Backyard Breeders Versus 'Spay And Neuter'

By PJJ

It is raining Boxers and other popular breeds. The shelters are full of relatively young dogs and puppies. It almost does not matter what shelter you go to -urban, suburban or rural. They all have plenty of young dogs. What is the reason for this flood of young dogs, I asked myself.

A chance conversation with shelter staff gave me a possible answer. When asked about the many young Boxers in his shelter, he said that this influx of puppies and very young animals happens regularly at least once a year. It is timed to the mating season in spring and fall.

The culprits are backyard breeders. They own a male or a female, sometimes both, find a suitable partner and mate the dogs. When the litter arrives, they wait till the puppies are big enough to evaluate their personalities and looks. Then they take the pick of the litter for themselves either to breed them later or to sell them.

Any dog that does not make the cut is given away, often to people who do not have honorable motives. That is how many of the 'bait dogs', used to train fighting dogs, come to dog fighters. If a dog is lucky, he is just given away to a friend. Let us hope that she ends up in a good home.

If not, she will eventually land either on the streets as a stray or have a short stint as 'bait'. In any case, the end is almost always either death or the local shelter.

Some of the less desirable puppies go directly to the shelter. Those are the lucky ones. At least they are spared life on the streets, disease and torture. They have a chance of finding a good home. And if they don't? Then they will die in the shelter.
You may not want to hear it because it is unsettling, but you must face the truth. Only when enough people get upset with this sorry state of affairs and push for change will backyard breeding eventually stop.

The best and most effective solution in my opinion is to make 'spay and neuter' a law and to enforce it vigorously. Legitimate breeders can of course continue to breed provided they register their operation, get licensed and are subject to vigorous quality control. No more mating dogs because two unaltered animals happen to be around.

Spay and neuter is the only method to reduce the number of unwanted dogs and cats. If we do not have the courage to commit to this program, enforce it and reduce, if not eliminate, uncontrolled breeding in backyards, our animal shelters will continue to be overcrowded. Countless dogs and cats will die in shelters every day.
Not because shelter staff is blood thirsty, but because irresponsible humans put their ego and greed before animal welfare.

If your heart bleeds when you see a suffering dog or cat at a shelter, quit 'begging on your knees' for her rescue but instead get involved in promoting spay and neuter programs. That is the only reasonable solution to end the suffering of countless animals. Saving one by pushing, shoving and begging, will not have a long lasting effect. You save one and three more take his place.

So, do the reasonable thing: Promote and enforce spay and neuter programs!