CdM Puppy Flap: Skirmish in National Battle

Mr. Maddox needs to pull his head out of a dark place. The term ‘Puppy mill’ is an appropriate derogatory term, legal definition or not, and anyone that mass breeds dogs (and cats) for profit deserves to be referred to as such.

“It’s not if pet stores are keeping any secrets.”
Unbelievable statement made by someone that IS suppose to know better.

Ask any pet shop person if their puppies come from a mill and 100% percent of the time you will receive a ‘no’ answer. Of course they’ll lie, if they told you the truth no one would buy a dog from a store. Think about it if any vendor tells you their product is crap or comes from an inhumane industry will you buy it? Of course not, it’s common sense and consumer sense not too. People are conscientious if they have the information before them. Puppy shops are interested in one thing and one thing only, getting your money out of your wallet and into their pockets and they use the adorable faces born of mass cruelty and death to manipulate consumers into buying them. Vicious cycle, rinse and repeat by the millions.

My God, this Maddox guy is clueless.

“It’s not if pet stores are keeping any secrets.” That is an unbelievable statement. Pet stores that SELL puppies LIE to their customers all the time. Let’s just take the Southern California pet store chain “Barkworks” who posts signs all over their stores saying they only deal with “reputable breeders”. LIE! They deal directly with horrific breeders (I have all the USDA reports) who torture their animals for years, force them to breed at every cycle, never give them love, vet care, force them to stand on chicken wire their entire lives which deform their paws – this is not the exception this is the hard core reality in pet store sales. Get your head out of the sand Mr. Maddox. Oh yeah, you’re a politician, never mind.

“I think that some of the picketing that has gone on at pets stores… The organizations are intent on putting pet stores out of business,” Maddox said. It sometimes “has nothing to do with the quality of the store” or the health of the pets they are selling, he said.

Again, are you kidding? Have you spoken to ANY animal welfare activists on this issue? I doubt it. If you had you would understand a hell of a lot more on this subject. All we want is HUMANE care for these animals that we ourselves domesticated and it is our moral duty to do so. But yes, if stores continue to sell sick and dying dogs that come from as you refer to “substandard breeders” (I call them what they are – ANIMAL ABUSERS!) – then we will protest, pass legislation, whatever it takes to put these evil places put out of business for good.

“The pet industry council has been working to get rid of substandard breeders and pet stores for the past 40 years, Maddox said.” Knock up job the pet industry council is doing! 40 years, and what’s to show for their “work”? More mills; more mill busts, more dead and dying dogs, more breeding, more shelter dogs dying.

Doesn’t this country get it? We have a SURPLUS of dogs — why are we breeding more? And how much tax money goes through the USDA to subsidize mills? To kill shelter dogs and cats?

Get rid of these mass breeders, period, no matter how “nice” their facilities supposedly are.

Mr. Maddox says, “there are many responsible breeders with impeccable facilities.”

True, and none of them would ever sell to pet stores. Truly responsible breeders do not make a profit on their dogs, because in order to make a profit, one has to “mass produce” puppies and treat them like they were inanimate objects. It is impossible to make a profit and at the same time treat the dogs in a manner that is anything close to humane.

Maddox is clueless and is a blanket propagandist.. The article itself gives the cruel conditions in which a USDA facility can still be found in regulation.. It’s a blanket Inhumane Industry that as consumers we have been lied to for far too long. And we as tax payers are cleaning up the added problem of over shelter population and killing 1/2 million animals per year in our shelters this factory breeding causes.. It is time as responsible citizens of our humane city of Newoport Beach that is an award winner for preservation of life, to speak out against cruelty for sale in our shop windows,and misrepresentation to us as citizens and our valued visitng patrons.

We just want these stores to go Humane that means only sell rescued animals from our over-crowded shelters. O.C. shelters are really bad, and Mr. Maddox all pet stores get their puppies from super-max mass breeding facilities, that’s a fact. Puppy stores are really good at lying, afterall they want to make money, do you think they are going to say, “yes that puppy is from an Oklahoma breeder and they only have 100 dogs, USDA inspected, it’s not to pleasant for those 100 dogs. Dogs & cats are social creatures, they live their entire lives in cages, do you think that is O.K.? Puppy stores think it’s just fine.

“It’s not as if Pet Stores are keeping Any Secrets…” ????????? Are you kidding ???????????? How ignorant are you?????????

