The United States Department of Agriculture finally regulates the  importation of puppies which should be at least six months old and healthy when they reach the country.

The announcement made on Friday explained that the approved USDA regulation which will take effect after 90 days, requires the imported pups to be old enough for exportation.

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It also states that necessary vaccinations and health check-ups should be done to make sure that they are healthy. Records show that one of four puppies die before reaching the U.S. airport.

Mills in China and Eastern Europe export an average of 8,400 puppies a year from 2009 to 2013; though the Humane Society of the United States believe that the numbers could be higher since no regulations were in effect during those years.

In September, the USDA had also proclaimed a 'retail rule' among breeders, requiring them to be licensed if they intend to sell four or more female breeder dogs discretely on websites, classified ads, and the flea market.

In the past, reports from unsatisfied dog buyers whose recently purchased dogs have died because of sickness, have flooded the Humane Society and the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals due to the lack of rules to protect consumers and the puppies alike.

Importers have also been sending out too young pups in U.S. airliner's cargo holds which renders the animals at a higher risk of dying before the plane even landed.

"They are delicate as it is. They could be shipping 100 dogs in the cargo hold. You only need one dog to have an illness and all of them could have it by the time the plane lands," Melanie Kahn from the Humane Society told ABC News.

The new regulation officially made public on Friday indicates a maximum fine of $10,000 for violators and also prohibits easy-access selling of puppies from puppy mills abroad.

Tagspuppies, import, USDA