Should Dog Breeding Be Permitted Final Essay
Should Dog Breeding Be Permitted Final Essay
Should Dog Breeding Be Permitted Final Essay
Briana Ancalmo
English 1101
Professor Goeller
November 23 2020
Many people purchase their dogs from breeders or pet stores, but do they really know
where these dogs were before they bought them? Although there are credible breeders who take
care of their dogs there are many places that abuse their dogs and only use them to get money.
Also, even the credible breeders can unintentionally inbreed dogs, which leads to health
problems. Many breeders used to (and some still do) inbreed dogs to get a certain type of dog,
temperament or feature, and because of the inbreeding many purebred dogs have health
problems. Additionally there are dogs in shelters who are just as good, but they have to be put
down because there are too many of them. Dog breeding may never be able to shut down, but it
does need to have better restrictions to ensure the health of dogs. It specifically needs to be
people using puppy mills to keep up with the demand for dogs and some breeding practices are
Dog shelters around the U.S. become easily over populated with the amount of dogs the
country has, and unfortunately many dogs end up being euthanized. In the US only about 34% of
dogs are purchased from breeders, and only 23% are adopted from shelters (ASPCA par. 9). This
means the rest of dogs people have come from strays, someone breeding dogs themselves or
from someone they know who can’t have a dog anymore. It is clear that there is an abundance of
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dogs already and when breeders and puppy mills are added into the mix and the fact that more
dogs are being bought from them than being adopted, there is a real problem. With this
overpopulation of dogs certain shelters have been forced to euthanize dogs because they are
unable to have enough space for them. Roughly every year about 3.3 million dogs enter shelters
in the United States and of these 3.3 million about 670,000 dogs are euthanized (ASPCA par. 2).
If breeders were limited and held to higher standards, there would be less dogs being breed
which would lead to the dog population not being bred overpopulated. Currently the standard for
breeders is extremely low and breeders can breed female dogs until they can physically no longer
do so (Hall par. 5). Breeders will do this to have more puppies, which means more money for
themselves, but causes an overpopulation in dogs and harms the female dogs. Places like that
typically sell their dogs to pet stores, so people buy these dogs without realizing they are
supporting puppy mills or other not credible breeders. This is why if the standards were able to
be raised, people would not be able to breed dogs as much, which would help with the
Some breeders use/create puppy mills because they feel it is an easy way to sell pure bred
dogs and make a lot of money. These puppy mills typically have very poor conditions and
owners who are more concerned with money than with the wellbeing of their dogs. Dogs in
puppy mills typically do not get adequate water, food or vet care and many of them are kept in
small cages. Additionally, female dogs are typically used until they physically cannot breed or
have puppies and then are killed (Evans par. 61). With so many people demanding purebred
dogs, and wanting specific features and temperaments, they often just go to pet stores, who
typically get their dogs from puppy mills. In California they are trying to put a stop to pet stores
getting there dogs from puppy mills with the “California Assembly Bill 485” (Hall par.1).
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Although this does not completely solve the problem it is a good step forward. Along with this
there needs to be better standards set by the Animal Welfare Act which is a federal law that helps
protect animals against cruelty. Currently this Act does nothing to prevent breeders from keeping
animals in cramped cages, infrequently giving them water and breeding females so often their
health is harmed (Hall par. 5). It is not clear how these can be called standards when such
atrocities are allowed. There is no denying that this is a problem with the standards of dog
breeding and needs to be changed to ensure the wellbeing of dogs. Standards of dog breeding are
set so low that breeders are putting profit over proper care of their dogs. Dogs deserve better and
the standards need to be raised to filter out the breeders only concerned with making money.
Despite the problems with the purebred dogs and the breeding industry there are also
some benefits. For example by breeding dogs people have been able to have dogs that know how
to guard, hunt, herd and even track and these things helped people survive in the past (Cooper
par. 2). Breeding dogs for these tasks in the past was important because people didn’t have other
ways to do these tasks. Dogs helped them complete what they needed to get done easier and
that’s why they needed to breed these dogs. Dog breeders also help to keep dog breeds from
disappearing, and today there are some dog breeds that are close to or have already disappeared.
Dog breeders are helping to keep breeds around and this is also important for keeping a vast
diversity in types of dogs. Even though breeding dogs may provide us with more breeds, it can
cause potential health problems for dogs, especially if inbreeding is involved. This is why
although breeding is not always a bad thing, there still needs to be restrictions on it because the
Purebred dogs bred for their looks or temperaments often have underlying health issues
from past inbreeding. Purebred dogs have about 400 naturally occurring genetic problems and
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they have one off the highest numbers documented (Evans par. 49). It is widely known that
inbreeding can exasperate genetic problems in offspring. When closely related dogs are bred it is
more likely that both dogs might carry a recessive allele for a disorder which gives a higher
chance of the puppies having it. However, now and in the past, to get certain purebred dogs
people have had to inbreed dogs which can cause them to have health problems. This is why
today many breeds have health problems, because of past inbreeding. For example “data from
nearly half a million dogs collected across 430 veterinary clinics in the UK...reveals that German
Shepherds are most likely to die from complications” (BioMed Central par. 1). These
inflammation in the ear canal, diarrhea, aggression and obesity (BioMed Central par. 1). These
types of complications have connections to the dog’s genetic traits. Therefore by breeders trying
to get specific traits for the breed, they are creating harmful traits as well. Although I understand
all people have their preferences on how dogs look, dog breeding should not just be about that,
they need to start focusing on the animal’s health and figure out new ways to help these animals.
This is a very important reason to restrict breeding and create regulations because many dogs are
suffering. In addition to German shepherds scientists acknowledge that inbreeding can result in
“heat disease in boxers, bleeding problems in Dobermans, Lymphomas in pointers, hip dysplasia
in Labrador retrievers and eye problems in Irish Setters” (Evans par. 52). Despite the fact that
people want their dogs to have certain features and temperaments, it is hardly worth the risk with
Dog breeding should be restricted and have higher standards set to better animal’s lives.
Dog breeding can cause animals to have genetic disease and unintentionally leads to the death of
dogs in shelters, and because of the low standards cause dogs to be abused. The high demand for
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purebred dogs has led to some breeders resorting to puppy mills. With the low standards and
many of these puppy mill breeders being unregistered they are able to get away with it. It
additionally has caused overpopulation with dogs, which leads some shelters having to euthanize
their dogs. By restricting dog breeding and creating higher standards dogs could have less
Work Cited
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2017/07/170727221255.htm. Accessed 21
November 2020.
Cooper, Carlotta. “Why We Need Purebred Dog Breeders”. American Kennel Club, American
advice/news/government-relations/why-we-need-purebred-dog-breeders/. Accessed 21
November 2020.
Evans, Kim Masters. "Pets". Animal Rights, 2011 ed., Gale, 2011. Information Plus Reference
com.sinclair.ohionet.org/ps/retrieve.do?
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21 November 2020.
Hall, Carla. “Pet Stores Should Not Sell Animals from Commercial Breeders”. Los Angeles
com.sinclair.ohionet.org/ps/retrieve.do?
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https://www.aspca.org/animal-homelessness/shelter-intake-and-surrender/pet-statistics.
21 November 2020.
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