[Dailydrool] Rescue and puppymills

[Pam McQuade]

Maureen:
I think you unwitting hit a hot topic on the Daily Drool--we do have a few 
of those, and flames do fly when someone innocently stirs them up.

Many Droolers have dogs that came from puppymill stock. Some of us, like me, 
got a petshop dog before we knew about the conditions in puppymills and the 
fact that petshops almost universally get dogs from there (those that are 
not puppymill dogs are probably not raised in much better conditions, 
however).

Having learned about the awfulness of puppymills, we no longer support them. 
We love our dogs and spoil them. We support rescue, so that the thrown away 
dogs that came out of puppymills get homes and people who love them just the 
way we love our dogs.

Now, I want to say this gently, because if anyone can't throw stones, it's 
me. Our Jane was a petshop dog, back when I had no clue how badly her 
parents would have been treated. It hurts me to think what they went 
through. But I don't kid myself by saying she was a rescue. The money that 
bought her went to fund that puppymill, and I can't ignore that. We brought 
her home and gave her a cushy life. But she was not a rescue.

It's probably the money issue that gets people so mad. They HATE that people 
are funding an awful situation in which dogs suffer terribly. If we stopped 
supporting puppymills, eventually they would stop producing dogs.

At the same time, in stopping the mills, there are terrible moral issues 
concerning the dogs that already exist. I must admit I don't see an easy 
solution for it. But recently I remember seeing that there are many more 
dogs born each day in our country than there are people. The overbreeding 
has to stop. Education must begin. But as far as possible, it needs to be 
gentle education, something the Drool sometimes has a problem providing.

I am sorry that people have taken off after you on this subject. I am not 
trying to do that, I'm just explaining why it's a hot issue on the Drool. 
The people who have made such attacks probably don't truly mean you harm. 
They are simply angry about the issue itself and the hounds that are hurt. 
They want to stop it. Please don't take it too personally.

Since you know now that rescue is a better option, you are heading in that 
direction. Good. You can't change what happened before, but you can do the 
right thing from now on. That's a direction all of us can support, and I 
hope that the flames will end now. It's all any of us can do.
Pam, food slave to the Dashing Bassets