Campers at the East Bay SPCA offer words of advice on pet care. Their public service announcement teaches pet owners about the importance of spaying and neutering.
They recommend pets be spayed or neutered to help avoid pet overpopulation.
Is your pet spayed or neutered? Tell us in the comments section of the article.
My daughter is attending Animal Camp at the SPCA facility in Dublin this week for campers in grades 6-8. She says its lots of fun. My soulmate says that with this camp and all the SPCA volunteer experience she is getting she will surely be a "canine and cat whisperer" by the end of the summer. The East Bay SPCA is a wonderful organization! https://www.eastbayspca.org/
The flip side of this are the puppy mills and back yard breeders that sell on Craig's list. These types of operations are no friend of dog or god - primarily because they fuel our country's pet overpopulation epidemic. Backyard breeder http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Backyard_breeder
Never buy pedigreed dogs from pet stores - they are almost surely from a puppy mill.
Thought some might be interested in this site I found online: Buyer Beware: The Problem with Puppy Mills and Backyard Breeders (an excerpt) "When puppy mills and backyard breeders flood the market with animals, they reduce homes available for animals from reputable establishments, shelters and rescue groups. Every year, more than 150,000 cats and dogs enter shelters in Washington State-6 to 8 million animals enter shelters nationwide. Sadly, only about 15 percent of people with pets in the U.S. adopted them from a shelter or rescue group, leaving so many deserving pets left behind." -- www.paws.org http://www.paws.org/puppy-mills.html
2. I was a backyard breeder for Bichon Frises and was quite responsible about it. Full AKC documentation. Limited litters, only once a year breeding, all shots, basic puppy training and socialization. Professional grooming/ full veterinary care for parents, etc. Not everyone can afford the prices that breeders who show champions charge. Not all backyard breeders are irresponsible about it. I also carefully screened and chose buyers that had the time and resources to properly care for the puppies I sold. I also required spaying and neutering as a condition of sale. At the time there were only a few breeders in all of Northern California. I still have one of my puppies and he turned 17 in May. I no longer breed dogs. I followed all of the highest standards for breeding.
The vicky321 post has been deleted and that user has been blocked.
Positive Steps to Help Stop the Suffering: Be a responsible, informed consumer-if you do buy from a breeder, go to a reputable one who: Will show you where the dogs spend their time and introduces you to the puppy's parents. Explains the puppy's medical history, including vaccines, and gives you their veterinarian's contact info. Doesn't have puppies available year-round, yet may keep a waiting list for interested people. Asks about your family's lifestyle, why you want a dog, and your care and training plans for the puppy. Doesn't use pressure sales tactics. Adopt from a shelter or breed-specific rescue group near you-typically 25% of the animals in shelters are purebred. Support laws that protect animals from puppy mill cruelty-tell your elected officials you support laws which cap the number of animals a person can own and breed, and establish care standards for exercise, housing, access to food and water and regular veterinary care. (continued)
Donate pet supplies to local shelters to help those rescued from the puppy mills and many other homeless animals in need. Learn more at: StopPuppyMills.com (The Humane Society of the United States) PrisonersOfGreed.org CAPS-web.org (Companion Animal Protection Society)
Leah, I am in complete agrrement with you. If more people saw "One Nation Under Dog", particularly the poison gas mass euthanasia scene, they would be flooding the shelters to rescue dogs.
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