4 Crazy Dogs

Author's note: This is written from the dog owner's perspective, just for the sake of simplicity, but you can easily exchange the word "cat" with "dog" anywhere within this essay.

I hear it so often..."What's so bad about breeding?"

I wish that everyone who asks that question could spend a week volunteering in a pet shelter...a kill shelter. I didn't say a day, but a week. Why? Because in a day, you might not be exposed to everything to which you need to be exposed to understand the answer to this question. In a week, especially if you're in a kill shelter, you will most likely hit one of the days when the dogs who have overstayed their welcome (i.e., haven't been adopted) are put to sleep in whatever method the shelter uses. You should be present for each and every one of those. You should hold these perfectly healthy, lovable animals as they take their last breath, their eyes still open and staring at you in confusion. If you can't understand what's so bad about breeding by the time your week is over, then--I'm not going to pull punches with you--you're a heartless fool.

Then you ask yourself, "How can my dog's one little litter matter to the overpopulation problem?" It's very simple. You aren't the only one who thinks that way--there are thousands of people who think the same way. Your one little litter, in addition to those thousands of others who are thinking the exact same thing, equates to one huge impact on the pet homeless crisis in this country. Do the math. It's not hard to find the average litter size for a dog. Multiply that average number of pups, by 5,000 (and that's a very low estimate). How many puppies do you have that now need homes? For every single one of those, an already homeless dog doesn't get adopted.

You can take the easy way out and claim "that's not my problem", but that's just making excuses...and I think you're very well aware of that even as you think it. However, you can be the bigger person. You can choose not to contribute to the already staggering problem. You can choose not to breed your dog.

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Let's break it down in storybook fashion. Let's say you choose to ignore the statistics and breed your dog anyway. Your neighbor's son, who has always wanted a dog and doesn't care what kind, gets one of your dog's pups because, like the "responsible" breeder that you are, you've found homes for every last one of them. This young boy has been bugging your neighbors for a dog for over a year now. If there were no pups available from you or from any other breeder, where would your neighbors go to get their son's dog? The pet shelter, where there are plenty of dogs to choose from who don't have homes. However, now that you've provided them with a dog from your one little litter, the dogs in the shelter are still waiting for their chances at homes. Some of them won't live past this week. Did your one little litter do that? Yes. Now multiply your one little litter by the thousands of people across the country who are thinking the same way, coupled with the countless licensed breeders in existence. Now how many dogs have died because people thought their one little litter wouldn't make a difference? It's all about the math.

Until the supply is less than the demand, perfectly healthy, adoptable and lovable shelter dogs will continue to die in vast numbers every year. To decrease the supply, breeding has to stop. There's no other way to look at it. If you decide to breed, whether in your backyard or by becoming a licensed breeder, you are contributing to the supply and the cycle never stops. Your dogs are born; more dogs in the shelter die as a result.

It's easy to look the other way and pretend that your litter(s) aren't having an impact--they're just cute little pups, after all--but open up your eyes and your heart and take a good, hard look. The minute you start breeding, the deaths of all the shelter dogs ends up in your hands. Don't look the other way. Face it.

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There is one other way for the supply to become less than the demand. The next time you're looking for a dog, visit your local pet shelter instead of darting off to the local breeder because you want a specific breed. Mutts typically have longer life spans, healthier lives (without all the health complications of pure breeds), and better demeanors--very often better with children and more family-oriented. If you must have a certain breed, seek out a rescue organization that adopts out unwanted pure-bred dogs of your chosen breed.

You see, when you adopt from a shelter or rescue instead of buying from a breeder, you are helping the supply vs. demand situation in a whole different way. The fewer pure-bred dogs that are purchased from breeders, the more breeders are likely to get out of the business. Don't let the breeders pull the "it's all about preserving the breed" wool over your eyes, either. For those of us who know and love dogs in general (not just a specific breed), we're pretty sure that quite a bit of it is all about the money, too. If they aren't making money at it, what real reason do they have to continue breeding? They can own dogs of a specific breed because they love that breed, but do they have to bring more litters into the world to love them? The simple answer is no. What, then, is left to keep a breeder in the breeding business? The money. That's it.

After all, pure-bred dogs are man-made. If left up to nature, every last one of them would be mixed, because dogs don't stop and ask the breed. They don't discriminate. They don't care. When they want to get busy with a dog of the opposite sex, they just do it. It's only humans who keep the breeds pure--and for purely selfish reasons.

So the next time a breeder tells you they breed for the "love of the breed," ask them why they don't stop breeding "for the love of the dog."

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