Animal cruelty. Are puppy mills a problem?

Thousands of dogs are killed each year in Australia.

Did you know – that many of these sentient animals will lose their lives almost daily, in your local dog pound?

After being killed, the dogs’ bodies are then dumped at the rubbish tip. This continues, every week, every year, using ratepayer’s money…your money.

One of the contributing factors is the over production of puppies.

How does over production occur?

• Is it because local/state governments continue to tolerate backyard ‘breeders’? Are puppy mills responsible for creating the steady steam of dogs that seem to find their way to the pounds?
• Are these puppies sometimes the source of undeclared income when sold through newspapers, on-line trading sites or other locations?
• Do these dogs find their way to retail outlets?
• What if some of the  pups are suffering from diseases, vitamin/mineral deficiencies or lack proper socialisation with people and other animals – will they make healthy, happy companions?
• Are cross breeds being sold as pure breeds to naive buyers at exorbitant prices?
• What if some of the buyers turn out to be young  impulse buyers? Some  pups have allegedly been found dumped in rubbish bins outside shopping centres.
• Are these the puppies and dogs that end up in pounds and become statistics?

Animal Cruelty
Do our local/state governments turn a ‘blind eye’ to the over-breeding of female dogs in puppy mills?  Is it true that they live in  squalid conditions where neither mothers nor pups receive proper veterinary care, nutrition, adequate housing or socialisation?

Does the public know where their puppies come from?

Exploitation of females
A bitch can produce about 30 pups in a life time. Ethical breeders do not over-breed females. They also provided proper veterinary care and add the correct vitamin and mineral supplements to the female’s diet during pregnancy and lactation. Do backyard breeders do the same?

Selling undesexed dogs
Some councils still allow their dog pounds to continue to sell undesexed dogs, so in few months time, the next batch of impounded dogs killed in the pounds will be the offspring of the undesexed dogs sold today. Shouldn’t there be uniform desexing and vaccinating for all impounded dogs across Australia?

How did that happen?
Some dog owners fail to have their male dogs desexed, resulting in them escaping from their homes and roaming the district to impregnate undesexed bitches of unsuspecting owners. The cycle starts again when the unwanted puppies are dumped in pounds.

The ‘Mummy’ Myth
Some owners wrongly apply human sentiment to other species, such as: bitches must produce one litter of pups in order to feel ‘whole’ or ‘good about themselves’. Females desexed prior to first coming into season have a better chance of avoiding mammary cancer. The removal of the uterus and ovaries also eliminates reproductive cancers. See Desexing Female Dogs.

Home birthing lessons
And last but not least, there are owners who believe their children should watch live animal births to further their understanding of animals, without any plans or ideas as to what will become of the puppies. Impractical from many viewpoints—especially because the puppies may appear anytime of the day or night, most likely when the intending viewers are asleep or at school. There are plenty of videos available on Utube featuring animal birthing to satisfy curiosity without endangering the lives of the mother and her puppies.

It’s my right!
Should everyone have the right to own dogs? With rights come responsibilities. Not everyone has the ability to care properly for dogs; would licencing people help remove some of the problems of animal neglect?

The real solution?
The real solution, as opposed to the final solution, should benefit not only the dogs, but rate payers as well. What if these laws were apply to dogs across Australia:

• The compulsory desexing (or the issuing of desexing vouchers for younger puppies) of all newly registered dogs other than those owned by ethical registered breeders would help prevent the exploitation of puppies.
• The proper licensing and regulating of dog breeders should go a long way to eliminating backyard breeders and puppy mills, allowing ethical breeders to produce sound, healthy wanted dogs.
• A ban of dogs from retails outlets? Dogs are social animals and benefit from proper care and socialization from an early age.
• It’s illegal to drive a car without a licence, shouldn’t pet owners should be assessed before being licensed to own a dog ? Licencing the owners instead of the dogs could save not only the lives of these animals, but also save rate payers a lot of money in the long run.