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Puppy Mill Timeline
Puppy Mill Timeline
Late 1940s: Puppy mills originate in this post-World War II era. Midwestern farmers looking for an alternative crop responded to the growing demand for puppies—and, supported by the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA)—developed the first commercial puppy breeding kennels.
1950: For the first time, major department store chains like Sears, Roebuck and Co. and Montgomery Ward begin to sell puppies. These puppies came from puppy mills. Around this same time, the first pet store chains are born.
1966: The federal Laboratory Animal Welfare Act is passed, setting minimal standards for the care, housing, sale and transport of dogs, cats, primates, rabbits, hamsters, guinea pigs and other animals held by animal dealers or laboratories.
1970: The Laboratory Animal Welfare Act becomes the federal Animal Welfare Act of 1970 and extends coverage to all species of warm-blooded “laboratory animals” as designated by the U.S. Secretary of Agriculture. Animals sold as pets (except in pet stores) and those used in exhibitions also become protected. Amendments to the Act also require the licensing of all animal dealers.
1984: The General Accounting Office, the investigative branch of the U.S. government, finds major failings in the enforcement of the Animal Welfare Act concerning puppy mills. The USDA has yet to live up to its promises to improve its inspection process.
1990s: Docktor Pet Centers, a chain with over 300 pet stores across the country, goes out of business due to the considerable number of complaints against them for selling sick puppy mill dogs. All of the puppies were sold at drastically reduced prices.
August 1997: Pennsylvania enacts the first Dog Purchaser Protection Act, better known as a “Puppy Lemon Law (pdf).” An amendment to the Unfair Trade Practices and Consumer Protection Law, it made pet stores financially responsible for sick animals purchased from them. Since then, 17 states have enacted similar laws, all of which give dog purchasers the right to return a sick or dead puppy for a refund or replacement. Most also give consumers the option of keeping the puppy, having him/her treated and getting some level of reimbursement for veterinary expenses from the seller.
January 2007: Bob Baker joins the ASPCA as an undercover investigator. Baker becomes a key player in the ASPCA’s ongoing efforts to combat the cruelties of puppy mill operations.
September 2007: The ASPCA and several other animal welfare agencies raid a puppy mill in Buxton, ME, and seize more than 200 dogs. The owners, John and Heidi Frasca, are issued 14 summonses for operating an unlicensed kennel, two summonses for animal cruelty and one summons for failing to provide necessary medical treatment to animals.
February 2008: The ASPCA’s undercover investigator, Bob Baker, releases his findings of a puppy mill investigation in Quarryville, PA. Due largely to his work and the ASPCA’s efforts, the puppy mill owner is charged with cruelty, to which he pleads guilty. However, in a stunning judicial decision, he is fined only $35 for operating a kennel without a state license—a license that he had surrendered earlier in order to avoid inspections by the Pennsylvania Bureau of Dog Law.
May 2008: The ASPCA joins forces with the Humane Society of the United States (HSUS) to create the leading anti-puppy mill coalition to date.
May 2008: The ASPCA and other animal welfare groups successfully fight for an amendment to Congress’s 2008 Farm Bill. The bill now prohibits the importation of puppies less than six months of age for the purpose of resale.
June 2008: The ASPCA assists in Tennessee's largest-ever puppy mill raid, lending our special cruelty investigation team that includes disaster relief specialists, our forensic veterinarian and our Mobile Animal Crime Scene Investigation (CSI) Unit. More than 700 animals are rescued.
August 2008: The ASPCA joins forces with other animal organizations in support of Pennsylvania House Bills 2525 and 2532. House Bill 2532 addresses the state’s Animal Cruelty law and would require that only veterinarians conduct certain surgical procedures such as cesarean birth, debarking and docking of a dog’s tail after three days of age.
September 2008: The Puppy Uniform Protection Statute (PUPS), or “Baby’s Bill” (in honor of Baby, a three-legged puppy mill survivor), is introduced in the U.S. House of Representatives. This is the first federal puppy mill legislation since the Animal Welfare Act was amended in 1970. PUPS will close the loophole in the Animal Welfare Act that allows commercial breeders who sell puppies online and directly to the public to escape licensing and regulation. It also will require all dogs held by licensed breeders to be exercised out of their cages daily.
September 2008: Hundreds of supporters join the ASPCA and HSUS at the State Capitol in Harrisburg, PA, to call for passage of House Bills 2525 and 2532, legislation aimed at curbing some of the worst abuses by the state’s commercial kennel industry.
October 9, 2008: Govenor Rendell of Pennsylvania signs House Bill 2525 into law, making it illegal for commercial kennel owners to shoot their dogs and mandating dramatically higher standards of care for dogs in PA’s commercial kennel industry.
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