HSUS

Under current law in most states, and under current regulations of the federal Animal Welfare Act, individuals running breeding operations that only sell puppies directly to the public are not required to be licensed and inspected by an oversight agency. 

The United States Department of Agriculture regulates (through licensing and inspection) "commercial" breeding kennels. Under USDA regulations, a "commercial" breeder is an operation with more than three breeding females that sells dogs or cats wholesale to a dealer or retail operation. USDA exempts breeding facilities – regardless of the number of animals they have or financial thresholds they meet – where the puppies are bred and sold directly to private pet owners as "retail pet stores." Obviously, someone operating a breeding kennel on their property and selling animals themselves from that property or from other venues like a flea market is not what the public would normally consider a "retail pet store." An operation could have several hundred breeding animals and gross sales over $100,000 but have no regulatory body checking to ensure the animals are being properly cared for.

Without oversight, the operations can easily fall below even the most basic standards of humane housing and husbandry. This raises the likelihood of producing sick or maladjusted puppies who are then sold to unsuspecting consumers looking to add a pet to their family. In many cases, pets have been sold with zoonotic diseases which can infect humans as well as other animals. Without an agency charged with oversight, these intensive breeding operations – also known as "puppy mills" – present a particularly difficult situation when a purchaser has bought a puppy who ends up being sick, incurring high veterinary bills, or who dies shortly after purchase. Because most states have few or no laws in place to oversee these businesses, the operations are practically untouchable by the average citizen who has purchased a "damaged" puppy. Compounding the problem is the increasingly common sale of dogs from such operations via the Internet to new owners several states away. When problems do occur it is virtually impossible to look into and correct the situation because there is no agency to report problems to.

A few states have taken the initiative to pass laws to regulate these businesses and ensure basic humane husbandry standards for the domestic animals being bred. We urge you to push for strong laws to oversee this industry that puts dogs and pet owners at risk. If your state currently has laws that mandate licensure and inspections, please be certain that inspections are routine and unannounced, and that the enforcing agency is adequately funded.

A good breeding facility law: 

• applies to all breeding operations with animals or animal sales numbering over a specified threshold.
• requires a licensing fee and pre-inspection.
• includes routine, unannounced inspections at least twice yearly.
• is enforced by an agency with adequate funding and properly trained and tested staff.
• rotates inspectors to cover different areas of the state.
• is equipped with strong penalties when facilities are in repeated non-compliance, including but not limited to cease and desist orders.

The PDF document below provides a summary of state laws on puppy mills. For more information or for tips on how to make your state's law more effective, please contact The HSUS Government Affairs Section at 202-452-1100 or email legislation@humanesociety.org

Puppy Mill State Laws (PDF)