I've looked through the older posts, trying to find anything at all involving puppy mill laws and legislation.

I know that there are many people from many different states, and I wonder what the laws on puppy mills are where you live, if there are any?

The reason I ask, is because I've been digging around looking for info on the dog laws in ND, specifically looking for something that pertains to kennels and anti-puppy mill laws. I have found nothing that even comes close. There had been a bill in legislation on seizing dogs from drug busts that didn't pass, that was the closest thing I could find.

The reason I want to get a bit of info is because I would like to write to the State Vet, the USDA in ND, and other government officials in office about my concerns on (known) people who are using dog breeding as the only source of income.
There is one "kennel/breeder", in the state, who has over 400 dogs on 19 acres of land north of Minot. They don't have any staff (they did at one time), they lost 197 dogs in a fire Oct. 31st 2006. People have tried to contact the county PD and put in a complaint, but the PD said that they had "better things to do". I just recently found out, via emailing them myself) that they had sold a pup to their county sheriff, and they've supposedly sold one to the past president of the Souris Valley Humane Soc. in Minot. They also state on their web page that they "breed what is popular", they've been inspected only a couple of times by the AKC and the state vet, both saying that the kennel "looked like it's run fine".

I have emails saved from when I emailed them. I'm not trying to target just them, I'd love if it could make a difference statewide with people "breeding just to breed". I think you all understand this.

I don't know about anyone else.
From my (hopefully) last experience, if I remember rightly the people I ended up talking to were in the Agriculture/live stock department as that's where the laws pretaining to dogs (puppy mills, kennels, etc.) are written and enforced in my state.
Indeed that was the department that eventually (I believe) who shut down the mill I (and many others) were on about. They are the ones that got on the PD to go in.
If that pair don't jump bail (AGAIN) they'll face justice in another couple of days.

Good luck in your endeavor. As flustering as it can be, shutting down one of those obnoxious places does feel good in the end. Making the effort all worth while.

Go get em.
Randy

Good for you Keleah.

Unfortunately in many places, dogs are considered livestock (look at how pigs and chickens are kept, for example) and there is nothing illegal per se in most areas about keeping 1000 of them in a barn.

The problem is the pet shop customers who create a market for them.

If you can convince your local pet stores to "sell" puppies and kittens from local rescues and humane societies, (as some in L.A. I believe it is, do now) you will be making huge strides and hitting those puppy mills right in the wallet.

Oh and whatever you do, don't go to the clearance auction websites. (selling out sale - 430 yorkshire terriers, 210 poodles, 15 beagles, 100 pugs, and 37 shih tzus! must go!) - it'll make you sick.

Edit: If you get that job at the vet's, be prepared. You will see a lot of owners coming in with mill dogs. Most will probably just need a good worming, but you might see some with congenital or inherited problems. It will be hard to keep quiet but you'll have to decide exactly how you will handle this - you don't want to alienate your vet's clientele (and risk your job).

It seems that everytime I stop into my vets, there is at least 1 puppy there from a local pet store with major health problems. I just happen to overhear the discussion & they all say that they bought the puppy at '------puppy shop'. They also say that if they had heard about all the pups that have 'problems' that have come from there, they would never have gotten a dog there. Well.... DUGH! That's the kind of dogs that come from puppy mills. My cousin has a cocker spaniel mill puppy,that has litterly cost her enough money to buy a house. The dog has had every problem know to man with no end in sight. Supprizingly the dog has lived to 5 years old. God knows how much she will have put into this dog by the time it passes on. Very Sad, for the dogs & the attached owners. These pet stores should be put out of business. They only perpetuate the problem. BTW..my cousin thinks that her dogs mid west breeder (puppy mill) is a reputable breeder, in spite of what her holistic vet has told her. People don't want to know that they have been taken, even when they have been.

This site seems to have some good information on general puppy mill laws across the US and animal laws in ND:

Puppy mill info:

http://www.animallaw.info/articles/dduscommercialbreeders.htm#s3

North Dakota Laws:

http://www.animallaw.info/statutes/stusnd23_36_01.htm

Thanks for posting the links, Ingrid! I've read the ND consolidated Dog Laws before, and I can't find anything that is relevent to puppy mill laws-but in the puppy mills info link you posted, it shows that ND has no licensing laws or inspectors/inspections.

The kennel that I mentioned, the husband said that they've been inspected twice by AKC and I think twice by the state vet, that's it and they've been "breeding" for 21yrs. Neither one came to the conclusion that they should be shut down. He also didn't disclose how many dogs they really have-from what I've heard it's close to or over 400, and most are mixes so the AKC wouldn't be able to do much about that. But I would think that the state vet would have had them fill out info on the dogs that they do have/keep for breeding, but I don't know. And I won't knwo until I contact the state vet once I have more information.

Here,
The state didn't go in and bust the place until some disease or another that can jump to humans was traced back to them.

But thank god they're done with that location. They'll have to start over now.
Look out for them in your state everyone. Hiedi and John Frasca are their names.

Yeah,
I'll hound those two as long as I can keep track of them.

Keleah,
If you can stand it, go out and inspect the kennel yourself. See what the layout is, etc. Then you'll have a better handle on what to start talking to the authorities about. Or whipping up an uproar within the dog community if the need is there.

Washington has an interesting puppymill law that passed this year. http://www.leg.wa.gov/pub/BillInfo/2009-10/Pdf/Bills/Senate%20Bills/5651.pdf

Enjoy the read.

Mellisa, that is awesome! I book marked it so I can reference it later.

That would be just the thing for ND. Most people don't think that ND would have a problem like this. But the state and the major cities here are growing. And with that growth is coming more and more people breeding dogs for profit (like Wildwind Kennel-the kennel I've mentioned). I am very passionate about animals, especially my own and I hate seeing people like them doing what they're doing and then trying to argue that they are "doing what's best for the dogs" and "we care about the animals", when it's pretty clear that that's not the fact at all.