A puppy mill or puppy farm is a large dog breeding facility created to mass produce puppies for profit.

Likened to battery hens, the breeding dogs are kept in cages or pens for their entire life with the sole purpose of producing puppies for the pet shop, internet and overseas markets.

Pet shops require a constant supply of cute, young puppies and individual shops can take more than 20 a week. Multiply that by the number of pet shops found in shopping centres throughout Australia and you have the perfect distribution network for an industry producing hundreds of puppies with little concern paid to quality, health or temperament.

Factory farmed dogs get no veterinary intervention when they need respite from their pain and suffering. They live in filth, sometimes without adequate food or water. Their coats are often matted with faeces and stained with urine. Ear infections and ear mite infestations are common as is painful dental and gum disease.

Many dogs slowly go insane. They spin in circles or pace back and forth in their cells, some never see daylight, and the outside world is a foreign place to them. Should any dogs be lucky enough to be rescued once outside in the open they still circle and pace as if they are still incarcerated.

They shy away from human hands as they have never known kindness. The dogs are deprived of even their basic needs as the current law is only concerned with food shelter and water. The dog's psychological and social needs are ignored on factory farms.

• Oscars Law