by Maxie12 » Mon Dec 19, 2011 1:55 am
I love the idea of breeding, but I'm not sure about the ethics when so many dogs are put down every year. I've read varying numbers for the US, but around 60% of dogs that end up in shelters are executed, or about 3-4 million per year. This means that around 5% of the dog population is executed annually. (If someone has more reliable numbers, I'm interested in hearing them; however, whatever the numbers are, my larger point remains.)
The core of the problem seems to be accidental breedings and not breeders (whether reputable, BYB, or even puppy mills). About 50% of litters are unplanned. Most of these dogs are given to friends or family members for little or no cost (65% of the entire dog population). And despite the growth of low cost spay/neuter clinics, Bob Barker's PSAs, and the pressure from vets to snip your pet's privates, only 10% of the animals received by shelters have been spayed/neutered and only 75% of owned pets are spayed/neutered (which means around 30% of dogs in the US aren't spayed/neutered).
The heart of the problem, then, is owners' failure to have their dogs spayed/neutered, resulting in accidental breedings. The solution, therefore, is to continue to push spay/neuter surgeries. While it's a pain when vets push this on us, DFC members being above average dog owners, I totally understand why vets do this in general.
So how do we clear out the 5% of dogs in shelters and rescues? Do we get all the dog owning households to accept one more? Do we push more people to adopt from shelters/rescues? Do we ask breeders to skip a few seasons?
But this, too, is simplistic. Not all breeds are equally represented in this problem. I can't find numbers on this, but experience tells me that the majority of dogs in need are either small companion breeds or, if medium or large breed, tend to be so-called fighting breeds, like Pits and Staffies, or the ever-popular breeds like labs and lab mixes. Does this make it ok for someone to become a breeder of a breed not commonly found in rescue/shelter situations? Or are these new breeders just as culpable?