We have all seen those adorable faces and tiny whiffling noses pressed up against the glass and been tempted to get a puppy from the pet store. Have you ever considered though where those puppies are sourced from, if not a local breeder?

To be honest, most of those puppies and kittens you see don't come from reputable breeders, they are bred in puppy or kitty mills. You are probably wondering what a puppy mill is. Well, here is the shocking truth.

Imagine a compound of small cages where dogs are bred intensively; that is a Puppy Mill. Hundreds of thousands of puppies are farmed in this way across North America to satisfy a demand in pet stores. A Puppy Mill dog has a wretched and hopeless start in life.

Puppy mills pups tend to suffer from poor health, temperament issues and hereditary conditions. At the mill, they are taken away from their mother before the recommended weaning time of 10 weeks, therefore not receiving the right socialization and benefits of being fed by their mother.

Poor health is contributed to by a lack of decent food and water, terrible cramped living conditions and overcrowding; and there is little chance for them to experience positive human interaction before being transported to the pet store

Usually when breeding dogs, breeders will study the blood line of each of the parents to check whether there is any risk of inherited diseases, so that they breed a healthy puppy. Medical and vaccination programs will also be adhered to, until the time they are released to a loving home.

They should be able to provide a breeding line for the dogs, papers and any other information necessary for looking after the puppy. In addition, pedigree dogs should come with a guarantee, each breeder will differ on this, so check your small print, but the guarantee should not require you to give back the puppy if he falls ill.

It's a far cry from the puppy mill, where money is the main motivator. The goal is a conveyor belt of puppies to maximize profits. There is no interest in screening parents, checking for disease or making sure bloodlines remain clean, which can lead to a huge amount of problems.

The bitches have the worst deal, as they will be made to breed relentlessly in miserable health conditions. And once spent from this terrible life, they will be rewarded with abandonment or death.

Puppy mills are still in operation despite laws to control them. The way to combat these farms is to remove the demand for puppies by only purchasing your puppy from a good breeder, or adopting one from an animal rescue centre; don't trust pet stores, which may be ignorant or misleading of the truth.

Although it is tempting to save a puppy by buying him, don't. You will create a space for the next puppy from a mill. If you want to do something, contact the authorities or an animal shelter who will be able to do something constructive.

Puppy mills only exist because of the end consumer, so buy puppies responsibly and ask some tough questions the next time you see puppies for sale.