A question for you all.. as i need some help with this.

What defines a puppy farm/farmers.

The barns, loads of breeds, bred back to back females, no testing, sold to pet shops and general bad care..

but what would you call this.
What do you call breeders who produce 4+ litters a year from their residence.. different bitches, minimal health testing, but will register other litters under their affix from bitches they have bred but sold on breeding contracts.
The same breeders who own dogs at stud and allow 15+ matings at a young age.
would you class this as a semi puppy farmer or just someone cashing in.. or how would you describe it.

discusting.

Greedy breeders :( 

How do you quanitify it if they are "top" breeders for their breed. They do well at shows and have a good reputation to those that are on their team so to speak.

i know some breeders like you talk about and there lovely ppl ,but only have 1 breed not lots of different breeds ,there good people.

I don't think breeders can automatically be grouped with puppy farmers just on quantities, lots of kennels would have more than 4 litters a year and also have bitches out on breeding agreements, and an influential stud dog could easily be used 15+ times in a large breed (large in numbers not size!)

The only alarm bell is possibly "minimal health testing" I would prefer to know ALL tests relevant to the breed were being done.

In my opinion puppy farmers produce on an almost industrial scale with no regard for health and welfare of animals and little thought to quality or bettering the breed, and can't be compared to a large kennel if they are health testing and campaigning dogs in the showring just because they breed more than 4 litters a year.

> "The same breeders who own dogs at stud and allow 15+ matings at a young age">

If you are a breeder that is supposedly a good one "guardian of the breed" why would you allow your young male mate 15+ times unless it is for money?
As there definitely is no need to have 15 matings to see what he leaves behind and what about lets say he himself then gets ill and the illness is inherited type, they have just created 15 litters of puppies that are useless for the future of breed or in worse scenario, will spread the illness in to the breed.
In a numerically larger breed yes, I can see a dog having 15+ litters in a lifetime but I see it very irresponsible and cashing in if the male is only young...
If they are cashing in with their males why would they not be cashing in with their females too...

the dog in question has only just turned 3 years old.
and the minimal health testing is there are 5 suggested tests for this breed.
a DNA one, Hips, Eyes, thyriod and cardio.
This breeder does Hips most of the time, the DNA one very rarley (or is clear though parentage) and the rest are often a afterthought.. while the last 2 are never done.

Its just frustraiting as these are esseentially the people who controll who wins what at shows.

Is the dog proven in it's chosen field?

Sometimes, if breeders have been around for a number of years, they have their reasons for not health testing.  You may not agree with their reasons but it might be worth asking them rather than judging without talking to them. :)