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Forced Breeding

The Issue: Breeding Companion Animals

The Argument 

Until humans realize the actual value of the lives of companion animals, most should be forbidden to acquire them. It is a virtually impossible truth to argue considering the vast number of homeless, abused, discarded, forgotten, neglected companion animals currently withering away in the United States of America alone. 



The Other Side: 

Arguments for allowing companion animals to breed are varied:

Many people see it as the animals right to procreate. Oddly enough, many of the people who make this argument, don’t see animals as having any other rights.  

Some people still believe that companion animals live longer and healthier lives by having at least one litter. 

The theory behind that belief has long been found inaccurate. There is no correlation between the longevity or health of companion animals and breeding.1

Many people see breeding companion animals as a way to make money; dogs especially are bred for profit.2



The Facts: 

There is no correlation between allowing a dog or cat to have babies and better health; in fact the opposite is true.4

Any social media search for rescue groups will open a window to the numbers.  Consider why rescue groups exist to begin with: certainly not to make money - most operate on donations and out of pocket. The companion animals they take in are either found by a volunteer or selected from animal shelters. The companion animals that come from animal shelters have to be “adoptable”. This means, cute, friendly, preferably have a “popular” look. Rescue groups would love to take them all but the reality is they can’t.  The funds to rehabilitate an aggressive, scared, sick, old, injured animal simply isn’t available to most groups.3

 
Animal Shelters

Some groups that do take in the “unadoptable” are subject to having their motives questioned, “why waste so much on that one when you could rescue more for less money?”  Then there’s the vast number of county animal shelters (they used to be referred to as dog pound or animal control).  Animal Control is their function. They are not in the business of finding homes for stray or abandoned animals. As was so succinctly put by an Animal Control officer “you know what pest control is, we are in the same business for dogs and cats”. He went on to say that their primary business is not rehoming pets.  Public pressure has forced them to make them try.  In their defense, with their limited budgets, many Animal Control’s do some remarkable things.5,6,7,8

Most dog breeding sites online contain detailed information about setting up a breeding business. Not many go into detail about the darker side of companion animal breeding.9

Who is to blame?

The blame lies squarely on the shoulders of irresponsible humans, whether intentional or by accident. When your companion animal either causes or delivers a litter of babies, you are responsible. The largest share of the problem lies with those that don’t take their responsibility seriously.  The lives of these companion animals is the human companion’s responsibility. Their health, well being and future is the human’s role.10

It is up to us to ensure that every companion animal is treated properly. We must ensure that they are treated with dignity and respect from the moment they are born and throughout the entirety of their lives.  Anything less is unacceptable. We must treat companion animals as we wish to be treated. We must always want what is best for them. This includes spay/neuter. If a human is incapable or unwilling to provide properly, they should not be able to acquire them. 12,13

According to the ASPCA, 6.3 million companion animals end up in shelter in the US annually.  Approximately 3.1 million dogs and 3.2 million cats. Of these 920,000 will be euthanized. 390,000 dogs and 530,000 cats 11


Case Study:

Zooming in on Augusta, Richmond County, Georgia*, USA statistics: 

From 2000 - 2021 Sheltered animals are:

  • Birds: 1386
  • Cat: 64,391
  • Dogs:  102,148

Bringing the total to 167,921. Of this number 18,346 were adopted. The presumptive number of animals euthanized is 149,575.

*Augusta - Richmond County Georgia the years 2000 - 2018 were compiled and readily available online through augustaga.gov. 

The years 2019 - 2021 were acquired via an open records request to James H. Hill III Animal Services Director - Augusta - Richmond County GA.3




 The Lingo: 

  • Bitch - female dog
  • Dam - female dog
  • F1- The first generation designer dog. 
  • F2- The second generation
  • Molly - spayed cat
  • Queen - non-spayed cat
  • Sire - male dog

 



 


The Mentors: 

These are AAM Mentors who have done a large amount of activism focused in this realm 


The Champions: 

These animal rights organizations or non-profits focus this efforts on combating this area of animal exploitation

ASPCA.org

HSUS.org

bestfriends.org


The Resources: 

  1. https://www.uab.edu/news/youcanuse/item/10515-spaying-and-neutering-dogs-can-help-them-live-longer#:~:text=The%20findings%20suggest%20that%20gender,effects%20of%20spaying%20and%20neutering
  2. https://www.thepamperedpup.com/how-to-start-a-dog-breeding-business/
  3. https://www.augustaga.gov/586/Animal-Services

  4. https://www.aldf.org/animal-abuse 

  5. https://www.animallaw.info

  6. https://www.governing.com/archive/gov-animal-control-management.html

  7. https://humanepro.org

  8. https://doglaw.hugpug.com

  9. https://sidehusl.com/the-ugly-truth-about-breeding-puppies-for-pay/
  10. https://www.animalhealthfoundation.org/blog/2012/06/how-spaying-and-neutering-benefits-pets-health-and-behavior/?gclid=CjwKCAjw7cGUBhA9EiwArBAvoqcp2o13fgkR5cT-1aN3FeQjSpIfzDZfwABK514Iykxgdj_jDsG1GxoCCHkQAvD_BwE
  11. https://www.aspca.org/helping-people-pets/shelter-intake-and-surrender/pet-statistics#:~:text=Each%20year%2C%20approximately%20920%2C000%20shelter,approximately%202.6%20million%20in%202011.

  12. https://www.aspca.org/helping-people-pets/shelter-intake-and-surrender/pet-statistics#:~:text=Each%20year%2C%20approximately%20920%2C000%20shelter,approximately%202.6%20million%20in%202011.

  13. https://www.brown.edu/Research/Colwill_Lab/CBP/spaynueter.htm#:~:text=Spaying%20female%20dogs%20and%20cats,likely%20to%20roam%20and%20fight.

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