**Please Read-Urgent**

[labdogs42]

I breed Great Danes, and posts like this really irritate me. Responsible breeders are NOT the cause of pet overpopulation. We spend our lives improving our lines to create healthy dogs with sound temperaments, health test parents, screen new families carefully, and ALWAYS take back our dogs if the new owners can no longer care for them. The fact remains that many families want a purebred dog from a good breeder because they can be reasonably certain that the dog will be healthy and have the specific traits that they are looking for in a pet.

Here in the Northeast, our shelters actually IMPORT dogs from other areas (including South America) because there is a lack of adoptable pets. If you visit a shelter around here, you are unlikely to find anything but pitbulls and large mixes, which may not be the right fit for most families. The Humane Society of the United States and other similar organizations that spew nonsense like the letter posted, is actually a political lobbying group which does very little, if anything to help unwanted pets. Their ultimate agenda is to end all pet ownership and farming, and if we as citizens let propoganda like this go unchecked we will soon lose all of our rights to own and care for animals.

I am not a breeder, but I am active in dog sports and training. I buy my dogs from reputable breeders. I do not buy dogs at pet stores. I have many friends who are reputable breeders. None of those dogs will ever end up in shelter because every reputable breeder I know has a return clause in their contract. If you can not keep the dog for any reason, bring it back to the breeder, not the shelter.

Also, I would love to rescue a dog some day, but with a young child in the house, I trust my own ability to train a puppy more than a trust a rescue dog with an unknown history. People do horrible things to dogs and then drop them off at shelters. I can't have those kind of issues coming into my house. Sorry. I want a puppy with a known background and I want to socialize the puppy and train it with positive reinforcement techniques. I love the idea of rescue, but I also know a lot of unstable rescued dogs, so I just can't bring myself to rescue a dog right now.

I hate "letters" like this that make such sweeping generalizations. They just don't make much sense to me. I really don't know what the OP's point was, except maybe to stir up some controversy. So, if that was the intent, I guess she was successful!

 

[mking624]

I am not a breeder, but I am active in dog sports and training. I buy my dogs from reputable breeders. I do not buy dogs at pet stores. I have many friends who are reputable breeders. None of those dogs will ever end up in shelter because every reputable breeder I know has a return clause in their contract. If you can not keep the dog for any reason, bring it back to the breeder, not the shelter.

Also, I would love to rescue a dog some day, but with a young child in the house, I trust my own ability to train a puppy more than a trust a rescue dog with an unknown history. People do horrible things to dogs and then drop them off at shelters. I can't have those kind of issues coming into my house. Sorry. I want a puppy with a known background and I want to socialize the puppy and train it with positive reinforcement techniques. I love the idea of rescue, but I also know a lot of unstable rescued dogs, so I just can't bring myself to rescue a dog right now.

I hate "letters" like this that make such sweeping generalizations. They just don't make much sense to me. I really don't know what the OP's point was, except maybe to stir up some controversy. So, if that was the intent, I guess she was successful!

Just to comment on a couple of things...
Not all pet stores that have animals are doing something wrong. When I worked for my local humane society, we had adoption centers at a particular local chain of pet stores. They ONLY worked with shelters. We operated out of most of them, while a few other shelters had the others. Now, not all pet stores do this so it's obviously best to ask where the pets come from.

And as far as an unknown history...it's true that with some animals will have an unknown history. But I know for my shelter, we got as much info from the previous owner that we could so we could pass it to the new owner....and with almost all the animals, we had that available. Our behaviorists would also add in any notes, as well as the foster volunteers that would keep them in their homes...and then us, the ones who processed the adoptions. We also did an age rating for dogs. It upset some people who at times would curse me out...but hey, I'm looking out for the safety of their children AND our animals. I don't want either one at risk. But anyway, my point was to just ask.