor conditions, or even kept in an illegal, un-licensed

facility. Puppy Mills do not care for the puppy’s health and emotional well-being. Instead, they

seek mass reproduction from the adult dogs to gain as much profit as they can from the puppies

they sell. They gain this profit by not investing much into the food and keeping up of the place in

which the dogs are held. Evidence of this approach, from illegal puppy mills, to make profit is

seen in the bust of Patricia Yates’ puppy mill; there were “very dirty water bowls and inadequate

levels of food” (Weeks).

The origins of puppy mills date back to the end of the second World War. The military

men, such as the soldiers and other government officers, were coming back home to the U.S in a

time where the economy was in decline. The economy, specifically the agriculture economy, was

collapsing and consequently there wasn’t many jobs; thus, “the U.S. Department of Agriculture

[USDA] suggested that farmers attempt to support their families by breeding pure-bred dogs”

(Towsey 161). And so inexperienced farmer and soldiers started to breed dogs with little to no

veterinary care and food since they themselves were dire circumstances where they had no

money. Here is where the breeders start to view these innocent dogs as “cash crops” instead of

considering them as pets (Towsey 159). Since breeding was done for profit, they needed to cut

corners and reduce or not even give the animals veterinary care, decent quality of sanitation, and

food. This “profit” mentality is something that has continued until this day and many current

puppy mills owner have this mindsight.

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In 1966 the Federal Government took a course of action against animal cruelty by passing

the Animal Welfare Act that would regulate the traffic and selling of animals in general. The

USDA was put in charge of enforcing the Animal Welfare Act, specifically the Animal and Plant

Health agency is the one whom directly works to “enforce” the AWA. The 1966 AWA set the

bare minimum standards for how the puppy mills could run which are still not an ideal or

humane way to keep these animals. Even the USDA has published on their website that “the

1966 act set minimum standards for the handling, sale, and transport of cats, dogs, nonhuman

primates, rabbits, hamsters, and guinea pigs held by animal dealers or pre-research in

laboratories.” The AWA of 1966 was so vague when it came to the terms in which how breeder

will be able to get their license as well to the standards the facilities for breeding must meet.

Section 3 of the AWA refers to how breeders will get licensed after the proper paperwork,

payments, and adherence to the standards addressed in section 13. Section 13 obscurely depicts

the minimum requirements in which the breeding facility must be kept protecting the well- being

of the dogs. These standards in the

1966 AWA, section 13, included

“minimum requirements with respect

to the housing, feeding, watering,

sanitation, ventilation, shelter from

extremes of weather and temperature,

separation by species, and adequate

veterinary care”.
It is evident that the 1966
AWA shows an interest to protect
Figure 2. This image depicts the filthy conditions in which this dog is
kept in a puppy mill. Courtesy of Aimee Stubbs.
https://www.rollingstone.com/culture/features/the-dog-factory-inside-
the-sickening-world-of-puppy-mills-w457673
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animals from cruel and inhumane conditions but wasn’t necessarily inclusive to all animals. In

1970 the AWA was amended to redefine what the term “animal” encompassed to include

“warm-blooded” animals. This allowed the USDA to regulate research facilities much closer so

that the animal testing could be supervised. The AWA was once again amended because of its

vagueness in 1976 to regulate the transportation, handling of animals. In 1990 a “Pet Protection

Act” was amended into the AWA and this further helped protect pets. To continue increasing the

specificity of the AWA it was edited again in 2002 to exclude mice, birds, rats from being

protected as animals of research. Finally, in 2007 the Animal Welfare Act was amended, and

they added the Animal Fighting Prohibition Act that was signed by President George W. Bush

(Adams).

The AWA has provided some of the basic regulation towards puppy mills, but because of

some of its loop holes additional regulation and enforcement is needed from the state and local

counties. The Federal government has tried to help regulate puppy mills and has the USDA

enforce the Animal Welfare Act; however, what happens when the USDA isn’’t completely

transparent and fully enforces the AWA? The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) took

down the website, a week before February 09, 2017, in which the pet stores could look at if the

puppy mill from which they bought the dogs from was legal or not, or if the breeders had any

past violations (Staahl). Some bills such as the Arizona senate bill 1258 stated that pet stores

must have a page with the record of where the animal was from whether it be a rescue or a legal

puppy mill and the website from the USDA in which people could find out more information.

