Reputable breeders: Reputable, ethical breeders are not about “meeting the market demand.” They are about preserving and improving (in theory, yes, I know, and that’s a whole ‘nother discussion) and especially protecting their breed. That means NOT selling to just anyone, but doing the best to make sure the dog/puppy is a good fit, that the person who gets the dog understands the responsibility to the breeder to keep in the loop, return if can’t can’t keep the dog, etc.

Could reputable, ethical breeders not be such incredible jerks and snobs to people who make simple beginner mistakes? You bet they could, and should. Example: Some 30 years ago I was looking for a “miniature collie” puppy. I was 20 years old and didn’t know better. First “good breeder” I called gave me an earful and a very nasty turn-down for my “ignorance.” Hey, way to educate! That breeder didn’t get a pet puppy into a good pet home because I didn’t approach her properly. I finally DID get a Sheltie puppy, from a nice breeder. That puppy and I got a CDX with a high in trial along the way, and I have been hooked on dogs ever since, including running a Sheltie rescue.

It’s not a good breeder’s job to meet the market demand, but it IS a good breeder’s job to be polite and helpful, and kind even when saying “no.”

OK, case No. 2: Rescue and shelters. When I was running NorCal sheltie rescue, I broke the “rules” constantly, making exceptions to place dogs with good people. Those turned out to be some of my very best placements, forever homes of the most loving kind.

I always tried to do my best for my rescue furbabies, but I also told myself that I was only human, couldn’t see into the future and that if I made a mistake that was the risk. I really made many more good placements than bad ones, and in fact can think of only one bad one that wasn’t that awful … the dog came back because she couldn’t tell the difference between an expensive collector teddy bear and a dog toy, and the adopter wouldn’t put the teddies on shelves out of reach. Whatever.

Unlike breeders, rescues and shelters are supposed to be ALL ABOUT getting people and pets together, but too many of them make it way too hard for people to adopt. I hear this all the time, and it goes to the heart of the no-kill argument, and the ingrained idea of the shelter industry that a pet is better off killed than placed if a placement can’t be “perfect” as the shelter or rescuer believes “perfect” to be.

That’s nonsense. And a lot of time it’s classist and even racist. Middle-aged, middle-class white people (largely single, largely women) in rescue too often see anyone who isn’t like them as not being ideal, and that’s just plain wrong. I often had to fight my own biases in placement, and ask what people were really about at heart in making an adoption work for the dogs and the people.

So … reputable, ethical breeders have a responsibility to the dogs they bring into the world, for life. But they also have a responsibility to educate and be civil to everyone they talk to about their dogs or their breed.

Shelters and rescues need to stop looking at every person as a potential abuser and give people a damn chance to do the right thing. Because being dead is forever, and it’s simply not the preferable option to being in a home that isn’t perfect by the most optimum of standards. I know lots of pets who are well-loved and well-cared for, even if that care is different — note, I said “different,” not “better” — than what my own pets get.

We need to help good people of all different incomes and living situations adopt shelter and rescue dogs. And if those same good people want purebred puppies, they shouldn’t be treated with contempt but rather with understanding and kindness, with an eye to educate and inform to help them make good decisions regarding pet selection, which may well end up being a purebred from a reputable, ethical breeder.

When I was a kid in the 1970’s learning the lesson that puppymills and pet stores weren’t the best place to get a puppy was easy. It was easy because direction to the “correct” source for puppies satisfied the needs of the human purchaser..

Breeders, in those days, offered puppies that were less expensive and to almost any eye “better looking”. People weren’t rejected in large numbers because they were deemed “unsuitable”. People weren’t required to go on long waiting lists. People weren’t required to agree on all dog related politics. Generally, pet owners weren’t shunned as “evil” or “ignorant” if they didn’t buy the same “package” of beliefs.

Regardless of the oft repeated desire to make every person obtaining a dog invest a large amount of interest in research (which really means they must indoctrinate themselves to believe those things “ethical breeders” believe - the practical fact is that people find the path of least resistance to the things they want.

If a goal to decrease the % of pups purchased from retail outlets in relation to private hobby breeders one must make that switch palatable and relatively easy.

How many people have been REJECTED by breeders, rescues, etc…?
Does anyone doubt the result of such rejection is complete and utter alienation that most of the rejectees experience. (BTW: I come from 4 generations of “hobby” breeders- personally, I’ve never had to do suffer this nonsense because I have access to the “inside track”).

Shocked?
How dare I imply that getting a puppy should be easy!
But it is for those who buy puppies from stores.
Going to a retail outlet is easy - MONEY IS THE ONLY REQUIREMENT.

Those that want to shut down petstores ought to consider the reality of how this can be accomplished.

When getting a puppy from a source where the sire and dam lead actualized, happy lifes is as easy getting one from a pet store - pet stores will cease having the upper hand.

How to make this happen is beyond my scope and ken.
I’d suggest that breeders stop allowing themselves the luxury of CERTAINTY and through humility consider the possibility that people who disagree with them are not to be ridiculed, rejected, insulted, or refused puppies.

IMO, of course.

Sorry, it will take more than pandering statements to cure my cynical view of the HSUS, past behaviour being the best predictor of future behaviour and all…

Change is in the air.

PetSmart (not one of my favourite places because of their prejudice against bull-and-terrier types here in Ontario) works with local SPCAs to adopt cats and dogs through their stores.