I admire the work of the animal shelters and rescue organizations. People who adopt their puppy or grown dog from these organizations have done a wonderful thing in giving these animals good, loving homes and often sparing their lives. On the other side of the same coin are those who financially contribute to these organization as well as to subsiduzed spay/neuter clinics and the vets and staff that often volunteer their services towards reducing unwanted litters from ever happening. It takes many responsible people and donors to put a dent in the 'fruit' of the unresponsible people who cause these problems.
Having said all that, there is a 'BUT . . . ' But there seems to be a growing gripe against those who would purchase a dog from responsible breeders . . . whether the desire is for a 'pure bred' or a fashionable 'designer breed.' Why is it that a person shouldn't be free to aquire and raise from a puppy the dog of the breed and color and coat of their choosing? Why is the careful, responsible dog breeder being looked at as the 'demon' because there are many irresponsible breeders flooding the land with pups that will often be abandoned? I think that it is absurd to suggest that the careful, responsible breeders should stop breeding dogs and that the careful, responsible dog buyers should aquire only those dogs that have been abandoned. The focus needs to be clearly placed back on those who cause the problems. . . those who breed dogs and sell them indiscriminately to those who clearly are not prepared and responsible enough to take on the sizable task of owning, caring for and keeping for life these precious animals that should become as family members to the owners.
Unfortunately I don't know of any easy or simple solutions to the problem. Education is part of the answer. Supporting the shelters and rescue operations is another. Agressively promoting spay/neuter clinics must be a part of the strategy. But overcoming selfish irresponsibility is an overwhelming objective. Unfortunately it is as an epidemic in our culture and spreads way beyond the realm of pet ownership. There may not be any hope of restoring healthy responsibility to our culture but I'm pretty sure that 'demonizing' the responsible dog breeder and the responsible dog buyer is 'barking up the wrong tree.'
until next time . . . Eliot www.rosehallkennel.com follow Mia's story of life at the kennel on Twitter . . . find her at MiaRosehall.
I agree that people should be able to choose where they wish to purchase a animal without feeling bad about the choice. I use to raise AKC rough coat sable collies before my sons were born. Living in the country has one big problem and that is "dumped" dogs. Too many people think they are being nice by dumping the poor animal. Most of these animals are dumped because they are either too large, pregant or untrained - all things that could have been prevented by being prepared to handle the animal. I am happy to say that after a bit of training and care I have found homes for most of these animals. Yes a few were put down due to health reasons (hit by cars,shot,etc). My current dog is one of these rescue dogs - a large GSD arrived at the farm one morning and that afternoon I had five puppies on my back porch. The mother and four of those puppies have new homes. The 5th puppy is now almost 2 years old and almost never leaves my side.
ReplyDeleteKat, I commend your service to these needy abandoned animals and also your 'bigger picture' vision about people making choices about purchasing their puppies. If only more people made responsible choices! Thanks.
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