Anonymous wrote:If you don’t want a pit bull mix, go to a breeder

There are breed specific rescues.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If only 50% of the dog population is spayed/neutered (OP's stat), after forty year so of Bob Barker's "Help control the pet population. Have your pets spayed or neutered”, then we'll never get much more accomplished there.

I think it’s clear from the huge disparities across states that policy matters here.

I understand there will always be unwanted dogs.

Some proportion of them are not good candidates to be family pets because of behavioral issues.

If you had some big policy wins in southern states, you’d largely eliminate the supply of cute little pit/hound mix puppies being bussed up to the Petsmarts of MoCo.

So what’s the plan then?

My cute hound mixes have all been great family dogs who were totally free of medical problems right up until the passed. How many english bulldog or pug owners can say that? Do you want to talk about the prevalence of hip dysplasia in pure bread german Shepards or elbow dysplasia in Goldens?

Anonymous wrote:If you don’t want a pit bull mix, go to a breeder

We recently adopted a super sweet lab/aussie shepherd mix from a Petsmart. My co-workers both have designer doodles the same age and our rescue has a much, much better temperament. I'm so glad we didn't go the breeder route. She's the perfect mix of kind and smart. My co-workers' doodles are a combo of anxious, neurotic and destructive.

If you don’t want a pit bull mix, go to a breeder

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Even if you achieved 100% spay/neuter in the pet population you would have full shelters because people abandon or give up their dogs all the time. It's not limited to "bully breeds" or greyhounds, either.

I think a situation where you have to really search or wait for a breeder puppy is healthy: if you work for it, maybe you're less likely to dump the dog in a year.

You would vastly underpaid demand though, as is already the case in the NE. That’s why we’re importing unwanted dogs from the South.

I don't see the problem with unmet demand, or importing dogs from the south (or from rescues overseas, which also happens). Your premise seems to be that if it's difficult to get a dog, that's a bad thing. I don't agree.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If only 50% of the dog population is spayed/neutered (OP's stat), after forty year so of Bob Barker's "Help control the pet population. Have your pets spayed or neutered”, then we'll never get much more accomplished there.

I think it’s clear from the huge disparities across states that policy matters here.

I understand there will always be unwanted dogs.

Some proportion of them are not good candidates to be family pets because of behavioral issues.

If you had some big policy wins in southern states, you’d largely eliminate the supply of cute little pit/hound mix puppies being bussed up to the Petsmarts of MoCo.

So what’s the plan then?

Let's start breeding for temperament and health rather than looks. Some breeds probably can't be made healthy any longer, so they get spayed and neutered too.

All pet owners are required to get licenses and complete a training class.

Let's start there.

Anonymous wrote:If only 50% of the dog population is spayed/neutered (OP's stat), after forty year so of Bob Barker's "Help control the pet population. Have your pets spayed or neutered”, then we'll never get much more accomplished there.

I think it’s clear from the huge disparities across states that policy matters here.

I understand there will always be unwanted dogs.

Some proportion of them are not good candidates to be family pets because of behavioral issues.

If you had some big policy wins in southern states, you’d largely eliminate the supply of cute little pit/hound mix puppies being bussed up to the Petsmarts of MoCo.

So what’s the plan then?

Anonymous wrote:If only 50% of the dog population is spayed/neutered (OP's stat), after forty year so of Bob Barker's "Help control the pet population. Have your pets spayed or neutered”, then we'll never get much more accomplished there.

We've made huge progress. It used to be that 20 million pets were euthanized in shelters every year. Now, depending on whose data you are looking at, we are down to 800,000-1.5 million. It's really night and day, and spay and neuter efforts are just a part of it.

Anonymous wrote:Okay, sure, I’ll be pro-breeder once there’s no dogs available from rescues or at the thousands of animal shelters and humane societies across the country. What’s your point?

+1. Nearly 1,000,000 dogs and cats are euthanized a year. Let's get down to 5 digits and then we can talk about this.

If only 50% of the dog population is spayed/neutered (OP's stat), after forty year so of Bob Barker's "Help control the pet population. Have your pets spayed or neutered”, then we'll never get much more accomplished there.

Okay, sure, I’ll be pro-breeder once there’s no dogs available from rescues or at the thousands of animal shelters and humane societies across the country. What’s your point?

As pp said, there will always be dogs who need rehoming. We'll never be in a position where there are no pets who need to find homes.

There are some in the animal welfare world who are starting to talk about whether shelters and breeders should ever work together to fill demand, if shelters run out of dogs. The thing is we are nowhere near that point, so that conversation is premature at best (and gross, harmful, and really off-tone, considering the crisis shelters are in this summer/year).

Even with that: When folks in animal welfare talk about working with breeders, it isn't usually about purebred dogs, or designer mutts like doodles. It's about healthy mutts with good personalities and temperaments.

Anonymous wrote:Even if you achieved 100% spay/neuter in the pet population you would have full shelters because people abandon or give up their dogs all the time. It's not limited to "bully breeds" or greyhounds, either.

I think a situation where you have to really search or wait for a breeder puppy is healthy: if you work for it, maybe you're less likely to dump the dog in a year.

You would vastly underpaid demand though, as is already the case in the NE. That’s why we’re importing unwanted dogs from the South.

Even if you achieved 100% spay/neuter in the pet population you would have full shelters because people abandon or give up their dogs all the time. It's not limited to "bully breeds" or greyhounds, either.

I think a situation where you have to really search or wait for a breeder puppy is healthy: if you work for it, maybe you're less likely to dump the dog in a year.

I’m so confused by people who are anti-breeder. In theory, right, you want to reduce the unwanted dog supply through spay/neuter? Half the country is already there right?

So if you succeed in doing that, where will people get dogs? It seems like people range from:

All dogs from breeders are bad
to
Only reputable breeders are good, and they won’t call you back or if they do you should wait at least a year

So if the rescue groups make progress with the spay/neuter, and the supply of “rescue” dogs dips permanently below the demand for dogs, what’s the plan?