March 25, 2007
Sunday AM

Kara Jeanne Blazier's response is so typical of the breeder. She claims that she is only breeding dogs with the desired characteristics but it is completely impossible to predict the characterists of the pups. So what happens to those dogs that do not make the grade? They are dumped at shelters if they are lucky but most are disposed of by dumping them along a rural road or they shot/drowned. She very falsely states that she is "willing to bet that for every dog sitting in a shelter there are 20 more in a loving and caring home being spoiled rotten." I wish that were so. Her statistics are the opposite of reality - for every dog in a loving and caring home there are 20 slated for death. Every year at least 5 million animals are euthanized annually in the United States with at least 55% of the dogs entering shelters/pound being killed. I know of pounds where the kill rate is as high as 95%. On average, 25% of the dogs entering shelters/pounds are purebred. In addition to the dogs entering shelters and pounds, thousands of dogs are killed on roadways after being dumped, starve to death, or are killed by larger animals. Each day 10,000 humans are born in the U.S. - and each day 70,000 puppies and kittens are born. Put another way, for every person that is born, 15 dogs and 45 cats are also born. http://www.arlep.org/main.asp?id=17 People can check the site for more statistics.

Pet stores usually buy dogs from back yard breeders or puppy mills, huge facilities with often hundreds of breeder dogs that are kept in very poor conditions all of their lives until they are no longer able to breed and then either dumped at shelters, killed, or die due to extreme illness, disease, and/or neglect. Most pet store pups are of inferior quality (if we want to use a very technical term) and a huge number are so unhealthy that they are chronically ill or die soon after purchase. Pennsylvania is possibly the worst state for puppy mills. Just this week 167 adults and pups were killed in a puppy mill fire. Many back year breeders also do not follow good breeding practices and many of the pups are the result of in-breeding, resulting in pups with deformities and chronic health issues.

Do not believe the breeder lies. Again, never buy any dog or cat from a breeder. If a person wants a pure bred dog check, www.petfinder.org to find thousands of dogs needing homes in pounds and shelters across the United States. Save a shelter dog and demand that all breeders be stopped. Spay and neuter all dogs and cats.

Margaret Cloud
Ketchikan, AK


Received March 25, 2007 - Published March 25, 2007

About: "Owner of four abandoned dogs: two pure bred Chows Chows that we rescued off the side of a rural road an 1/8 mile from the driveway where they were dumped to die with one near death, a mixed breed female left at the end of the driveway with a plate of dry food, and the fourth left behind as a very young pup. I also rescued about 20 dogs in one year from within half a mile of the driveway, including a whole litter of Border Collie mix pups and a tiny Greyhound mix pup. In addition I helped form a coalition in 2005 to obtain a $10,000 grant from Yakama Nation Legends Casino to provide free altering of dogs in the lower Yakima Valley area to aid in reducing the number of puppies being born."

Related Viewpoint:

Dog Breeders By Kara Jeanne Blazier

 

 

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