According to the Arizona Senate Bill 1248, the penalties that pet stores in Arizona receive is as

follows: for the first violation the pet store is fined for “no more than one thousand dollars”; for

the second violation within a five-year period the fine is two thousand dollars (Arizona-2016-
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SB1248-Chaptered). However, due to the retraction of the website from the USDA many pet

stores are at a loss and don’t know what to do. Also, there are loop holes to existing legislation,

such as the Animal Welfare Act, that was enacted to try to protect the dogs in puppy mills.

The USDA division enforcing the Animal Welfare Act called the Animal and Plant

Health Inspection agency (APHIS) are in charge of inspecting all of the potential licensed and

current licensed breeders all across the country. The AWA is difficult to enforce because “there

are approximately seventy inspectors tasked with examining all AWA licensed facilities in the

entire United States, totaling over 8000 facilities” (Towsey 169). There is not much the USDA,

APHIS, or state and county laws can do to regulate unlicensed puppy mills. With this new

technological era, puppy mills have moved with forward with technology and are now accessible

online.

The living conditions in which the

puppies are living in these mills effect the

sociability of the dogs and their physical

health. These animals lack the proper

veterinary care and the unsanitary

conditions in which they are caged in is

horrendous. In Arkansas July of 2016,

Dryfork Kennel was cited for repeat

violations of the AWA; furthermore, 3
dogs were found in dire need of veterinary
care. The nine-year-old chihuahua had a
Figure 3 The picture above shows dogs from an unlicensed
Arkansas puppy mill.
http://www.humanesociety.org/assets/pdfs/pets/puppy_mills/unlicens
ed_and_internet_pm.pdf

broken jaw and in May 2011 this same kennel was cited for the malnourishment of the dogs they
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had. USDA inspector

noticed that there were

many hunting dogs that

were “extremely thin to

the point of ribs, hips and

spinal column protruding”

(The Horrible Hundred

2017). In another case,

Alejandro Franco was

fined for the amount of

2,775 dollars for selling

“underage sickly puppy” in
California and he didn’t
Figure 4. The image above shows the puppy mill that Barbara Crick, a repeat
offender of the AWA, was running. The image shows the lack of sanitation and it
was reported that some dogs lacked water in their containers. (Courtesy of
Nebraska Dept of Agriculture)

have a license to sell dogs online; this goes to show that many of these puppy mills are operating

illegally and that these puppies and older dogs are enduring conditions that make them sick and

malnourished (The Horrible Hundred 2017). Dogs are put into small cages limiting their

movement to stretch and might even have to urinate or release their excrement in the cage. These

cages are stacked one on top of another, so the feces of another dog can just fall on them which

can lead to further health issues for these dogs. Because these dogs lack the proper care and are

caged up they don’t get to socialize very much and so this causes extra stress and fear in the dog.

Many of the older dogs are trapped in these conditions their entire lives because the breeders,

humans, have them there so they can be constantly reproducing and birthing new puppies. The

liters at puppy mills are taken away from their mother at a very young age that cause a strain on
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Figure 5 is from the McMillan, Franklin D., Deborah L. Duffy, and James A. Serpell article, pg. 90

the social lives of the puppies and their mother. In the article Mental Health of Dogs formerly

used as ‘Breeding Stock’ in Commercial Establishments by Franklin D. Mc Millan, Deborah L.

Duffy, and James Serpell, rescued Canine Commercial Breeding Establishment (CBE) dogs were

evaluated to see if these dogs “developed extreme and persistent fears and phobias, possible

learning deficits as evidenced by lower trainability, and often show difficulty in coping

successfully with normal existence” (McMillan).

The evidence gathered in the McMillan article is the first to quantify the mental and physical

damages of puppy mills to dogs; additionally, the poor conditions in which dogs at puppy mills,

whether it be licensed or not, “demonstrates impaired mental health and, as a result, diminished

welfare” (McMillan 93). About 26.8% of the ex-puppy mill bred dogs in McMillan’s study
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showed physical health problems while an alarming 80% of the CBE dogs showed behavioral

problems (McMillan 89).

