tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9128506581675705657.post1372030284223949306..comments2023-09-11T06:03:29.893-07:00Comments on Time 4 Dogs: Busy Bees in the "Beehive State"Liberty Bellehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01177305529757660312noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9128506581675705657.post-68167125616261489352011-03-26T13:09:41.911-07:002011-03-26T13:09:41.911-07:00How can I count the ways in which these proposed b...How can I count the ways in which these proposed bills are dead wrong? More than<br />one litter per year defines a high-volume breeder? Duh? What if the typical small-breed<br />breeder produces two puppies per litter in two litters in one year? This makes her<br />a high-volume breeder? What if a breeder of any size breed produces singleton puppies<br />in two breedings in one year? That makes her a high-volume breeder?<br /><br />Inspections with no evidence of probable cause at times when the owners of the<br />home or kennel are at work. At the least, if inspections are scheduled, people can<br />arrange to be home from their jobs, maybe. And in a so-called improved version of the <br />law, everyone who breeds even ONE litter must register as a breeder and be subject <br />to announced inspections. As Starbreeze noted, do inspectors inspect people's homes <br />when they bring back from hospital their newborn children? <br /><br /><br />What is a solid floor? Cement that scrapes tender puppy bellies? Tile that puppies and/or old<br />dogs slip on and break their legs? Dogs have survived for millennia moving around on turf. Why<br />can't they run around on grass or dirt or mulch (other than cocoa mulch)? Puppies need to<br />exercise on turf, because if they're exercised only on solid floors, they go down at the hocks<br />and even pull out their hip joints.<br /><br />Breeders' licensing requirements are relaxed if breeders are members of dog clubs that<br />enforce their codes of ethics, but it's just impossible to enforce ethics. Dog clubs, churches,<br />schools, community service organizations can TEACH ethics, but no one can force<br />someone else to be ethical. Note that ethics are not necessarily the same thing as<br />legalities. One can operate totally legally and still be unethical by some other people's<br />standards. In other words, under the proposed Salt Lake County laws, Breeder A<br />could be penalized because her respectable, responsible dog club cannot force<br />Breeder B to sell her puppies to approved customers.<br /><br />Health testing isn't a bad idea at all, but it's no guarantee of totally healthy puppies.<br />In my breed, the worst killer diseases are some for which there is no test at all,<br />other than reviewing pedigrees and stacking the odds. As well, how a dog tests<br />for, say, cardiac issues or hip dysplasia at two or three years old (prime breeding<br />age) is sometimes not how that dog tests for the same things two or three years<br />later. Health isn't static; it's dynamic.<br /><br />And the disaster plan? Isn't it the responsibility of the community to provide<br />disaster plans?<br /><br />The main thing is that these proposed bills are a full-blown attack on dog breeders,<br />do not in any way provide humane protection for dogs, and relieve prospective<br />and present owners of all responsibility for their own dogs and their decisions<br />to buy a dog. As well, as Starbreeze notes, the whole inspection plan is an<br />invasion of privacy especially of people who breed ONE litter once in a while.<br /><br />I wish I were anywhere near Salt Lake County. I'd get out of a hospital bed to go<br />to that hearing to protest those bills.Robertanoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9128506581675705657.post-46541287225142778472011-03-26T12:22:46.283-07:002011-03-26T12:22:46.283-07:00One more point I forgot about rehoming dogs...I
so...One more point I forgot about rehoming dogs...I<br />sometimes wonder if we make it too easy for people to give up their dogs. If you know your dog's breeder will take back your dog, would you be so motivated to resolve that dog's problems or<br />would you send the dog back to the breeder at the first sign of trouble? If you know you can dump a dog with worms or something else that will<br />cost you some money at a local shelter, will you<br />make the effort to find money to pay the vet to<br />treat your dog, or will you dump the dog at the<br />shelter?<br /><br />All these laws hedged around breeding do not protect the dogs one bit, but instead attack<br />breeders, and coddle OWNERS as if dog owners<br />were preschool children who needed full protection from nasty breeders. Duh. No one<br />protects buyers of used cars from used car lot<br />salesmen, the most aggressive breed of hucksters<br />out there. Why can't buyers of dogs learn something about the product just as they do<br />when buying anything else, before actually<br />consummating the sale?Robertanoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9128506581675705657.post-68615693700176542172011-03-26T12:14:07.934-07:002011-03-26T12:14:07.934-07:00There are so many things wrong with Salt Lake
Coun...There are so many things wrong with Salt Lake<br />County's proposals for regulating breeders that<br />I don't know if a comment will allow enough<br />space to...well, comment. However, I do want to<br />respond to Liz Huffman's insistence that a breeder MUST take back a dog if that dog loses<br />his or her home. <br /><br />As Starbreeze states, the fact that most breeders actually do take back dogs of their breeding who lose their homes does not mean such<br />a practice should or needs to be a law. There<br />might well be other satisfactory options for the<br />dog besides a rigid requirement that a breeder<br />takes back that dog. What if her town imposed<br />pet limits since she bred that dog? What is<br />she herself had to move due to family demands,<br />illness, economic reversals etc. and literally<br />has no room for another dog? <br /><br />Why shouldn't the breeder have the option of working with the dog's owner and the owner's<br />family or even friends to find that dog a new<br />good home. Why does it need to be the breeder's<br />home, especially if the breeder is taking an <br />active role in rehoming that dog.<br /><br />What if the breeder has died or is terminally<br />or chronically ill? Would such a law impose<br />the responsibility for that dog on her spouse<br />or children? <br /><br />Full disclosure. I did have a dog come back<br />to me four years after I sold her as a puppy.<br />I was delighted to have her back, but had I<br />been unable to take her back, I would have had<br />no problem helping to find her a good new home.Robertanoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9128506581675705657.post-4970816079696678812011-03-26T07:25:41.626-07:002011-03-26T07:25:41.626-07:00I believe that a breeder is responsible for the li...I believe that a breeder is responsible for the lifetime of any dog/cat they decide to produce. They made the choice to bring the animal to life and therefore they should have to take care of it if circumstances deem that the animal loses it's home.Liz Huffmannoreply@blogger.com