Want to learn why pet stores lie about puppy mills? Please take the time to read these. The sources are impeccable; the logic and morality irrefutable.

http://www.humanesociety.org/issues/puppy_mills/facts/pet_store_doublespeak.html

http://www.care2.com/causes/legal-slavery-in-the-21st-century.html

http://www.believermag.com/issues/201102/?read=interview_francione

http://www.abolitionistapproach.com/media/mov/theory1.mov

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GLclYVClXMs&feature=autoshare here is the puppy mill that “I Heart Puppies” got that puppy from. Just so you know Barkworks in Mission Viejo uses this puppy mill ALOT!

ANIMAL RIGHTS ACTIVISTS… GET LOST. YOU ARE THE MOST ANNOYING BUNCH OF PEOPLE IN THIS PLANET. YOU CAN THANK LATE STAGE CAPITALISM FOR GIVING YOU THE LUXURY OF EVEN THINKING ABOUT THE WORTHLESS CAUSE OF ANIMAL WELFARE. 2000 YEARS AGO NOBODY GAVE A **** ABOUT ANIMALS, BECAUSE THEY WERE TOO BUSY EATING THEM. SAD STATE WE ARE TODAY WHEN WE CARE MORE ABOUT WHERE AND HOW A DAMN CANINE WAS BORN THAN STARVING CHILDREN OR A HOST OF OTHER MORE IMPORTANT ISSUES.

An intelligent point of the issue letting humane citizens of Newport Beach they need to get lost… 2000 years ago leaders were demanding the slaughter of all infant sons..2000 years ago? that is your argument. “Injustice anywhere is a threat to Justice everywhere”..Dr. Martin Luther King Jr… and it is Democracy that gives us our rights, here we speak them for companion animal torture and cruelty, but you will also meet us in many other areas of injustice..

Ryan.. I will not cut off my hand to spite my face and you are what is known as a waste of oxygen. Banning of puppymill puppies in pet stores is not restricting choice, it is providing a better one that will most certainly be a healthier animal and a better consumer purchase. This ban does not interfere with local hobby breeders of purebreds where healthy puppies will be available for consumers. You will continue to indulge in your miserable cruelty, and we will indulge in the Federal Law of the Animal Welfare Act. To address you any further is a mere wsste of the seconds and minutes of LIFE, that for myself, has a highly regarded value.

The problem is NOT that pet stores are selling puppies — it is WHERE those cute little puppies come from and the suffering that goes on at the commercial breeding establishments in order to produce those cute little puppies. FEMALE DOGS ARE NOT MACHINES!! They should not be required to become impregnated EVERY SIX MONTHS (!!!!) and pop out cute little puppies for consumer purchase.

The people buying these cute little pups are not aware that THIS is how those dogs came into this world. I’ve spoken to them and they imagine that the puppies are raised on some nice, grassy farm somewhere, in the bosom of their mommy and daddy dogs.

They don’t want to believe that the mother of their cute pup has and is going to spend her entire life in a cage, with her feet standing on wire and sometimes falling through and dislocating her legs, just to that it is easier for the caretakers of the breeding establishment to clean the pee and poop from the 100+ cages they have to monitor every day.

The owners of the new puppy don’t want to imagine the mommy dog, lying on her side on wire because her legs hurt so much and they don’t want to hear her try to bark because her vocal cords were roughly mangled by a farm hand wielding a screwdriver while another person held her mouth open.

No, they don’t want to have to look at the mommy dog’s rotten teeth and infected eyes. They just want to see their nice, little puppy — all cleaned up for them and sitting in a cage for impulse buyers to take home.

NO ANIMAL SHOULD HAVE TO SUFFER SO THAT PEOPLE CAN WALK INTO A STORE AND PURCHASE A PUPPY!! IF THEY WANT A PUREBRED THAT BADLY, THEY SHOULD GO TO A REPUTABLE BREEDER – NOT A COMMERCIAL BREEDING ESTABLISHMENT. YES, THEY WILL PROBABLY HAVE TO WAIT BECAUSE REPUTABLE BREEDERS DO NOT BREED TO MAKE $$$, THEY BREED TO FIND DOGS THAT WILL WIN DOG SHOWS. THEY ARE NOT LOCATED IN MINNESOTA NOR PENNSYLVANIA — NOR WILL THEY MATE THEIR FEMALE DOGS DURING EVERY HEAT CYCLE. THEY ARE SELECTIVE TO WHOM THEIR DOGS GO AND THEY WOULD NEVER, EVER SELL THEIR PUPPIES TO A PET STORE!!

