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Originally Posted by PepinosBambinos  Thank you for posting this article! I've spent the last few days on the phone with the department of agriculture and other agencies trying to find out what can be done to improve conditions for animals that are bred for resale. Unfortunately, the Animal Welfare Act does not cover dogs or cats that are bred privately and sold to individuals - it only governs breeders that sell to pet shops and researchers. There are NO REGULATIONS that govern private breeders that sell to "pet homes" so breeders do not have to conform to the standards set by the US Department of Agriculture for commercial breeders. There are no licensing requirements and in my state (South Carolina) there are no limit laws unless it is enforced at the county or city level.
If you care about this issue, please take the time to write to your state representative asking them to introduce legislation that requires private breeders to conform to the same standards that are set for commercial breeders. |
I think private breeders should be required to take proper care of their dogs, too. However what you seem to be descibing isn't the answer. Commercial breeders aren't allowed to keep their dog in their home. They must be in a separate building with concrete flooring and drainage. One thing I'm very adamant about, when buying from a breeder, is that the dogs are pets first. I would never buy from someone who kept their dogs in cages or a separate building. It doesn't matter what kind of flooring or how big it is. I'm fine with crating or using playpens in the house for a few hours, but keeping a dog in an outdoor cage/kennel makes for a bad pet. If my future dog is going to be a house pet, that's how I want the first few months of it's life to be. That's also how I want it's parents to live. If dogs are kept in a kennel building, they can't be properly monitored for health and temperment issues. They aren't going to get enough attention or be socialized properly either. This is the main reason why petstore and puppymill dogs are so hard to housebreak as well. Instead of holding private breeders to these horrible standards we should hold them to the same anti-cruelty laws that every pet owner should adhere to and get rid of the commercial breeders(aka puppymillers) alltogether.