A city in British Columbia is contemplating the outright ban of all pet sales in order to help curb impulse buying and homeless pet populations. Los Angeles has already enacted the same regulations. Locally, we have seen practically each city in Northwest Arkansas ban street side pet sales within city limits without a license. These folks typically blow in to sell $250 - $400 dogs from who knows where, and you will likely never see them again. I believe this applies to "free puppies" as well, but wold love someone who knows to comment.
Because the economy has provided scores of homeless animals in recent years, shelters are overrun, donated food supplies are dwindling and foster homes are at capacity. Puppy mills seem to be the biggest culprit in all of this, yet despite the hugely negative attitude towards these inhumane organizations, there doesn't appear to be a short supply of puppies for sale. Companies like Petco have switched from for-sale puppies to rescue adoptions - which is great, but it seems at least around here there is still a viable market for people looking to purchase puppies. Petco only adopts cats regularly. "Puppy" and "Puppies" combine to make up half of all of the local Google pet related searches - including dog food, pet supplies, and yes, sadly, even dog bakeries.
I don't want this to come off as I am opposed to breeders. I think responsible breeding is great. It's the only player in this mix that will "take back your puppy if you don't take care of it" - it is often in the contract you sign. Not signing a contract is often a tell tale sign you are not dealing with a reputable breeder.
I think a lot of people just still don't know about puppy mills and that their dollars for these puppies perpetuates these places - and the only way to stop is to vote with your dollars. But, there still appears to be a market for puppies that isn't going away. Who can blame them? Puppies are cute - irresistible even. So why don't more people visit the Humane Society or the city shelter then? Why spend $400 on a puppy mill dog that will most certainly have mental or health problems when a shelter dog for $60 will be your best friend forever?
Most of the feedback I get about people's avoidance of shelters and humane societies is that they feel depressed when they go. It looks like jail, and with so many dogs "on the chopping block" they feel sorry for them, but can't help them all. Someone even called the local Humane Society here a "War Zone". Yes, there are plans to erect a new building - they are about half way there with the funds, but the shelter is 100% donation driven and these have been hard times for donations and existing resources are needed for the increased number of homeless pets. Aggressive spaying and neutering would be the best cure for homeless animals - but there's no government funding and the non-profits who are currently driving these efforts are not much of a cure on their own. It seems people are just not going to spay and neuter or stop shopping at puppy mill supplied businesses.
I think the answer is for city shelters and humane societies to meet the market demand. Fix up the locations so that they have some customer appeal. Don't make it look like a jail - make it look like a Petco or puppy shop. Make it cute, inviting. I saw an ad for a store that sold puppies that put puppies in baby beds and arranged the room like a nursery. How cute is that? These shelters need a facelift - and to help fund that they will need to charge more for the animals. How about $200? Thats about half price - still a good deal, but should allow them to pay for some curtains and some cute fixtures. If that's what people want, I say give it to them. At least more homeless animals will get a home and when the puppy mill puppies arrive because nobody bought them, they won't be going from the stockade to jail. Make the shelter a shopping destination. Make people leave feeling great - like they just left a puppy store - but didn't contribute to a puppy mill. Guilt free! I am sure there is a win-win in there somewhere for everyone.
Showing posts with label puppy mills. Show all posts
Showing posts with label puppy mills. Show all posts
Wednesday, March 24, 2010
Saturday, December 20, 2008
Starting off the new year with an apology
Unfortunately, I'm afraid I've got to apologize to our customers and fans to start off the new year. You see, we as a company, as well as a family (we are a family business) have been using a local publication's Pet Calendar as a form of advertising for two years now and my heart just sank when I opened up the calendar this year and saw that we were sharing advertising space with a business that supports puppy mills. It just made me sick.
We work very hard throughout the year to support local rescues and shelters, most notably the Northwest Arkansas Animal Rescue and the Humane Society for Animals in Benton County. We are absolutely against puppy mills, the cruel treatment they provide their animals and any business that supports puppy mills by purchasing animals from them. We refuse to do business with companies that support these types of organizations as a matter of principle. There are lots of pet stores out there and maybe it doesn't make good business sense, but we feel like if we have to support those kinds of organizations to stay in business, then we'd just soon close shop.
We own rescue dogs from the Humane Society. But you can also refrain from supporting puppy mills by purchasing an animal from a reputable breeder. How do you know if a breeder is reputable? There was an excellent article on the Pet Connection some weeks back on how to tell if a breeder is reputable. You can also rescue pure bred animals from breed specific rescues. www.petfinder.com is an excellent source for finding them.