THEREFORE, EVERY DOG YOU SEE AT A PET STORE IS FROM A COMMERCIAL BREEDING ESTABLISHMENT — AKA “PUPPY MILLS”. THEY ARE CALLED THAT FOR A REASON — THEY CHURN OUT PUPPIES, LIKE A FACTORY OR MILL! Get it???

I wonder if Ryan has read what over-fishing has done to deplete life in the oceans. I highly doubt Ryan is hunting to feed his family in Corona del Mar. I’m deducing he hunts because he has a bloody good time killing. FYI, Ryan, hunting is regulated way more than commercial dog breeding and we work with government agencies, including Fish and Wildlife. But that is not the topic here.

As far as buying puppies from whoMever you choose, no one is preventing you from buying puppies born in an inhumane breeding factory. These people are merely telling you where the puppies are from and that the owner of the store is lying to you about it. If you choose to enrich animal abusers, go ahead but don’t say you weren’t aware of the facts. It is entirely possible that NB City Council will look at an ordinance to if enough constituants ask them to. It is heartening that so many CDM and NB people want progress and love dogs. So many dog lovers are coming out on Sunday to take a giant step toward a more humane city.

Thank goodness we live in a democratic country where we can engage in debates like this.

Poor Ryan, What did your parents do to you dude? Did they not give you ANY love? Ryan please , please come down to the protest march this Sunday in CdM. We all have enough love for you to choke on! But Ryan? Please bathe first!! If this is the Ryan I think it is,,, ITS CALLED SOAP RYAN ,,,,,,CHECK IT OUT!!

The problem with most of these people responding is that they believe the lies about pet over population. Fact is the majority of pets in any shelter are feral cats. Of the smaller number of dogs they are mixed breeds or dogs that have been given up due to behavior problems. Not all dogs are adoptable due to expensive diseases to cure or behavior that is unacceptable around people. There are 12 million people looking to replace a pet each year and only 4 million dogs in shelters in this country. In no way can responsible breeders meet this demand. The north east has already spayed or neutered 92 percent of all pets. One weekend over 600 people were lined up to take in 30 shelter puppies that were shipped in from Thailand. Sadly two of them had rabies and were still adopted out. The animal rights groups keep telling lies but now the number of complaints about adopting a shelter animal is beginning to rise to the point that shelters now must undergo the same rules applied to commercial breeders regarding taking the dog back. All responsible breeders will take back any dog they breed for any reason and they do investigate where their dogs will be going. This whole animal rights issue is because there are people who have been vegan for so long their brains don’t work properly. Notice the vitriolic tone of their messages. Lack of VB12 which in its active form only comes from meat cause irrational thinking and overly emotional responses. For HSUS its the money they get from people who think they are helping when in fact HSUS doesn’t spend money on pets or less than .04. The majority goes for salaries of lawyers to take away your right to own a pet, eat meat or benefit from medical research. This is a cult nothing less. Preventing someone from doing a legitimate business is not free speech it falls under the RICCO and is a crime.

Vet Barnes. Your post is chock-a-block with inaccuracies. There are too many adoptable poodles, Shi-Tzus, Chihuahuas, etc in the shelters here in SoCAl. And yet, pet facories keep churning out millions of inbred dogs for the market.

There are too many dogs, not enough adopters. There is a pet overpopulation crisis. The people who keep repeating the silly idea that this is a myth are wrong. Avanzino and Winograd and their “stats” have been debunked on this issue by everyone I respect in the animal protection movement.

Furthermore, you think constitutionally protected free speech is crime. What country do YOU live in? Syria? This anti-puppy mill movement is highly effective. Read some history of social justice causes. The American Revolution. The Abolitionist movement. The Civil rights movement. The women’s sufferagist movement. The Gay rights movement. Workers Rights movement. The Animal Rights movement. All progress has come from outrage. I’ve been in touch with NBPD and they will be upholding our right to free speech today, as is their duty.
You would have the voice of the people silenced. That is unamerican.

In case you think this is some left wing fringe movement, let me disabuse you of that notion. We stand with conservatives, liberals and independents. The lawmakers who passed 93 new legislative measures in Congress last session to protect animals are from both sides of the isle.

