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Should Dog Breeding Be Permitted Final Essay

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Ancalmo Page 1

Briana Ancalmo

English 1101

Professor Goeller

November 23 2020

Should Dog Breeding be Permitted

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

restricted because it is unintentionally leading to the death of dogs in shelters, it is leading to

people using puppy mills to keep up with the demand for dogs and some breeding practices are

causing health problems for the dogs being bred.

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

overpopulation and with the health of dogs.

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

animal’s health is what is more important.

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

complications include health problems such as osteoarthritis, musculoskeletal disorders,

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

all health issues when you inbreed dogs.

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

genetic problems and live happier and healthier lives.


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Work Cited

Central, BioMed. “Health Consequences of Selectively Breeding German Shepherd Dogs”.

ScienceDaily, ScienceDaily, 27 July 2017,

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

Kennel Club, 22 Jan. 2018, https://www.akc.org/expert-advice/expert-

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

Series. Gale In Context: Opposing Viewpoints, https://go-gale-

com.sinclair.ohionet.org/ps/retrieve.do?

tabID=Reference&resultListType=RESULT_LIST&searchResultsType=MultiTab&hitC
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ount=1&searchType=BasicSearchForm&currentPosition=1&docId=GALE

%7CEJ1529600109&docType=Topic+overview&sort=Relevance&contentSegment=ZX

AYMOD1&prodId=OVIC&pageNum=1&contentSet=GALE

%7CEJ1529600109&searchId=R1&userGroupName=dayt30401&inPS=true . Accessed

21 November 2020.

Hall, Carla. “Pet Stores Should Not Sell Animals from Commercial Breeders”. Los Angeles

Times, 20 Sept. 2017. Gale In Context: Opposing Viewpoints, https://go-gale-

com.sinclair.ohionet.org/ps/retrieve.do?

tabID=Viewpoints&resultListType=RESULT_LIST&searchResultsType=MultiTab&hit

Count=1&searchType=BasicSearchForm&currentPosition=1&docId=GALE

%7CXSDZJX974463605&docType=Viewpoint+essay&sort=Relevance&contentSegmen

t=ZXAYMOD1&prodId=OVIC&pageNum=1&contentSet=GALE

%7CXSDZJX974463605&searchId=R1&userGroupName=dayt30401&inPS=true.

Accessed 21 November 2020.

Pet Statistics.” ASPCA, 2020,

https://www.aspca.org/animal-homelessness/shelter-intake-and-surrender/pet-statistics.

21 November 2020.
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