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The doghouse

If you're worried about your pet's health, please speak to a vet or qualified professional.

Scuttle and anyone else closely involved with dog rescue, I need a horrible favour

10 replies

TheCunnyFunt · 30/07/2012 10:27

Basically my sister has said she supports puppy farms as 'how else will people buy puppies?'. Apparently the 'dodgy greyhound rescue people' have 'filled my head with fluff' about PF and BYB being bad.

So, as horrid as this is, I would like you to link to the worst PF articles, graphic pictures, the lot. I'm hoping this might shock her into realising it's all wrong.

Sorry, I realise this is an awful thing to ask you to do and I'd do it myself but wouldn't have a clue where to start looking, and thank you in advance.

OP posts:
MrsZoidberg · 30/07/2012 10:32

Hope Rescue deal with a lot of Welsh PF rejects, maybe try their website?

nightswimmer · 30/07/2012 10:34

Well for a start you can google something like the bad/ truth about puppy farms. I am in complete agreement with you they are horrible, wrong money making enterprises with no concern for animal welfare at all. If you want a dog, go to a dog shelter, absolutely! Actually, I'm pretty hard core, I feel anyone who lets their dog have puppies is not doing the right thing-there are so many unwanted dogs put to sleep every day in every country in the world, we don't need more dogs!

Good luck with enlightening your sister, CunnyFunt! (I may not like your name, but I like your sentiments!)

TheCunnyFunt · 30/07/2012 10:40

Thanks

She just informed me they bought their dog from a puppy farm, he nearly died as a puppy from Gastroenteritis and he has this condition that if he doesn't get the right amount of food his weight will just fall off within the space of 2 days! He is 6 and fathered a litter last year.

OP posts:
D0oinMeCleanin · 30/07/2012 10:44

Even though they are Wales these puppies are sold all around the country. Puppy farmers have 'family' homes that sell the pups on for them, usually advertising on places like Gumtree and FB.

Supply and demand. So long as people are buying puppies from these places they will keep breeding. So many people buy one thinking they are 'rescuing' the puppy from terrible conditions, when in reality all they are doing is adding to the demand for these places to create more litters Sad

Scuttlebutter · 30/07/2012 12:06

The two websites I'd suggest she starts with are CARIAD link here - the coalition to end puppy farming in Wales, which I'm closely involved in. Twenty eight organisations are members, including Hope Rescue mentioned above, I'm glad to say, along with Welsh greyhound charities. Smile

Then I'd suggest she moves on to Puppy Love link here which is closely involved with doing a lot of the undercover investigations.

Having personally seen (and smelled) the horrors, it's difficult to understand her approach, which is also light years away from the care given by good breeders (and yes, I recognise that there are some out there). Currently, there are licensed puppy farms in Wales where over ninety bitches will be cared for by two people (one only part time). Bitches are routinely kept in the dark, often without adequate food and water, with no bedding or shelter. Accommodation can be in sheds, old horseboxes, stables. Ventilation is poor. Health care is dreadful. After care for bitches is miserable too. Some go on to the Many Tears conveyor belt - a lot never make it off the farms.

We all pay for this. We pay for the licensing officers, and we pay for the strays that eventually clog up our system ( a surprising amount are pedigrees). As dog owners with insurance we all pay - generally puppy farmed dogs are not healthy and the raised premiums they generate are shared by all of us. Reputable breeders are out of pocket and find it difficult to compete since they have extra costs like vet care and decent food and worming for pregnant bitches.

Unfortunately, as others have said, these dispicable places could shut down tomorrow if demand dried up. Your sister is unusual in that she has chosen to face the truth about where her puppy came from. More typically, most puppy buyers choose ignorance - they can get a nice cute pup cheap from Epupz or similar without having to think too hard about where it came from or why it is so cheap or what will happen to its mum.

This is why I never join in with the excitement when there are puppy threads on here - I find it almost impossible to congratulate a new puppy owner without thinking about where it came from. If someone (as people recently have) says that they want to get a puppy, then less than a week later hey presto, a new arrival, you can pretty much guarantee where they are from, especially if they are one of the commonly farmed breeds like Cavs, Labs, Poms, Shitzus, cavapoos, etc etc.

To put into context, Carmarthenshire alone is generating over 20,000 puppies a year from its puppy farms.

Hope this helps, though I'm not optimistic.

RedwingS · 30/07/2012 20:28

Great post from Scuttle.

The other thing I'd add is that even some years after the bitches used for breeding have been rehomed with normal families, they still have more health and behavioural problems than other dogs. These problems include inappropriate urination and defecation, fear of other dogs and people, compulsive behaviours and sensitivity to touch - in other words, they are very fearful.

The trouble is the word 'farm' has idyllic connotations, which I think is why the Dogs Trust prefer to liken them to battery farms.

TheCunnyFunt · 30/07/2012 21:08

She's a lost cause I think. She is the irresponsible one for breeding her dog, yet she calls me the irresponsible one for adopting a greyhound, because if people adopt them it will encourage 'them' to breed more for racing Confused

Thank you though everyone.

OP posts:
Scuttlebutter · 30/07/2012 22:20

I've got some excellent Cariad leaflets if you would like some and would find it helpful.

TheCunnyFunt · 30/07/2012 22:52

Thanks Scuttle but I best not, we ended up having a rather public argument on my dads FB, it all started when he posted a pic of his dogs intact tail saying Gumtree had deleted his ad for the pup because of his illegally docked tail, and I commented saying if he advertises on there he may as well hand over the dog to a puppy farmer. Then my sister joined in with the 'but how else would people buy puppies?' thing and it all got a quite heated :( I don't want to make it worse.

OP posts:
MagratGarlik · 31/07/2012 00:23

My mum unwittingly bought a cocker spaniel from a puppy farm a few years ago now. Within two weeks it was dead from parvo virus. Very distressing all round. She didn't mean to buy from a puppy farm, but naivety meant she didn't know what to look for as indicators that the pup was a farmed pup.

Because this pup had parvo, she could no longer have a young pup in the house (as the virus stays long after the pup has died), so when she was ready to replace the pup, it had to be with an older (vaccinated) young adult.

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