Buying vs. Adopting

When a person goes to buy a dog, he or she has many options. That person can choose to rescue a dog from a shelter, buy a dog from a breeder, or buy the animal from a store. Clare Palmer, in chapter 77 of the reading, stated that 6 to 10 million dogs and 7 to 10 million cats were killed in pet shelters in the U.S. in 1990. Because of the massive amounts of breeding done in puppy mills and pet owners' failure to spay and neuter their pets has created an overpopulation of homeless and caged dogs and cats. If a person wants a certain breed of puppy and can't find it in a shelter even though twenty percent of animals in shelters are purebred, I see nothing wrong with going to a reputable breeder for the right dog. Because there are so many neglected animals in shelters, I encourage all pet owners to seek animals from these shelters before going to a breeder.

When I worked at the Veterinary Clinic in High School, there were a couple breeders in town who's dogs the Vet cared for. The puppies were treated well and given proper medical attention. If a person feels like spending hundreds of dollars on a certain breed then there is nothing wrong with going to a breeder of that dog. However, because of how unethical and cruel puppy mills are, I do not condone buying dogs from pet stores. Many people are oblivious as to what their puppy has gone through. It's important that a person knows who he or she is getting the dog from and what kind of life that dog previously lived.

No matter the animal, he or she does need a home, but buying him or her from a store supports the puppy mill business. Puppy mills are the same as factory farms for dogs. They are also called "commercial breeders" and their only purpose is to make a profit. Female dogs are bred over and over again and puppies are crammed into small cages all of the time. Although puppy mills are legal for licensed breeders, they allow the breeder to own several hundred or even a thousand dogs. All animals are kept in small cages and dogs are bred as much as possible in order to produce an enormous amount of puppies. The standards of puppy mills are set forth by the government but are not meant to ensure a good life for the dogs. They are set as bare minimum requirements for the animals. Puppy mill's breed about 4 million dogs a year. I know one person's choice to adopt instead of to buy a puppy will not make a difference and if everyone starts to do this, the puppies in the mills will be left without a home.

My question to you is: How can the problem of domestic animal overpopulation, ignorance of breeding, and the cruelty in puppy mills come to an end? Do you ever see this happening?