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Originally Posted by bondai  I guess when I entered into this discussion I was viewing the subject from a different time. I am a bit old school and I was raised in a rural setting, I even owned a dairy farm in Minnesota. We had dogs and cats and they had litters. I think the big difference was there was always a home for the puppies and kittens. The neighbors would hear you had a litter and they would come by and pick one out, the animals never wound up at a shelter, that was unheard of. It was not unusual for people to have 4 or 5 dogs running around on the farm and a bunch of cats. Come vet time it was a full day job to round them all up and contain them so they could get their shots and check up's, and yes we spayed and neutered some of our animals.
I guess when I made the comments about the breeding of animals it was from an earlier template, things have really changed and not for the better. I always knew there was an overpopulation problem but I had no idea it had reached such proportions. The number of animals that are put to death in this country every year is disgraceful.
I am against big government and I think they spend too much time with their noses in our business and their hands in our wallets but in this case it may be time for something to be done. I think the intervention needs to starts at the state level. The places where these puppy mills operate need to be reined in. They need to be licensed and there should be strict limits on how many dogs can be bred in a certain length of time, also all dogs sold should be spayed or neutered, no exceptions. With some work and a little common sense I think a lot of the problems could be handled at a local level. You have to make it a painful process to run a puppy mill. A lot of these pet stores have some answering up to do as well. Cleaning up the mess will have to start some where and it's going to be painful but things are out of control.
We have a moral obligation for the care of our animals and we as a nation are failing. |
Wonderfully said and agree 100%. All but a few of us came into the same realization as you have and were stunned to find out bad things had gotten. Hopefully, slowly, things will begin to change as more and more of us learn more about what is happening to our poor dogs as a result of the questionable breeding ethics and practices of so many.