BCMixs
Posted : 4/10/2008 11:41:59 PM
timsdat
I am curious who would regulate them. They are animals after all and that is what the USDA is all about.
One of the problems is that there is a core of people out there that think there should be no breeding and that all breeders are evil. Now their ultimate goal is to eliminate all breeding. Well that can't do that all at once so they are taking it one step at a time. This part of the attack is against one part in the industry. Do you think that they will stop at that. In fact in many communities there are laws being proposed that will make it impossible for any breeders to continue their hobby/business. Dallas is one example. They want everyone that breeds a litter to have a commercial breeders license, but that license can't be tied to property zoned residential. Palm Beach is another. They just passed a law limiting the number of litters a breeder can have to 2 unless they are a USDA commercial licensed breeder along with restrictions on having only 2 un-neutered dogs and $1500 in fees and licenses. NJ is another example. They want to limit the number of litters to 1 per year per address.
See there are attacks against breeders on all fronts.
Go ahead, pass reasonable, enforceable laws for commercial breeders. Most of the suggestions I have read here and seen in proposed laws are neither reasonable or enforceable. One example you gave is health tests. Now can they write a law that covers the required tests for 300 different breeds, after all it isn't a one size fits all solution.
Off the top of my head, I'd put oversight under the individual state vet's office or some sort of commerce department. In general, the USDA is overseeing agriculture, things that are produced for FOOD. Pet animals come in when the breeding operation reaches a certain size and that size is considered to be a farming operation, not a home based hobby or small kennel breeder.
I also think letting the localities legislate what works for their residents is best. A law that's appropriate in a congested metropolitan area such as Manhattan is probably not as appropriate for a wide open place like Montana. I don't understand the resistance to a kennel license. If I add one more dog to my household, bringing it to 3, I'd have to apply for a kennel license in my county. It lets the locality know where collections of dogs are for a number of reasons, health, safety, and neighborhood standards. If you're out in the country and have 10 dogs it's a different situation for your neighbors 10 acres away than it is for those living in a condo. There's also the issue of sanitation and housing for the animals. Admittedly, my county is stupid, I could have 100 cats with no problem at all. Not arguing it makes sense or is appropriate but without it, a neighbor of someone with 10 barking dogs has no recourse other than late night noise ordinances and it affects their property values. If they're forced to get a kennel license, the neighbors are notified and have opportunity to comment at a public hearing and express issues they might have with it. It also prevents a kennel situation from being set up in a small residential house, where it is not appropriate.
Leaving the legislation to the localities also gives a hobby breeder the ability to speak to an issue which affects them directly with their local representative. If a national limit of 1 litter per year were to be passed, it would be difficult for someone with a farm in Nevada to show that their situation is different from an apartment dweller in NYC.
As far as legislating for health checks, I don't think that it needs to specify all health conditions that would be covered. It could partner with registries for suggestions as to which conditions are prevalent in particular groups. Or it could mandate a type of contract that must be issued with the sale of all companion animals. A contract that would require the types of things previously mentioned, such as contacting the breeder before relinquishing or selling, the types of lemon laws that are starting to crop up, but tougher in areas like mine where you have 10 days to discover a health problem! I also think the government needs to get involved and regulate these registries. You should not be able to just set up a registry and issue papers without having to prove that you are conducting some inspections and somehow participating in a positive way to the health and welfare of dogs you are registering. The general public sees letters next to a dog's name and think that means some sort of quality guarantee. The government should ensure for the sake of the buyers that it does.
At the end of the day, I don't believe this (puppy mills) would be such a hot topic in the media and public opinion if there weren't sick puppies being perpetuated out there. At any given dog park or pet store you can find someone carrying a small designer dog who KNOWS there's a problem with pet store puppies but buys them anyway. I think the reason that is is that they don't know where else to go or how else to get the tiny designer dog they want. If registries and breeders took a more active role in helping educate the public and work on the problems, they might not find their right to breed being restricted and attacked. And when videos like the ones taken at mill after mill in state after state continue to be seen, the public knee jerk response will continue as well. If all commercial breeding facilities were as great as you seem to be saying that they are, there wouldn't be so many of these videos from so many states. Where are the videos from breeders who are operating large scale facilities showing how great and clean and well-vetted they are? To my earlier point, even IF this is a clean, sanitary and ethically run facility, when you have 100 breeding dogs and even more puppies being born, those puppies are NOT going to be getting the type of early socialization that is so critical to preventing behavioral problems, so if only on that front, I oppose large commercial operations or hobby breeders who have large numbers of puppies at one time. There's only so many hours in the day and those first 8 weeks are critical. I'm painfully aware of that now that I have adopted a pup who spent his first 8 weeks of life alone with a feral mom under an abandoned house.
Finally, No. I do not feel I know alot about breeding. I know very little and have said so. What I do know is what I experienced at the hands of a reputable responsible breeder during my purchase of a purebred dog. And how that breeders practices helped to ensure a positive experience for both myself and my dog. And to my mind, those two parties rights trump those of the breeders because, in the end, we are spending a whole lot more years together than you are.