USDA inspections are "twice as stringent" as AKC, then how do the huge puppy mills ever pass inspection?

inspections
 

Yorkiekist,
Puppy mills don't pass inspection here - at least in my area. A person / kennel is given a written warning to have something done normally within a few weeks - with what ever their problem is. If they don't have the problem taken care of by the time given, then the USDA, Sheriff's office, and the local Humane Society (not the HSUS) gets involved and takes the animals away. Many of the "puppy mills" that we hear about are "underground" back yard breeders that the USDA count on people to report so that they can find them and shut them down. The USDA is very tough in Missouri, and they do try to find the puppy mills to shut them down - and they are being successful in shutting down a lot of them - but since people think - wrongly - that raising puppies is easy money - they continue to pop up. Anyone who knows of a breeding facility where the dogs are not being cared for, I hope they are calling their local authorities and reporting them. They can also look up the number for the USDA and contact them. Any contact to USDA will cause them to make a visit to a breeder - even if that Breeder is not USDA. The state has the State Agriculture division that also has jurisdictions over ANYONE no matter if they are raising dogs are not if they have over 3 intack females. They can also be contacted.
I have USDA, state, and ACK inspections yearly, so I do know how each of these inspections are - and the reason my AKC inspection always goes GREAT - my AKC Inspector has offered to be a reference for me - is because I take my USDA inspections very seriously. It has much tougher guidelines for the care of my dogs then does AKC.

Arizona
 

Yorkiekist,
Where do you live in AZ. I grew up in PHX - went to Moon Valley High School, lived in Prescott, went to Yavapai College - then up to NAU in Flagstaff where my husband went to school and we had out first two daughters - 30 years ago. Then moved back down to the Valley where my husband worked for ASU - before we moved to the mid west to be closer to my husband's family. I still have lots of friends in PHX. Haven't been to AZ in ages - my 19 year old daughter has never seen the Grand Canyon - so I have to get her there some day - it was a favorite picnic place for us when we lived in Flag.

Usda Inspectors
 

Yorkielist - WE have 16 USDA inspectors in Missouri that work very hard to find the bad breeders and shut them down. I wonder how many USDA inspectors are in AZ - maybe 1 - or it maybe one between a number of the western states - I know people are people and I am sure there are people who should be shut down there also, like anywhere in the US. California claims they have no "breeders" there???? But there are only 2 USDA inspectors in all of CA to find out how true (not) that is. I am glad we have USDA to shut down the bad breeders. We are paying their salaries by our tax dollars - instead of putting them down, I am going to encourage them to continue to find and shut down unethical breeders.
It's through our positive encouragement for them to do their jobs that will help dogs, not our continued putting them down.

I live in the Chandler area. I grew up in Sedona. I also went to NAU starting in 1977!!!!!!!!! Great school!! Small world!!!:)

I am not even sure we have a USDa inspector in AZ. Most puppy mills/big breeders are investigated by the sheriff. The AKC inspector is in az once per month. She is not the nicest person, but does a great inspection. Nother gets by her!! I glad to hear that your inspectors do such a great job!!