As dog lovers, we must all, surely, feel a massive twang of pity and regret when we think of those puppies who have been bred for profit by breeders who are interested only in how to produce maximum volume of stock’ with scant regard for the welfare, health or temperament of the animals they churn out month by month, year by year.
Puppy farms (or, as they are known outside of the UK — puppy mills) are alive kicking.
But how? Buy why?
Let’s see if we can find out…
I believe the media has been very generous to the people who, it could easily be argued, are REALLY responsible for the growth in puppy farms.
Puppy farmers aren’t the ONLY ones to blame for misery
The people I speak of are those who willingly dig in to their pockets and get their wallets out, to hand over cash to the cynical puppies- for-profits breeders — aka puppy farmers — who couldn’t care less about the fundamental principles of breeding good, healthy, well balanced dogs.
The puppy farmer only exists because people keep giving them money.
In all the coverage given to the puppy farming debate, have we missed the most obvious of points? That if people simply stopped fuelling this trade, we might actually get somewhere?
Don’t get me wrong, I have a huge moral and ethical objection to the people who trade in the suffering and misery of mass produced dogs. We can’t legitimately call ourselves a nation of animal lovers whilst we allow this to happen.
But, the fact is, these puppy farms would be a thing of the past if:
1) People refused to buy puppies from pet stores (and yes, I include the celebrities who buy from famous department stores in that — no GOOD breeder will EVER allow their stock to be retailed’ in a pet store.)
2) People educated themselves on how to acquire a new dog, responsibly, rather than rushing out to buy a puppy from the first litter they see advertised in the free classified ads newspapers or websites.
Seriously, if those two things happened — the puppy farmer is left with no business. No trade. No customers. No money. No motivation to keep producing puppies.
Let’s think about it for a second; if people didn’t purchase from puppy farms and from pet shops, there’d be none.
So why do people do it?
Some of them are misguided, misinformed. OK, I accept that. But even so, in this year, in this day in age with ALL of the wealth of information that exists about how to obtain a dog responsibly, is it REALLY a valid excuse any more? I mean, really?
And for everyone who accidentally, unintentionally winds up putting money in to the pocket of puppy farmers, there’s certainly more folk who do it and who couldn’t really care less either way.
Whilst it is an ongoing disgrace that puppy farms are allowed to thrive and prosper in a country where laws, legislation and enforcement of such establishments have never really been properly crafted to a point where they have been forced out of business, whilst the demand exists — the puppy farmer will thrive.
If puppy farming is to be defeated, the first point of action needs to be in changing the attitude and behaviour of the people who are putting their money in to keep the puppy farms in business — that’s puppy buyers!
Look at this way; if there was ZERO demand for cocaine, would the governments of the world even need to make laws and spend BILLIONS on trying to combat traffickers around the globe? Of course not!
Zero demand for a product or service means the supplier is automatically redundant. They become extinct. It’s the laws of economics, supply and demand.
And let’s establish one thing, for the record, puppies are NOTHING like cocaine. So our failure to combat puppy farmers is interlinked, exclusively, with our failure to convince enough people of the right and wrong ways to acquire a dog ethically and responsibly. There is no chemical high’ to be gained by buying a puppy from a puppy farmer.
How can we change this? How do we push for a culture change?
It’s going to be hard and I feel it’s going to take something big. But I am 100% convinced that even if we were to bring in laws that would legislate against puppy farms, if there is still a 10 or 20% demand from the same sort of people who acquiring their dogs from puppy farmers today, the laws themselves won’t be enough.
The media who carry adverts for puppy farmers, they are guilty as sin.
There are some big name, very profitable media businesses out there profiting from the misery of dogs. Whether they knowingly take adverts from puppy farmers or not, whether the fact that puppy farming in and of itself is NOT illegal (a disgrace in itself), surely there has to be an ethical, honest way to deny puppy farmers the oxygen of publicity? If people and businesses aren’t prepared to step up, how do we ever expect the public to understand that
- just because a litter of puppies is advertised in a legitimate’ publication, it doesn’t mean the puppy has been bred responsibly
- just because a litter of puppies is for sale in a pet shop with a licence, it doesn’t mean the puppy has been bred responsibly
- just because a litter of puppies has been bred by a licenced breeder’ it doesn’t mean the puppy has been bred responsibly
If we really want to tackle the blight of puppy farming, puppies produced in dank, squalid conditions with profit as the only motive, then we — all of us honest, caring dog owners — need to speak up, speak out and repeat the following mantra:
”If you buy from a puppy farm, you’re as guilty as the puppy farmer. If you don’t have the knowledge to avoid a puppy farmed dog, then you’re not yet ready to own a dog.”
Everything you have said is so true. I just wish you could get every pet lover to understand what you are saying, trouble is it seems that most people love a bargain so they will go for the cheaper option (wrong option)
Good Luck with your campaign
But sadly, puppy farmed pups aren’t the cheaper option always….if ever. I know some breeds are more expensive from these people/places that sell ‘farmed’ puppies. Then you have to consider the vet biulls that you ALWAYS get with badly bred/reared puppies….and if the pup survives …you still get vet bills because these babies are often ill for most of their lives. Most not living the full number of yrs for their breed because of the shocking start to their lives. These pups will always work out very expensive. Not just in money but in feelings and the caring you have for these poor mites who just don’t deserve the lives they were born into. When you buy a puppy farmed dog you are not RESUING it….you’re doing what the ‘breeders’ expect you to do….PAY THROUGH THE NOSE FOR THIS SAD PUPPY AND ALLOW THEM TO BREED MORE AND MORE SAD PUPPIES FROM EVEN SADDER MUMS….bred from at every season till they’re bred to death. Buy from a good breeder….or rescue from a pound…but don’t buy from a puppy farm…..ever.
This is nowhere near the truth. I’ve been to a local puppy farm where pups were beautifully presented to masses of admirers all looking for their new lifelong friend. Almost all I would say had been enticed there by the simple fact they could see the puppies and knew if they wanted one all they had to do was pay. Once there, it’s all they can do to just take one so strong is their feeling towards these innocent little pups. Too easy. So where else should they go for their designer pup? To the so called ‘breeder’ up the road who wants twice the amount for a pup with just as little care or interest shown in its lineage? It’s not just the buyers who are to blame, take a look at the people selling from their own homes claiming to be responsible breeders and dog lovers, demanding twice the price,among other things, for sending people in the direction of the puppy farms in the first place. I went to a local puppy farm to collect a four month old puppy of a particular full breed, because no one wanted him, customers wanted designers pups only.
You can blame some rescues for this as well. Yep, you heard that right. On the other side of the pond rescues are everywhere. And guess what? They deny people for the silliest things. I honestly read one case where a woman was denied a dog because her betta was intact. I’ve heard others that had other small animals that weren’t fixed be denied. Got a small place? No dog for you.
I don’t bring this up to be combative. But, it’s actually pushing people to go to the one thing we all hate.