Absurd and Askew

This is in answer to anyone asking the question, “What’s so bad about breeding?” I wish that everyone who asks that question could spend a week volunteering in a pet shelter, preferably 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 and cats 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.

How can my dog's/cat'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—but you can choose to be the bigger one. 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 or cat. Multiply that average number of pups/kittens, by 5,000 (and that's a very low estimate). How many puppies and kittens do you have that now need homes? For every single one of those, a homeless pet doesn't get adopted. You can take the easy way out and claim "it’s not my problem", but that's just making excuses...and I think you're very well aware of that even as you say it.

So you choose to breed. Your nephew John Jr., who has always wanted a dog and doesn't care what kind, gets one of your dog's pups because, like the good breeder that you are, you've found homes for every last one of them. Your nephew has been bugging your brother John Sr. and his wife Sue for a dog for a year now. If there were no pups available from you or from a breeder, where would John Sr. and Sue 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? Not directly, but your one little litter multiplied by the thousands of people across the country who think the same way, coupled with the countless licensed breeders in existence, did do that. It's all about the math.

Until the supply is less than the demand, perfectly healthy, adoptable and lovable shelter dogs and cats 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/cats are born; more dogs/cats 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 and kittens, after all—but turn around and take a look. The minute you start breeding, the deaths of all the shelter dogs and cats ends up in your hands. Don't look the other way. Face it.

There is one other way for the supply to become less than the demand. The next time you're looking for a dog or cat, 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. You see, when you opt to adopt from a shelter instead of buying from a breeder, you are helping the supply vs. demand situation in a whole different way. The fewer pure-bred dogs and cats 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 breed them 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.

Pure-bred dogs and cats are man-made. If left up to nature, every last one of them would be mixed, because dogs and cats don't stop and ask the breed. They don't discriminate. They don't care. When they want to get it on with a dog or cat of the opposite sex, they just do it. It's only the 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/cat".


Keywords:dog,dogs,mutt,mutts,adoption,shelter,rescue,nature,breed,purebred,breeders,litter,wrong