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Originally Posted by sylvan Just things to consider...
"Up to 10 million healthy animals are killed in U.S. pounds and shelters every year. The killing could easily be prevented by spaying and neutering.
Euthanasia is the single largest cause of death for dogs in the U.S. Each year 27 million of the animals are born. Five to ten million we classify as "surplus" and kill. That's about one million per month. These numbers do not include the millions of dead dogs whose bodies we scrape off the streets, or the hundreds of thousands of abandoned, severely neglected or abused ones who never make it to our shelters to be counted and killed. The five to ten million figure represents those we "must" kill because they are unwanted.
Most of these animals are young and healthy; in fact, it is estimated that a majority are less than one year of age. The problem is simple: we have too many dogs. Too many for the too few homes available. The solution we have opted for is to kill the extras. This solution has been considered acceptable by default, as though there were no other way to control the crisis. And we spend over $1 billion every year destroying "man's best friend."
Why is this happening in the United States today? The number one biggest contributor to the problem is the backyard breeder not the puppy mills.
This is a name that has become unpopular and no one wants to admit they are a backyard breeder. Many people do not even realize they are part of the problem. This is what I need to address in this post. The only way to stop the needless killing of dogs is to stop the needless breeding of them.
Every breed of dog recognized by the AKC has a written standard, a blueprint of what the dog should look like and act like. These standards were written so that all would know what a quality example of the breed is and strive to produce dogs that meet or exceed the standard in health, temperament and appearance. To be sure you are breeding dogs that meet these standards, your dogs must be judged by people who have a lifetime of experience among the breed." |
Stacy - Your post hit the nail on the head
and with the popularity of the Yorkie moving to 3rd place soon more of them will be on death row. Supply and Demand. Some people think very few Yorkies come through rescue but that is just not true and if you look at what happened to the Golden's, Lab's, Cockers, Poodles (the list could go on) and how many of them ended up in the pounds when their popularity ranking went up. The Yorkie will be no different
I have always felt that if a breeder had to have a warranty like a car manufacturer does and a buy back option you would see the number of dogs being breed go down and the quality go up. The public demands through laws that a car manufacturer is held accountable for an average of 3 years but they do not demand something that is a living creature (a few states have puppy lemon laws) so we are moving in that direction. The manufacturer has to pay to have the car fixed or buy it back and fix it themselves before they can sell it as a used car. Because of these laws cars have gotten better and better with less costs going into warranty and more costs going into research and development for a better car in the long run. Once we held manufacturers feet to the fire and they realized it was costing them millions of dollars they started to produce cars that were safer, more reliable and better fuel mileage just to name a few of the improvements. I think top notch breeders are already doing this. How many BYB even offer a 1 year guarantee or even a 3 month guarantee? What about defective parts on a dog? I am sure you can see where I am going with this and most people would say, but then the cost of the dogs will go up and I can't afford to pay for a better quality pet. Well what most people don't understand is they are already paying over 1 billion dollars a year to hide our pet over populations problem in taxes at the shelters. Well, you know the old saying, you can pay me now or you can pay me later but we are all paying for it one way or another. It would also be interesting to see how much $$$ is spent by all the rescue organizations (public and private) in this country and add this to the 1 billion dollar tab. It really is interesting that tax payers have to pick up the tab for this business. What if the breeders were responsible from start to finish or at least a certain amount of time and had to foot the bill. Most business's today have some responsibility when their products are bought by the public and are defective, even if it is a $1.00 toy.
These comments are just food for thought on a Sunday morning.