We are dog lovers. And their cries will be heard.

They will try to push and push, making their bizarre agenda seem like a mainstream consensus. They try to make an entirely unreasonable proposition become part of the public debate when it has no place even being considered by elected officials or mainstream. What they are doing today at the store at CDM borders on economic terrorism. They are trying to bully a story with enough bad PR and intimidating physical presence that it will have to close. I feel sorry for any business owner that comes in the path of such a group. They are abusing the right of “free speech” to unreasonable levels, and in my opinion what they are doing to I Heart Puppies is in an entirely different category. It is organized intimidation with the goal of damaging the store’s business.

The Animal Rights Agenda
The animal rights platform sets the goals for ending the use of animals: The animal rights agenda was published in “Animals’ Agenda” magazine in November 1987 in an article “Politics of Animal Liberation” by Kim Bartlett and reprinted in “The Hijacking of the Humane Movement” by Rod and Patti Strand.

1. We are firmly committed to the eventual abolition by law of animal research, and call for an immediate prohibition of painful experiments and tests. The billions of dollars disbursed annually by the National Institutes of Health for animal experiments should be rechanneled into direct health care, preventive medicine, and biomedical research using non-animal tests and procedures. In addition, the government should fund projects to develop and promote non-animal technologies where they do not yet exist so that animal experiments may be rapidly phased out. In the meantime, procedural mechanisms must be established to allow for greater public scrutiny of all research using animals.

2. The use of animals for cosmetics and household product testing, tobacco and alcohol testing, psychological testing, classroom demonstrations and dissection, and in weapons development or other warfare programs must be outlawed immediately.

3. We encourage vegetarianism for ethical, ecological, and health reasons. As conversion of plant protein to animal flesh for human consumption is an energetically inefficient means of food production, a vegetarian diet allows for wiser use of the world’s limited food resources. Livestock production is a major source of environmental degradation. Furthermore, a shift in human diet from animal foods to plant food would result in a lower incidence of heart diseases and cancer and better health generally. Vegetarian meals should be made available to all public institutions including primary and secondary schools. Nutritional education programs currently administered by the Department of Agriculture should be handled by an agency charged with promoting public health rather than promoting the interest of agribusiness.

4. Steps should be taken to begin phasing out intensive confinement systems of livestock production, also called factory farming, which causes severe physical and psychological suffering for the animals kept in overcrowded and unnatural conditions. As animal agriculture depletes and pollutes water and soil resources, and destroys forests and other ecosystems, we call for the eventual elimination of animal agriculture. In the meantime, the exportation of live farm animals for overseas slaughter must be regulated to ensure humane treatment. Livestock grazing on US public lands should be immediately prohibited. Internationally, the US should assist poorer countries in the development of locally-based, self-reliant agricultural systems.

5. The use of herbicides, pesticides, and other toxic agricultural chemicals should be phased out. Predator control on public lands should be immediately outlawed and steps should be taken to introduce native predators to areas from which they have been eradicated in order to restore the balance of nature.

6. Responsibility for enforcement of animal welfare legislation must be transferred from the Department of Agriculture to an agency created for the purpose of protecting animals and the environment.

7. Commercial trapping and fur ranching should be eliminated. We call for an end to the use of furs while recognizing Western society’s responsibility to support alternative livelihood for native peoples who now rely on trapping because of the colonial European and North American fur industries.

8. Hunting, trapping, and fishing for sport should be prohibited. State and federal agencies should focus on preserving and re-establishing habitat for wild animals instead of practicing game species management for maximum sustainable yield. Where possible, native species, including predators, should be reintroduced to areas from which they have been eradicated. Protection of native animals and plants in their natural surroundings must be given priority over economic development plans. Further, drainage of wetlands and development of shore areas must be stopped immediately.

9. Internationally, steps should be taken by the US government to prevent further destruction of rain forests. Additionally, we call on the US government to act aggressively to end international trade in wildlife and goods produced from exotic an/or endangered fauna or flora.

10. We strongly discourage any further breeding of companion animals, including pedigreed or purebred dogs and cats. Spay and neuter clinics should be subsidized by state and municipal governments. Commerce in domestic and exotic animals for the pet trade should be abolished.

