Comments on: People blame breeders for all the dogs in shelters

By: uptown

uptown — Wed, 05 Aug 2009 04:59:08 +0000

They blame breeders because that is what AR tells them to do.

Blaming breeders does not offer any solutions and does not help to end unnecessary killings.

Thanks PETA, thanks HSUS for the distraction from programs that acually would work.

Responsibility is fostered through leadership. Those involved with shelters and rescue need to make that a priority.

I do not live in the USA where in some areas shelters seem to be a mess, but these quotes pertain to the USA,

“every year about twice as many people are looking to bring a new dog into their home than the total number of dogs entering shelters”

“the fundamental lesson from the experiences of Washoe County and other successful communities is that the biggest variable to whether animals live or die comes down to the choices made by the leaders of the shelters.”

Responsible breeders and rescuers should not be against each other. Responsible breeders ARE part of the solution. Responsible rescues ARE part of the solution.

As a lifetime rescue volunteer in an area where we have seen success my experience tells me it is in the best interests of specific groups to continue the idea that success cannot happen.

It can.

By: Red (UK)

Red (UK) — Tue, 04 Aug 2009 12:25:06 +0000

I agree with you – my breeder always makes me sign that if I can’t keep a pup for any reason at any stage of it’s life it must go back to her!! MANY REPUTABLE BREEDERS (if not all) do this too,

if everyone bought from a reputable breeder and spayed and neutered all dogs that were not shown there would be no shelter dogs!!

I refuse to be blamed for unwanted puppies – I DO NOT contribute to that.

By: Jennifer T

Jennifer T — Sun, 02 Aug 2009 11:50:50 +0000

But then responsible breeders never have any of their dogs wind up in shelters because they screen homes and take back thir own pups at any time for any reason. Well, not always. I too consider myself a responsible breeder, but I have also worked the shelter side of it. The biggest problem shelters face is IRRESPONIBLE breeding. Out of a couple thousand animals I have seen go through rescue and shelters, only ONE was a dog from a responsible breeder…problem is, that breeder was dead. She couldn’t take back her dog, and a neutered Champion titled pomeranian landed in our shelter. Yes, the responsible breeder made sure he was neutred before she placed him. ONE responsibly bred dog out of thousands.

Where did the VAST majority of our shelter dogs come from? They were mutts that were “Free to Good Home” after some jerk let his mutt b- itch get pregnant. hey went to whomever would take them, and were tossed out like trash when they weren’t cute little puppies anymore, because, hey! You can always get some cute little mutt puppy for free, so why bother training, vaccinating and caring or some worthless 13 month old dog? Did you know the vast majority of the dogs I euthanized were between 12 and 18 months old?

And of the purebreds that came in, which did indeed make up 25% of the incoming animals, every single one was a case of “Muffy had papers, and Biff has papers, so let’s breed ‘em and make money”, not one was of genetically tested parents. Not one ‘breeder’ of these offered to come get their pup back in cases where we could find the breeder. Not one of these dogs was reasonably close enough to the breed standard to even remotely be well bred.

So yes, some ‘breeders’ ARE to blame for the overpopulation problem, but so are the BUYERS who buy these poorly bred dogs because they are cheap and easily found in newspapers. There is no ONE cause of overpopulation…wait, yes there IS! IRRESPONSIBILITY!!!!

By: singleworker1230

singleworker1230 — Fri, 31 Jul 2009 20:35:36 +0000

People seen to forget that most of the dogs that are in the shelters are there because of crappy, uncaring OWNERS! Granted they had to get the dog somewhere however, I feel the the wrong person is being blamed for the problem. Responsible owners would not turn there dog over to the shelter or allow it to run loose. I just love it when a crappy owner dumps a dog off on us with the excuse he’s too big, he’s stupid, the kid is allergic, we’re moving, etc., etc., etc. This is usually a large breed hunting dog mix, pit mix, or large herding type dog that has had no training, no discipline, no vaccinations or vet care, has been feed crappy food, and definately hasn’t been spayed/neuter. Many times the females are in heat or pregnant when they come in. Then a week or less later you see the crappy owners with a NEW puppy that they found for free at Wal-Mart. You know that in about 9 months this dog is going to end up in the shelter also. I really dislike CRAPPY OWNERS.

By: bassetnut

bassetnut — Tue, 28 Jul 2009 09:00:23 +0000

Because the AR people tell them to.

By: Beano

Beano — Sun, 26 Jul 2009 02:47:06 +0000

You said a mouth full when you stated “Bad owners are the problems!” I agree with you 100% I have never owned a dog that I had to give to a shelter because the dog was “untrainable.” This is the reason why I got into behavorial training with dogs. I’m not tooting my horn but quite a few dogs are in happy homes because of my ability to change the “human” behavior when dealing with dogs.

By: dogs rule

dogs rule — Wed, 22 Jul 2009 18:08:02 +0000

Breeding dogs takes alot of responsibility. Makes sure you find good homes for your puppies before they are born, and if for some reason the adoption should fail, the pup should go back to the breeder who wanted to have puppies in the first place. I volunteer for a rescue and once we take on the responsibility of a dog it is a lifetime of responsibility. What I mean is that if a adoption of any of our dogs fail, they come back to our rescue and we find them another home. This doesn’t happen very often but when it does we take back our dog and do the right thing.

By: vbenjamin92

vbenjamin92 — Wed, 22 Jul 2009 05:42:36 +0000

I think you summed up my opinion in a nut shell, it’s the people who say—OH WHAT A CUTE PUPPY! Then all of the sudden realize, OH THAT”S WHERE DOGS COME FROM. They are idiots. Or they figure out that pets can’t do every thing for themselves so they are to much work. I know there are a select few people that fall on hard times and can’t keep their pets anymore and feel bad for them, but all in all I agree with what you say.

By: Forest Basenji

Forest Basenji — Mon, 20 Jul 2009 05:59:55 +0000

The majority of the regulars here know the difference between a responsible breeder and a BYB or puppy mill.

We also know that part of responsible breeding is choosing a home very carefully, selling on spay/neuter contracts & being able to take a dog back if the owner cannot keep it, thus preventing the dog from ending up in a shelter.

Unfortunately, we also know that 90% of the people having litters of puppies out there don’t fall anywhere close to the ‘responsible breeder’ category. Nor do many of the dog owners out there come close to being responsible with their commitments to dog ownership.

By: Ellen

Ellen — Mon, 20 Jul 2009 01:19:42 +0000

If the breeder will take the dogs it has produced back AT ANY TIME, I see no problem with breeding.