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Originally Posted by bondai  Who decides who goes on the "puppy mill" list. |
Puppy mill means different things to different people. For some, it’s anyone who’s a commercial breeder, no matter how good the facility or how well the dogs are treated. For me, it’s more about how the breeding dogs are treated. If a breeder wants to sell their dogs to a pet store or a broker, they have to have a breeding license and this license is given by the USDA, and they have to follow minimum rules. However, if they want to sell directly to the public, for example, over the internet, they need no license, and never need to be inspected. This use to be suitable because pet buyers lived close and would inspect the kennels and see for themselves whether the conditions were humane. However, since the internet, people don’t visit the kennels and some of the worse puppy mills ever have the cutest web sites, and sell thousands of dogs. I’ve read hundreds of times if the breeder isn’t on the USDA list they aren’t a puppy mill, nothing could be further from the truth, and the breeders on the list at least have to have some inspections, not all breeders on the list are puppy mill, but if they have lots of violations, they probably are.
I take the word puppy mill very seriously, it’s not just a dog kept in a kennel, dogs don’t mind kennels as long as they aren’t cramped and rusty and dirty, they also need clean food and water and proper temperatures and regular exercise and good vet care and proper grooming and just plain old humane treatment. We’ll never stop the really horrible treatment of dogs if some of you can’t understand the differences in commercial breeders.
For more information on puppy mills please see my video on puppy mills.
http://www.yorkietalk.com/forums/mis...g-graphic.html