Zoom said:
Just to totally play devil's advocate for a moment...lets say that one day there are no more BYB's or puppymills and everyone gets their dogs from good breeders. Wouldn't evetually the cycle start all over again, people renege(sp?) on their spay/neuter contracts, or wait too long and get an accidental breeding, we start getting random litters of puppies again that start off as cheaper than a real breeder so the people who can't afford a good pup go there, start selling puppies to friends, relatives and people on the street corner for Christmas and then suddenly we're back to where we are now.
Lord, that's a long sentence.
Oh I never claimed that humans were responsible people. Of course, no more puppy mills or backyard breeders is an utopia. It's not going to happen because there will always be selfish and greedy people, or just people who don't like being given advice or be told that they are wrong, and will just keep doing things their way.
But the least we can do is try to educate the ones that don't belong to those categories, so that maybe they learn, if we can prevent even 8 puppies from being born this way, it's still 8 less puppies that may live miserable lives with irresponsible owners or end up in a shelter... and that's without counting the potential offspring.
Someone posted this on another forum.. I know it's just an average, but it's probably not too far off...
DID YOU KNOW:
That when your dog has 6 puppies...
*** Chances of serious complications during delivery are 1 in 4....
*** Chances of a bitch dying during the birthing process are 1 in 20...
*** Chances of an Emergency C-Section are 1 in 10...
*** Chances of loosing at LEAST 1 puppy during delivery are 1 in 3...
*** Chances of loosing at least 1 puppy within the 1st week are 1 in 2...
*** Chances of ALL your PURE-BRED puppies finding PERMANENT & FOREVER homes are about 6%
*** 5 out of your 6 puppies are going to spend their lives with at least 4 DIFFERENT families throughout their lives...
*** 4 out of your 6 puppies are going to bounce from home to home and in and out of Shelters, with the average time spent with one family being 1-2 years...
*** 3 out of your 6 puppies (50%) are going to be euthanized in a shelter, or in an enviroment where there is no one who loves them near them to comfort them...
*** At least 1 out of your 6 puppies is going to be abused, starved or beaten...
*** At least 1 out of your 6 puppies is going to be hit by a car before it's 2nd birthday.
*** At least 2 out of your 6 puppies are going to be dead before they reach 5 years of age...
*** Chances of ONE of your 6 puppies going thru ANY obedience training whatsoever are about 50%...
*** Chances of YOU, the person who planned for your PURE-BRED puppy to be born, being there for your puppy to comfort it, heal it, feed it, love it, and make sure it is safe and protected all it's life.... 0.00001%....