Puppy Mill French Bulldog with number tag around neck

Puppy Mill French Bulldogs – No Longer Just a Number

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There’s always SO much debate about whether or not rescues should ‘pull’ dogs from puppy mill auctions. The common belief is that doing so is wrong, and creates a self perpetuating cycle – purchasing that dog puts money into the pocket of the mill, so they can buy new dogs.

Most of the rescues who do so, however, know that the dogs they are buying are the ‘end of day’ dogs – the dogs that, if they are not purchased, will go on to less than kind ends (a bullet behind the barn, in many cases).

In May of 2013, Chicago French Bulldog Rescue helped 14 puppy mill French Bulldogs get a name, instead of just a number. After you see their faces and read their stories, I think you’ll agree that while purchasing mill dogs won’t change the world, it can at least change the world for one dog.

Thanks to Mary and her team for all that they do for French Bulldogs.

 

Mississauga Bans Sales of Puppies in Pet Stores

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Following the lead of  Toronto and of Richmond BC, Mississauga Ontario has also banned the sale of what they refer to as “privately bred puppies”.  This leaves the door open to allow pet stores to offer adoption events, and to feature adoptable puppies from local shelters and rescue groups.

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Judge Declares Paws R Us is Puppy Mill – Dogs can be placed

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Nicole Labombard,  owner of Paws R Us Kennel, proclaiming her ‘shock’ after the raid

A judge in the Paws R Us case (the largest Canadian puppy mill seizure in our country’s history) has declared Paws R Us to “be a puppy mill”.

This is big news on more than one front. Most importantly, it means that the seized dogs, who now total more than 600, can finally be placed.

Secondly, it provides vindication to Ontario resident Lorie Gordon, who was ruled to have slandered Paws R Us when she referred to them as a “puppy mill” on an on line message board in 2008. Ms. Gordon had purchased an apparently unhealthy puppy from Paws R Us, and was speaking out against them in hopes of dissuading other potential customers from purchasing puppies from them.

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Where do brokered puppies come from?

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A common marketing ploy of the people who broker puppies has been to claim that they import puppies because “European bred dogs are healthier”. They’ll usually then toss out some blather about dog wardens and breed inspections and dogs which are somehow magically healthy simply by virtue of the country they were born in.

None of this is true, of course. Dogs become healthier through a combination of things – a breeding program which puts health above everything else, use of up to date screening and DNA tests, an insistence on breeding from or to health tested dogs who don’t have any apparent health issues. None of this is predicated on the country your puppy is born in.

Another thing that helps to ensure your puppy turns out healthy, happy and well adjusted is to be sure he has been raised in a stimulating, safe, clean environment, where he, his siblings and his mother were fed quality food and given top knotch veterinary care.

Now, let me add my standard caveat – there are lots of breeders in Europe who exemplify everything I’ve just mentioned, and they are producing some spectacular dogs. What these stellar breeders are NOT doing is handing their four week old puppies over to any broker willing to pay them $200 per puppy.

For that, you need scumbags like these guys.
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Breeders Behaving Badly, Again

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I am OK with the idea that, if you are a breeder, you need to be held to some pretty high standards for care of your dogs, or else all the show win ribbons in the world don’t mean a whole lot.

Sadly, that hasn’t always been the case, as this story from the UK Daily Mail illustrates –

They were highly respected national champions and had even won at Crufts.

Yet, behind the scores of rosettes proudly hung around their terraced home, their beloved pets were living in unimaginable squalor.

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