Puppy Mills and over population of dogs, what is the solution?
There has been much publicity about the over-supply of dogs which necessitates that thousands of unwanted dogs be put down each year. There has also been a lot of negative publicity, finger pointing and combining of issues to try to explain this problem.
Perhaps the most poignant one is the one that Puppy Mills are the cause of the problem. Pictures showing dogs in deplorable conditions, depicting gross animal cruelty, are particularly abhorrent to any compassionate human being.
Some suggest that limiting the number of animals a breeder is allowed to raise will somehow eliminate animal cruelty. Breeders that harbor conditions as those described above, with animals crammed into stacked cages, never to be let out for exercise, have a certain mindset, that they are doing nothing wrong or illegal. If they raise 10 or a 1000 animals, they will treat them in the same way. Therefore, animal cruelty cannot be controlled by limiting the number of dogs a breeder is allowed to have.
The only way to address the animal cruelty problem is by changing the mindset of acceptable standards for raising of animals. Regulation and standards need to be set and defined for all to follow. Also, the mindset of people who are unable or unwilling to make a lifelong commitment to their animals, who just discard and abandon their animals when they become the least bit inconvenient, must be addressed.
Stereotypes that label all breeders with more than two dogs, breeding several breeds, not breeding in a home environment, all have conditions as those in described above, and are therefore branded a Puppy Mill, are wrong. These comparisons are not only untrue, unfair, bigoted and polarized, but also will not aid in the overall solution of this problem. This is not the American way.
There are three main issues.
First, in my opinion, the solution to Puppy Mills and basic animal cruelty is not that tough to solve. There is already an Animal Welfare Act that licenses and inspects breeders, as well as defining minimum standards for animal husbandry. Reputable Breed registries also inspect their breeders for compliance to standards. Sadly, this is not uniformly enforced throughout the country. As with any law, there are many loopholes and those who circumvent laws. This needs to be fixed. Animal cruelty should be on the law books as a felony with no excuses or plea bargaining. In my opinion, there should be large fines with mandatory incarceration. Most would agree that this would go a long way to solve that issue. Yet, legislation to that effect has not been forthcoming and is fiercely opposed by many, and why? Is it because that such legislation would somehow have to find the cruelty of organizations that profit from and kill unwanted animals on a regular basis exempt?
My opinions could be wrong. Read these links and decide for yourself. Peta, HSUS
Secondly, is the supply and demand issue. Again, some would solve the problem by restricting the supply of puppies available. But looking at history, reducing the supply will not make problems go away. Try to recall the prohibition legislation period in the 1920 to 1930. Production of alcohol was curtailed and raids routinely destroyed supply, yet alcohol and its consumption thrived and did not go away. A new problem of bootlegging came into play. The final solution was in educating people on how they treat alcohol and what was and was not acceptable, then economic principles balanced the supply and demand to a manageable level. The same is true for the oversupply of dogs.
Puppies raised in Puppy Mill conditions have to have health and psychological issues that directly will impact their quality. The poor quality breeders will fade away as their product will have no demand. If breeders cannot find homes for their puppies, breeding will automatically be decreased, following basic economic supply/demand principles.
Killing unwanted dogs and restricting breeders will not prevent the over-supply of dogs. Breeders are not the ones abandoning the unwanted dogs.
Puppy Mill puppies that are raised in horribly cruel conditions with psychological and health problems must be significantly discounted in order to be sold. These heavily discounted puppies are snapped up by middlemen who add layers of lipstick, markup the puppies and mass market them in stores throughout the country. Ironically, the prices of these puppies rises significantly higher than those of Reputable Breeders, offering top quality puppies to the public.
Thirdly, people need to be aware and educated in responsible pet ownership and its obligations. Pets are living beings and cannot be discarded when inconvenient, but must be dealt with for life such as a child would be. People unwilling or unable to make a lifetime commitment to a pet, should not be pet owners, pure and simple.
Statistics however show, that unwanted dogs are being put down, not unwanted puppies. This indicates that for a period of time, the puppies had a home and for whatever reason things at home changed making the now grown dog unwanted abandoned and discarded. How can this be the breeders fault? This falls outside of the normal supply/demand equation as puppy demand is not directly decreased and therefore the supply will not change either.
People need to be aware, educated and understand their obligations as pet owners, and be willing to make a lifetime commitment before adopting any pets. View "How Could You"
Don't be fooled. Puppy Mills come in all sizes, even those breeding from a home with only a few dogs can have the mindset, conditions and practices that similar to those of a large Puppy Mill and are really only designed to turn a fast buck.
Know and trust the experience and knowledge of your breeder
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