Don't Be a Backyard Breeder

Much has been written about the evils of puppy mills and the commercial breeders who look upon puppies as a "commodity," caring nothing for the welfare of the breeding dogs or the resulting puppies. Articles on puppy mills usually point out that most puppies found in pet stores come from puppy mills and go on to warn the reader NEVER to get a puppy or kitten from a pet store. Not only are you putting money in the pockets of these disreputable breeders, say the articles, but you run a very real risk of getting a pet who is sick, poorly socialized, or carries a genetic defect.

While this is certainly good advice, and puppy mills deserve to be closed down, statistics show that pet stores actually account for a very small percentage of the pets placed in new homes. According to a survey by the American Pet Products Manufacturers Association, friends and neighbors are the most popular source of puppies. A survey of residents in Dallas, TX, by the Summerlee Foundation, a Dallas-based charitable trust, showed the same result. Approximately 1/3 of respondents said they got their pets from friends or family members.

This brings us to the subject of backyard breeders. When you hear the term "backyard breeder," what image comes to your mind? Do you think of an unwashed man in an undershirt, who keeps the dog-fighting rings supplied with the offspring of his two pit bulls? How about the sweet little lady in your Sunday School class, who supplements her pension by breeding her adored Persian cat Fluffy? While the motives of Mr. Undershirt are certainly more reprehensible than those of Ms. Sunday School, both are contributing to the pet overpopulation problem and may very well be producing animals with physical, temperamental, or genetic defects through their uninformed breeding practices.

People allow their pets to breed for any number of reasons. Some are too uninformed, unconcerned, or just plain lazy to have their pets altered. Even if they don't typically allow their pets to run loose, it only takes one gate or door left ajar (or one very determined male,) and the result is another unplanned litter.

Other people breed their pets because of the time and culture in which they grew up. They may remember, back when they were kids, breeding their cocker spaniel to the neighbor's poodle, and the cute "cocker-poo" puppies that resulted. If pressed, though, they may not remember so clearly exactly what happened to those puppies, and certainly don't know the fate of the offspring of those puppies.

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