Could this be the beginning of the end for puppy mills?

San Francisco restricts pet store dog sales to rescue only:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/san-francisco-rescue-dogs-cats_us_58a5437ce4b045cd34be9fcd

I think it will work only if everyone wants a pit bull. I don’t know about San Francisco, but on the East Coast, you go to the humane society and it’s nothing but pitties.

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Local show breeders (Mid-Atlantic) are NOT happy about it, concerned there is no consistent legal definition of puppy mill. They are resisting all such breeder legislation.

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People can still buy breed dogs, just not at pet stores.

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I think in California you get the option of a chihuahua as well.

I’m in a state with maybe a total of 3 stores which sell puppies. I still see a slew of dogs from what I would consider to be a commercial operation. They’re bought online and picked up at the airport in Boston. So, no, I don’t see this legislation changing much in San Francisco. It’s the instant gratification society. People don’t want to wait for a puppy. I have had five inquiries in the past week alone for folks wanting a puppy this summer. Well, in my area, in my breed, any puppies going home the first part of summer were spoken for by last Christmas.

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When sweeping regulations are passed, the good guys are often caught up in it.

But no breeder worth their salt would allow a pup to be sold through a pet store.

In my area was/is one store that had mixed breed pups and kittens for sale.
I never went back, but most are now the box stores, and while they sell just about any other critter, they only have rescue cats and host a adoption day saturdays.

But yeah, if you look for something smaller, you are out of luck…

If any one wants a purebred dog, like a cocker, chih, poodle, schnauzer, lab, germ shep, etc, I can get one from our kill shelter for you. We have a lot of purebreds here. Them come fixed, microchipped and vaccinated for 30-150.00. Our ac kills approx 20,000 pets a yr.

I’m all for the new law. No good breeder sells to pet shops.

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This will never be enacted in a lot of places, because too much money comes from pet stores, and puppy mills. Some places (where I lived for ten years) the owner of a small chain of pet stores actually operated a puppy mill, and animal control did nothing.

So the rescues ā€˜buy’ from puppymills (dumped at rescues or because they don’t work out for buyers) and sell (adopt) in pet stores?

And you think this will stop puppymills breeding chi-dachshunds or yorkie-poos?

Not following for me.

Reputable breeders don’t sell to petstores.
They also don’t sell online sight unseen and ship: this is what puppymills do - they have a ā€˜work around’ the illegality of sight unseen sales: transport first, then sell now that they are local.

California is regulating legitimate breeders out of business: soon all there will be are ā€˜rescue’ dogs for sale (oops! adoption) unless they are purchased out of state from a private breeder. Or puppymill dogs in state.

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Sighthounds?
Whippets, greyhounds, afghans, borzoi, salukis, deerhounds, irish wolfhounds…?

I’m curious.

Sighthounds do show up with rescue groups. I nearly adopted 2 afghan hounds, brother and sister, 2 years old from a rescue years ago. Unfortunately they were not friendly to my cats, so I adopted other dogs who got along with cats. You can find greyhound rescues in a lot of places. They have organized groups adopting them out in major cities, especially in Florida. Find a rescue group online for the breed of dog that you want. Lots of purebreds and partbreds out there. I tend to adopt non-purebreds and then buy purebred puppies for my favorite breeds, which are not the sight hounds. My neighbor has a part bred rhodesian ridgeback rescue who is nice.

I don’t think I’ve seen any of those go thru there.

I will never understand this mentality. Why good show breeders resist legislation that is bad for dogs. Yeah yeah…slippery slope and all…someday maybe we won’t be allowed to breed at all…etc. etc. Does anyone honestly believe that? I don’t understand why good breeders wouldn’t support legislation that would target breeders of over 75-100 puppies a year, for example. If any ā€œgoodā€ breeders can afford to breed/care for and sell puppies in that quantity, they shoudl be able to afford a kennel license and/or submit to an inspection, etc.

Most breeders I know breed way below this. Waaay below.

I think not allowing pet stores to sell puppies is a good thing, although I haven’t seen a pet store sell puppies in New York in at least 10 years. Maybe they are allowed to, but don’t? Maybe they aren’t?

Puppy mills will still exist under this ,but not making it easy to sell puppies to impulse buyers is a good idea.

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I thought I saw something recently about New Jersey passing a similar law. Will have to look.

I know Amish who have ā€œfamily dogsā€, that happen to be females that they raise a litter on every year. One in particular was selling to a pet store in New Jersey. His brother has a full blown puppy mill across the field from him. I bought a horse from the brother, and got a good look at the conditions those dogs were in. Disgusting.

The issue is that, for farm animals as well as pets, Veterinarians who provide services to the Amish seem to grow immune to the issues. A common issue in all kinds of unsavory professions, sadly. That, combined with the fact that here, in PA, the amount of revenue brought in from tourists who ā€œohh and ahhhā€ over the simple folk is enormous, explains why nothing will be done about this in Pennsytucky. :mad:

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It is the beginning of a circle. Many rescues have proven time and again they are a business with lots of potential to just replace pet stores and capable of being dog mills themselves in how they store and transport the animals.

And since it is basically a ban, I would hedge money that within a few years, the desire to have purebred dogs will increase that black market.

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I’m all for anything that will attempt to put puppy mills out of business - but the fear is that they might try to include me
(a backyard breeder and proud of my dogs) even though I am far from a mill! What’s the difference.

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What really pisses me off is all the rescues that dont mind importing dogs from Korea or Puerto Rico or other places outside the country, but cant be bothered to find homes for all the dogs that are euth in this country every day like the ones you are describing. Not all pitties at all. Then we have the rescues that refuse to adopt to anyone in another state. They would rather euth the dog. People complain about pet shops and puppy mills, maybe they should put as much effort into complaining about some rescues and shelters.

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What do you think they could do to you? In all honestly - what do you think could be imposed on a small quantity breeder. Personally I doubt any jurisdiction would ever want to include small breeders that breed 1-2x a year in any kind of legislation. What a hassle for nothing.

Someone breeding 20 litters a year? That’s a different story. I see no reason that they shouldn’t at least have to apply for a license and be subject to an inspection (whether it ever happens, is another story - that takes money and people).

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Many of the puppy mills here use the free classified magazines that advertise used cars, furniture, etc. to sell their puppies. They don’t want to pay the pet stores to consign the pups.

They also use the internet.

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A friend of mine is the president of Afghan Rescue. They’re wonderful dogs. Another friend got into Afghans when she adopted the Afghan hound from the seizure at the Polo Pony Rescue Foundation in VA. She’s the one who found the dead and dying horses.

I’ve worked with collie rescue, cocker rescue and Old English Sheepdog rescue. Any breed you want, there’s a rescue out there.