The Australia Veterinary Association defines puppy mills, or farms, as ‘the intensive breeding of dogs, who live in inappropriate conditions which fail to meet the behavioural, social and physiological needs of the animal.‘ [1]
Whilst that may sound like it should be illegal, many people are shocked to learn that the cruelty inherent in puppy mills – intensive breeding, lack of exercise and medical care, minimal human interaction and zero social enrichment – can all be entirely legal.
Victoria was the first state in Australia to pass meaningful legislation that mitigates some of the problems associated with puppy farming, introducing a cap on dog numbers and a limit on how many litters a dog can be forced to have. Western Australia was next, also banning the sale of puppies in pet shops and cracking down on puppy factories. Regulations in New South Wales were recently updated, but still have significant gaps, such as allowing up to 50 “breeding dogs” to be used as breeding machines under transitional provisions over the next decade.
Where legislation does exist, it still contains loopholes and doesn’t prevent dogs from puppy mills being sold online and shipped interstate.
Other states have done very little to protect dogs and unsuspecting buyers from buying into cruelty:
- In Tasmania, Queensland and South Australia, there is still no cap on how many dogs a puppy farmer can have as ‘breeders’ and how many litters they can be forced to have.
- In South Australia, it can be legal to keep a mother dog confined to a barren cell for 23 hours a day, denying her everything that makes her life worth living.
- Some states even allow back-to-back breeding, meaning the mother dog is constantly pregnant. (Although a dog should never be forced to give birth only to have her puppies taken away, the RSPCA advises a female dog should only ever have a maximum of five litters over her entire lifetime – a figure that’s regularly exploited by puppy farmers.)