Every week we hear of people going to breeders for pups, buying from stores who sell pets or from an add in the local paper! With thousands of dogs abandoned in refuges in France every year, adopting a pet instead of buying is the only responsible choice! We are once again nearly full up so why would anyone want to buy a pup rather than save one? Can you really validate lining the pockets of irresponsible breeders rather than saving a life? And if you do so are you truly an animal lover?
If you buy a pet from a breeder you are giving money to the pet breeding industry – pet shops, puppy mills and breeders – and encouraging further breeding when there are already too many unwanted animals. Each time you buy one, you are saying, “do that again.!” Buying from a breeder or pet store simply tells them to breed more animals!
If you are breeding from your own dog , these puppies will need homes.! You may plan to keep one or all of the puppies, but if you have room in your home to add one or more animals, that space could go to a refuge animal. The people who you might give one of the puppies to could have adopted from the SPA so instead of saving 4, 5, or 6 animals from the SPA, breeding creates new animals who will need homes.
To some people, “responsible breeder” is a breeder who makes sure their animals are going to good homes and generally takes good care of their cats or dogs. They are different from puppy mills, which sell to pet stores, have no idea where the animals are going to end up, treat the animals as disposable, and often keep the animals in crowded, filthy conditions. However, too often “responsible breeder” is an oxymoron. No matter how well the animals are cared for, there are too many animals for too few homes, and there is no responsible way to intentionally increase the number of dogs in France right now. In a perfect world there would be a place for responsible breeders as well as rescues but that ‘perfect’ world is a long way away.
Adopting from us frees up space in the SPA and it allows us to take in new animals. Adoption saves not only the animal you adopt, but also the new animal the SPA can take in. Combined with not breeding or buying, adopting from the SPA helps both ends of the problem: fewer animals will be bred, and more animals who are already here right now will go to a good home.
Please, please, adopt don’t shop!
Couldn’t agree more! We have one of these puppy farms on the edge of our village. If anyone was to see how these dogs live their lives and how they are treated they would be appalled! What amazes me is that there is no authority who is will ing to do anything about it! There are around 100 dogs all living in squalid conditions, when they die they are dumped in the woods or waste ground! It breaks my heart so much, I cannot walk my dogs near there as I do not want to see these poor creatures!