With so many animals that need good homes right now, I can't emphasize enough how important it is to consider rescuing animals or supporting reputable breeders. The only way to stop puppy mills is to stop buying from them and to tell your friends and neighbors to do the same. And you can also help animals in need by volunteering at or donating to rescues and shelters. We domesticated these animals - they are under our stewardship now. We can't just throw them out like garbage.
So again, I apologize. Last year this publication did not have any advertising from these puppy mill supporters. If we'd known that we would not have placed any ads and we will not be advertising in this publication next year. The real unfortunate side effect is that I have to look at these ads for twelve months now.
We work very hard throughout the year to support local rescues and shelters, most notably the Northwest Arkansas Animal Rescue and the Humane Society for Animals in Benton County. We are absolutely against puppy mills, the cruel treatment they provide their animals and any business that supports puppy mills by purchasing animals from them. We refuse to do business with companies that support these types of organizations as a matter of principle. There are lots of pet stores out there and maybe it doesn't make good business sense, but we feel like if we have to support those kinds of organizations to stay in business, then we'd just soon close shop.
We own rescue dogs from the Humane Society. But you can also refrain from supporting puppy mills by purchasing an animal from a reputable breeder. How do you know if a breeder is reputable? There was an excellent article on the Pet Connection some weeks back on how to tell if a breeder is reputable. You can also rescue pure bred animals from breed specific rescues. www.petfinder.com is an excellent source for finding them.
With so many animals that need good homes right now, I can't emphasize enough how important it is to consider rescuing animals or supporting reputable breeders. The only way to stop puppy mills is to stop buying from them and to tell your friends and neighbors to do the same. And you can also help animals in need by volunteering at or donating to rescues and shelters. We domesticated these animals - they are under our stewardship now. We can't just throw them out like garbage.
So again, I apologize. Last year this publication did not have any advertising from these puppy mill supporters. If we'd known that we would not have placed any ads and we will not be advertising in this publication next year. The real unfortunate side effect is that I have to look at these ads for twelve months now.
Tuesday, August 5, 2008
Are Our Rescues "Too Good"???
I just read an email this morning from our beloved pug rescue of Northwest Arkansas, and it seems to be a trend I am noticing, even from the HSUS a few weeks back. Breeders and puppy mills retire, sell out, retire some of their dogs, cash in all of their chips, and then basically drops dogs, or in the case of the HSUS, everything, into the hands of cash strapped rescues and shelters.
Now, I have nothing against the rescues in these cases. They do wonderful work day in and day out. The Pug Rescue was even at our birthday party on July 26th.
What seems like a problem to me is that these folks make all of their money on these dogs, breeding them over and over, and then when they are done with them, lob them over the fence at a rescue to deal with. Now, I do know what the alternative is. These rescues step in when often these animals might go to a kill shelter, and might not make it another 30 days, but it just seems so crass to me that they have the audacity to wring every cent they can, then leave them as some one else's responsibility.
I think there needs to be a disposal fee (I know that sounds bad) that breeders and millers have to pay for someone else to take over the ownership of these dogs. Some fee to help with food, medical care, and the myriad of other costs associated with rescuing these dogs and rehoming them. They won't pay it - unless it's a requirement to be licensed by the USDA for a kennel. The requirements are so weak as they are now anyway. This just seems fair to me. You have to pay to have the junk yard take your old beater from you, or to dispose of anything else. There are the folks that just go dump their trash somewhere off of their property, like in a ravine, or out in the woods, because they are too cheap to take it to the dump. There are some pretty stiff penalties for this "Illegal Dumping". Why don't we charge the breeders and millers to take "their garbage" off their hands too?
Now, I have nothing against the rescues in these cases. They do wonderful work day in and day out. The Pug Rescue was even at our birthday party on July 26th.
What seems like a problem to me is that these folks make all of their money on these dogs, breeding them over and over, and then when they are done with them, lob them over the fence at a rescue to deal with. Now, I do know what the alternative is. These rescues step in when often these animals might go to a kill shelter, and might not make it another 30 days, but it just seems so crass to me that they have the audacity to wring every cent they can, then leave them as some one else's responsibility.
I think there needs to be a disposal fee (I know that sounds bad) that breeders and millers have to pay for someone else to take over the ownership of these dogs. Some fee to help with food, medical care, and the myriad of other costs associated with rescuing these dogs and rehoming them. They won't pay it - unless it's a requirement to be licensed by the USDA for a kennel. The requirements are so weak as they are now anyway. This just seems fair to me. You have to pay to have the junk yard take your old beater from you, or to dispose of anything else. There are the folks that just go dump their trash somewhere off of their property, like in a ravine, or out in the woods, because they are too cheap to take it to the dump. There are some pretty stiff penalties for this "Illegal Dumping". Why don't we charge the breeders and millers to take "their garbage" off their hands too?
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