User:MachoCoMachoMan/sandbox

A puppy mill is place for puppies and dogs, usually on a farm. The puppies/dogs live in puppy mills until they are sold off to commercial businesses. People who own puppy mills participate in dog breeding. The puppy mill dogs usually live on farms that have harsh living conditions. The ones involved are the dog breeders, who's motive is to sell as many puppies for a profit. The characteristics of a puppy mill are, as said in the report by the Humane Society Veterinary Medical Association, "Emphasis on Quantity not Quality, Indiscriminate Breeding, Continuous Confinement, Lack of Human Contact and Environmental Enrichment, Poor Husbandry and Minimal to No Veterinary Care." Dog breeders focus on quantity not quality meaning, their goal is to make as many puppies as possible for the most amount of revenue. When there is upsurge demand on a certain type of dog, breeders/puppy mills try to meet that demand but when these dogs do not sell most of them end up in animal shelters. When dog breeders focus more on quantity than quality overpopulation happens in the puppy mills and a disease is more likely to spread. According the Humane Society Veterinary Medical Association indiscriminate breeding is when, "dogs are bred early and often and there is often no screening for heritable disorders, resulting in generations of dogs with unchecked hereditary defects." These dogs/puppies most of the times do not get to go outside rather they stay indoor, but in some mills they do stay outside. While in these puppy mills the dogs get no time to walk or play because they are trapped in the mills/small crates with so little space. Being in a small space and not being able to be active is not good for the dogs, it causes stress on these puppies and also they will not be able to fully grow how they should. The puppies do not get to interact with other humans when living in puppy mills, they do not get treats or toys and not being able to interact with other humans can lead to behavioral problems. As mentioned earlier puppy mills have poor husbandry meaning where they live it is unsanitary, their water is usually dirty, the food is not healthy for the dogs and no one cleans up after them. The puppy mill dogs get little to no veterinary care, the Humane Society Veterinary Medical Association stated, "Breeding dogs in puppy mills often suffer from injuries and diseases that go untreated. Injuries and disorders that don’t affect a dog’s reproductive capabilities are rarely treated. Arguably the worst problem is untreated advanced dental disease, causing infection, pain, and in severe cases the loss of part or all of the mandible and maxilla."

According to the Puppy Mill Project today there are about 167,388 breeding dogs living in United States Department of Agriculture (licensed commercial facility), there are 10,000 puppy mills in the United States (licensed and not licensed facilities), two millions puppies breed each year in the mills and almost 1.2 million dogs are euthanized in shelters every year.

The state of Missouri is the "Puppy Mill Capital" of the United States because of the amount of dog breeders that are in the state. The state of Missouri has around 1,600 puppy mills.

"The Missouri Dog Breeding Regulation Act, also known as Proposition B, was on the November 2, 2010 ballot in Missouri as an initiated state statute, where it was approved."

A current bill SB 161, section 273.327 states how there will be a fees for dog facilities every year. On the same bill section 273.347 states breeders can get penalties for animal care violations up to $1,000 and get a class C misdemeanor.

Gov. Jay Nixon, Missouri Attorney General Chris Koster, Missouri Director of Agriculture Jon Hagler and Humane Society of Missouri President Kathy Warnick in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, "explain how key provisions of a compromise dog breeding law passed in April will protect animals without putting dog breeders out of business."

"On March 21, 2018, we sued USDA for failing to release information in the Animal Welfare Act records we requested under the Freedom of Information. The following day, Congress urged the USDA to restore the records as part of a report accompanying the agency’s 2018 spending bill. But as of April 20, 2018, USDA had still not restored the records."

"In 2014, the Animal Legal Defense Fund filed a lawsuit against Barkworks, a Southern California pet store chain with six locations. The lawsuit was brought on behalf of several puppy purchasers tricked by Barkworks into purchasing sick puppies sourced from puppy mills."

"The Animal Legal Defense Fund filed a lawsuit against the Animal Kingdom pet store and purported rescue group Bark Adoptions for engaging in a puppy laundering scheme to unlawfully circumvent the California law that bans the sale of dogs from commercial breeders, commonly called puppy mills."