11. We call for an end to the use of animals in entertainment and sports such as dog racing, dog and cock fighting, fox hunting, hare coursing, rodeos, circuses, and other spectacles and a critical reappraisal of the use of animals in quasi-educational institutions such as zoos and aquariums. These institutions, guided not by humane concerns but by market imperatives, often cruelly treat animals and act as agents of destruction for wild animals. In general, we believe that animals should be left in their appropriate environments in the wild, not showcased for entertainment purposes. Any animals held captive must have their psychological, behavioral, and social needs satisfied.

12. Advances in biotechnology are posing a threat to the integrity of species, which may ultimately reduce all living beings to the level of patentable commodities. Genetic manipulation of species to produce transgenic animals must be prohibited.

7 Things You Didn’t Know About Puppy Mills

1) There is no such thing as a “puppy mill”. “Puppy mill” is not a legally defined term, it is slang used by the animal rights community to denigrate any and all breeders — small or large, standard or substandard. It’s the “N-word” of breeders. The phrase “puppy mill” has been promoted in the media by the animal “rights” movement, people who want to end all animal ownership. It is applied indiscriminately by these fanatics to anyone who breeds dogs.

2) There are three main types of breeders: Commercial, Pet and Hobby/show breeders. Every one of these can be a large-scale breeder, every one of these can be a substandard breeder. Commercial kennels are subject to state and/or federal oversight. Substandard care can be found with all types of breeders. It is about the standard of care, NOT the numbers.

3) Many commercial breeders have state of the art kennels that meet USDA standards and the standards of their state laws. They are inspected at least yearly and must meet or exceed standards far higher than those expected of the average hobby breeder.

4)“Sick” puppies do not sell. It is counterproductive for any industry to produce a defective product and expect to stay in business.

5) Passing laws intended to outlaw “puppy mills” will not solve any problem. Most substandard breeders are already in violation of existing laws. New, stricter laws will only affect those who are already working to follow the laws. The only way to have any effect is to enforce the laws that are already on the books.

6) All the hobby breeders in this country cannot produce enough puppies to meet the demands of the American market.

7) BREEDERS are NOT responsible for the presence of dogs in shelters. We have a problem with responsible ownership. Education is the key to improvement in this area.

For more information:
http://www.cfodconline.org/
http://www.petpac.net/
http://www.exposeanimalrights.com/
http://www.naiaonline.org
http://www.humanewatch.org
http://www.saveourdogs.net
http://www.nathanwinograd.com
http://www.saova.org

The anti-animal rights industry spokespeople are at it again, trying to make us look like we’re fringe. They think people are stupid. They’re not. FYI, readers and writers and editors, look up WHO they are. Report on the NAIA and the other political lobby groups made up of circus owners, egg producers, mass volume dog manufacturers, detergent producers, pharmaceutical companies and fur farmers. That’s who is attacking a small group of dog lovers here. This protest is about DOGS that are factory bred. NO ONE thinks it’s ok to keeep dogs locked up in a wire cage for its entire life, breeding every cycle until it’s dead. No one. This is a powerful industry that is taking notice of regular people who speak up about making ethical economic choices to not buy into their business.

We won’t buy your fur.
We won’t buy your puppies.
We won’t even buy your detergents.

Why do you think they have entire sections of supermarkets that cater to people who prefer animal friendly products? It’s because we have buying power. And the trend is towards a kinder, greener, healthier marketplace.

I get threatened daily by these bullies. I was called a “whore” at the protest by people in the store. That’s ok, that’s nothing compared to what the dogs in the factories are enduring.

We can all sit here and argue about where their puppies come from.. whether they think they are coming from reputable breeders, or we think they are coming from puppy mills…

OR we can focuse on the cold hard facts. These numbers speak for themselves on why this business nor ANY store SELLING puppies should be allowed to operate in Orange County.

Statistcs for our ORANGE COUNTY ANIMAL SHELTER for 2010
(source: http://egov.ocgov.com/ocgov/Info%20OC/Departments%20&%20Agencies/OC%20Animal%20Care/Shelter%20Statistics):

Dogs EUTHANIZED: 3,771 (or 10 dogs per DAY)
Cats EUTHANIZED: 9,951 (or 27 cats per DAY)

NO STORE IN ORANGE COUNTY SHOULD BE ALLOWED TO SELL ANIMALS FOR PROFIT UNTIL THIS NUMBER IS ZERO. Plain and simple. Not only are healthy, adoptable animals being killed, but taxpayers money is being spent to house, feed, and then needlessly kill these animals.