Regulations such as the AWA and other state laws are hard to enforce on puppy

mills that are not licensed, because you don’t know where they are located, and some get their

clientele online. Even licensed puppy mills are an issue for the USDA because there are so many

but the human resources to go out and do inspections without warning is very complicated.

Viable solutions that could help with regulating puppy mills is to have the federal government

fund not only the USDA but also the HSUS another Humane society whom are already involved

in the busts of puppy mills. Also adopting a pet from a shelter or from the busts that are made

from puppy mills allow the puppy mill business to not create as much revenue.

States have tried to do their own part, but pushing stricter laws only pushes forward the

market for illegal/ unlicensed puppy mills which are worse because there is no type of

enforcement to maintain and ideal environment for the dogs. I still need supplementary research

on existing law that are against puppy mills and how effective they are. Another area for me to

research would be to investigate how the USDA is funded and see if there are ways in which

they can be more efficient with their inspections because in many areas such as Missouri

inspections are not regularly held because many of these puppy mills are in remote places. Also,

I need to further investigate how puppy mill buster find out about the illegal puppy mills and

how we can further advertise that type of action to help reprehend inhumane puppy mills.
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Works cited

Adams, Benjamin, and Jean Larson. “Legislative History of the Animal Welfare Act:
Introduction.” United States Department of Agriculture,
www.nal.usda.gov/awic/legislative-history-animal-welfare-act-introduction

Arizona-2016-SB1248-Chaptered. https://legiscan.com/AZ/text/SB1248/id/1413787/Arizona-
2016-SB1248-Chaptered.html. Accessed 11 May 2018.

Carmody, Sean. “Hawaii Puppy Mill Investigation.” Last Chance for Animals - Hawaii Puppy
Mill, www.lcanimal.org/index.php/investigations/investigations-in-the-field/puppy-mill-
investigations/hawaii-puppy-mill-investigation.

McMillan, Franklin D., Deborah L. Duffy, and James A. Serpell. "Mental health of dogs
formerly used as ‘breeding stock’in commercial breeding establishments." Applied Animal
Behaviour Science 135.1 (2011): 86-94.

Solotaroff, Paul. “The Dog Factory: Inside the Sickening World of Puppy Mills.” Rolling Stone,
Rolling Stone, 3 Jan. 2017, www.rollingstone.com/culture/features/the-dog-factory-inside-
the-sickening-world-of-puppy-mills-w457673.

Staahl, Derek. “USDA Action Threatens Arizona 'Puppy Mill' Law, Advocates Say.” Phoenix
News - Arizona's Family, 10 Feb. 2017, www.azfamily.com/story/34472932/usda-action-
threatens-arizona-puppy-mill-law-advocates-say.

“The Animal Welfare Act - Public Law 89-544 Act of August 24, 1966.” United States
Department of Agriculture, www.nal.usda.gov/awic/animal-welfare-act-public-law-89-
544-act-august-24-1966.

The Horrible Hundred 2017: Uncovering U.S. Puppy Mills.

http://www.humanesociety.org/news/press_releases/2017/05/horrible-hundred-2017-
uncovering-puppy-mills.html. Accessed 13 Apr. 2018.

The Humane Society of the United States. “Puppy Mills: Facts and Figures.” The Humane
Society of the United States, Dec. 2016,
www.humanesociety.org/assets/pdfs/pets/puppy_mills/puppy-mills-facts-and-figures.pdf.

The Humane Society of the United States. “Puppy Mills: Then and Now.” The Humane Society
of the United States, 2012, www.humanesociety.org/assets/pdfs/pets/puppy_mills/report-
puppy-mills-then-now.pdf.

Towsey, Melissa. Something Stinks: The Need for Environmental Regulation of Puppy Mills.
Villanova Environmental Law Journal, 2010,
digitalcommons.law.villanova.edu/elj/vol21/iss1/6/.
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Weeks, Erin. “Puppy Mill Bust Rescues 130 Animals.” The Independent Tribune, The
Independent Tribune, 28 Sept. 2016, www.independenttribune.com/news/puppy-mill-bust-
rescues-animals/article_3b7f6a1a-84ef-11e6-9ed8-934f24e37a85.html.