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Originally Posted by gracielove  I have to go with the Girl Scouts here as well. The AKC has done nothing but oppose all proposed regulation of puppy mills. Even rules such as tethering of animals for long periods of time have been opposed by the AKC.
I understand that over regulation can be a problem but as yet what has AKC contributed in the way of helping to put together legislation that would put puppy mills out of business but also protect the "small" hobby breeder? If their true concern is for the hobby breeder then why don't they get involved in helping to craft legislation that will do both? As of this moment they have only moved to obstruct and done nothing to pitch in and help. Laws have to be constructed to stop abusive breeding practices and to protect animals from the many heartless pet owners that care nothing about the dog tied to a post in the back yard.
Go Girl Scouts! Maybe you can also convince AKC that they have a responsibility to protect all animals and not just their kennel owners. Many of the AKC breeders are far from small hobby breeders. It is their business and it comes down to dollars and cents here. |
We've got to get something done to stop so many dogs from being so exploited by people for one reason or the other. And it's not just in breeding and show dog programs or BYB/hobby/casual or puppy mill breeders who might treat dogs as less than beloved pets.
I just want to grit my teeth when I see how hobby racing sled dogs in Alaska and the polar climates live their lives - many chained to a dog house in a large pen except for when they must run for hours in some race(or training for same) over the worst of territory for hours and hours. Some dogs have big runs and kennels but they largely live confined except when running pulling the sled or allowed out to exercise. I would run like a hare too if most of my time was staying confined in some form or fashion! A big, beautiful animal like that and most of its day when not racing or "exercising" is that of confinement and apparently little prolonged human interaction targeted toward that specific dog.
Where that dog team is performing a vital human service, I can accept it but those that have a racing team just as a hobby and do it just as a sport - keeping a flock of dogs largely as a mostly confined pack with exercise periods and visits from the human a few times a day all the dogs' lives seems exploitive to me. And many of the racers trade out dogs like women friends trade out recipes or something! No forever homes for many of that team! They are used and moved out in more than a few instances as a matter of course. Watch NatGeo and see how cavalierly many of the dogs are treated when not actively part of the racing team. They don't focus on that part of the fancy though on the TV shows but if you watch enough, you glimpse it happening - just the racing mostly is covered on TV. But if you read a book or two about it, it is shocking how the dogs are not treated as loved pets. So many of those dogs are bred for and exist solely to race for sport and the rest of their lives, looks to me at least, to be lived not as loved house pets but as something much less and very few of the sport racing dogs seem to have an actual pet relationship with its owner. I don't know - maybe confinement away from a lot of human interaction is what some dogs need and want in life and they are substantially different than our pets. But knowing the nature of so many dogs over the years, except for a
very, very few, most dogs just thrive on the home environment with a rich, ongoing daily interactive relationship with its person or family.