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Originally Posted by Woogie Man  Nancy, I don't think you can say what is true about shelters in my area. As ladyjane pointed out after my post, her area's shelters are full of pure bred dogs while in my area this just isn't the case so there are regional differences. I know there are breed specific rescues and I mentioned them. They are not, as best as I can tell, counted in with 'shelter dogs'. I do visit my local shelter regularly with donations and the pure breds just aren't there. When I do hear of pure breds being in a shelter, it's the result of a puppy mill bust. It is the mills that are heaping cruelties on dogs on a huge scale. You and the article's author state that BYBs are the bigger problem but, since it's hard to even get a good total count of shelter dogs, I don't see how anyone can comfortably say who is the bigger problem. Again, in my area, the shelter is full of mixed breeds which would indicate it's the irresponsible owner rather than mills or BYBs causing the shelter problem, at least here. I do agree with you about unneutered pets and made a point about them in my post. I really don't think I'm overlooking any big points. The article was not breed specific so why should I extrapolate it over to the Yorkie? I'm sure everyone here is a true animal lover so no one really disagrees about animal welfare but only offers different points of view. Shelter and rescue workers/volunteers are saints IMO and deserve all our thanks. I have rescued dogs and cats from abusive/neglectful owners so I know just what it can be like to see the inhumanity of what some people can do. Given all that, I still feel the same about the article as I posted earlier. One thing I would like to add is that we need a national database to compile accurate figures on just what is coming into shelters. There's no way to solve any problem if you can't get a handle on it. As it is now, anyone can say anything about what is the biggest problem and have just as good a chance of being wrong as of being right. With so much legislation being drawn up on this issue, it is critical to at least have good accurate information on what the problem really is. I hope you will see that, while I don't accept the article at face value, I certainly don't promote irresponsible pet ownership and/or breeding. As for people here on YorkieTalk contemplating breeding, I would say that breeding any dog without doing your research is irresponsible and, in the case of toy breeds, is downright dangerous. |
Didn't mean to imply I knew what was going on shelters in all or even most locations. I had read an article about the "pet of the week" feature and it said how they selected the dogs to feature. I have read figures, on dogs produced by puppy millers vs. dogs produced by other breeders, and as I recall puppy millers were a drop in the bucket, compared to byb, and I was surprised by this. Don't have the figures now, and maybe someone can find the source, but I do believe that HSUS has mentioned this before, and also have stated that they never received a dog from a good breeder. This was on the Oprah show.
Here's a link to HSUS estimates of dogs entering shelters, with the number of purebreds being 25%.
HSUS Pet Overpopulation Estimates | The Humane Society of the United States