To those of us who love our dogs and keep them as family members, a puppy mill is this: a business that exists purely to breed and sell puppies. There is no dedication to showing their animals or striving to maintain and hopefully improve a healthy breeding stock that shows the best conformation of the breed, as true hobby breeders do. They may sell puppies that do not reflect the best they are striving to produce, or merely that their degree of involvement with their dogs means they do not keep more than the number of animals whose needs they can properly address. These pups are usually sold under a spay/neuter contract.

Reliable breeders usually concentrate their interest and expertise on one or maybe two breeds. They never have the number of variations in their breed listings that commercial breeders often have. And if you are interested in a puppy from a decent breeder, don't expect you will get a puppy immediately: the breedings are planned and often relatively few: obtaining a pup should not be like going out and buying new sneakers.

So: what is a puppy mill? To my mind, the definition fits anyone breeding dogs purely for the money they can make by selling pups, anyone from a backyard breeder of a few ill-attended, emotionally bereft dogs to the massive commercial enterprises, some of which have a thousand caged, breeding animals. Whether these animals have clean bedding (and tens of thousands have none) water and food is beside the point; they have no socialization, are shown no affection and all their emotional and often their health needs are utterly ignored. These are truly all puppy mills.