Puppy mills are is a terrible place for puppies to be. The owners focus on profit over health, they try to earn as much money as possible in a short period of time. The mother dogs produce litters after litters with a short period or no time in the middle to recover. The puppies live in small, unsanitary, rusty cages cramped up with other dogs. The puppy mill owner will then sell the puppies to pet shops and online shops.

There are a few options. You can adopt from a shelter because adopting 1 dog can save 2 lives, when you adopt a dog, there would be a spot for another dog to get in the space. If you don't want any dogs from any shelter, you can also get a dog from a reputable breeder, those breeders focuses on the dogs health, if you get a dog from a reputable breeder, you should check the breeder's background, the dog's parents and the dogs living conditions.

Unauthorized puppy mills are against the law. If somebody has an illegal puppy mill, they would be fined and go to prison. In a legal puppy mill, the government and SPCA would have regular checks to see the puppy's health conditions and the amount of dogs.