USDA breeder records · Iowa
Iowa has 152 dog breeders and dealers with a federal license, 7.4% of the national total. This is what USDA inspectors found when they visited, from every inspection report published since 2014.
Source: USDA APHIS license list of Sep 15, 2026 and inspection reports to Sep 18, 2026.7.4% of the 2,063 active USDA dog licenses in the US are in Iowa.
| # | State | Share | Licenses | Dogs counted | Clean, 2023 to 2025 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Missouri | 680 | 46,635 | 96.3% | |
| 2 | Indiana | 379 | 17,172 | 93.8% | |
| 3 | Ohio | 247 | 21,357 | 75.2% | |
| 4 | Iowa | 152 | 11,055 | 86.5% | |
| 5 | Oklahoma | 82 | 4,265 | 91% | |
| 6 | Kansas | 77 | 5,921 | 89% | |
| 7 | Wisconsin | 77 | 4,747 | 63.8% | |
| 8 | Arkansas | 67 | 3,929 | 92.9% | |
| 9 | Pennsylvania | 52 | 4,482 | 82.8% | |
| 10 | Illinois | 37 | 1,236 | 91.2% |
Share of inspections with at least one citation. Visits where nobody was home are left out.
| Year | Inspections | Found a problem |
|---|---|---|
| 2014 | 353 | 36.5% |
| 2015 | 379 | 39.5% |
| 2016 | 470 | 34.7% |
| 2017 | 419 | 23.4% |
| 2018 | 342 | 10.3% |
| 2019 | 296 | 5.3% |
| 2020 | 128 | 10.9% |
| 2021 | 250 | 19.1% |
| 2022 | 366 | 22.4% |
| 2023 | 347 | 24.5% |
| 2024 | 287 | 9.9% |
| 2025 | 237 | 1.8% |
| 2026 | 139 | 9% |
The rules behind Iowa's citations since 2014. Separately, inspectors arrived 527 times and found nobody available to let them in.
| Rule | What it requires | Cited |
|---|---|---|
| 2.40(b)(2) | Methods to prevent, control, diagnose and treat disease and injury | 350 |
| 3.1(c)(2) | Worn or damaged surfaces must be repaired or replaced | 117 |
| 3.11(b)(2) | Sanitization of enclosures and food and water receptacles | 111 |
| 3.1(c)(3) | Hard surfaces must be spot-cleaned daily and sanitized | 98 |
| 3.1(a) | Housing must be structurally sound and kept in good repair | 79 |
| 2.75(a)(1) | Records of every dog acquired, held or disposed of | 76 |
| 3.6(a)(2)(x) | Enclosure floors must protect dogs' feet and legs from injury | 64 |
| 3.1(c)(1)(i) | Surfaces must be free of jagged edges and sharp points | 63 |
Licensed breeders print their number on their website or sales contract. Enter it to see whether the license is active and when USDA last inspected.
USDA only licenses breeders with more than four breeding females who sell to pet stores, to brokers, or to buyers they never meet, which includes most online sales. A breeder who sells only to people who visit in person is exempt. So a breeder missing from these records may be unlicensed or simply exempt, and a clean USDA record covers only what an inspector saw on the day.