The New Business Model For Selling Dogs

The article below appeared in the July 12, 2013 issue of DOG NEWS. It is reprinted here by permission.

One reader wrote to me to make sure it was clear that the Idaho shelter referred to was not actually in Boise. It is simply in the Boise area. The last I checked, a couple of days ago, the re-worded ad mentioned here is still on Craigslist but it may have been removed by now.

Also, San Diego voted to put in place their ban on pet stores, though there seems to be some hope that this issue can be revisited in the future. Some people seem to be excited that there are some exemptions but I do not share their enthusiasm.

Add Reno, Nevada to the list of cities that is trying to ban pet stores while offering homeless dogs and cats for sale in pet stores instead.

The New Business Model For Selling Dogs

Carlotta Cooper

As purebred dog breeders most of us are familiar with the codes of ethics for our parent breed clubs or our kennel clubs. Those codes typically spell out how we should care for our dogs and state something to the effect that we are supposed to put the welfare of the dogs and the breed above personal gain. I believe most purebred dog breeders take these goals seriously. That doesn't mean that it's unethical to recoup your costs on a litter or that people who breed dogs full-time and do it well are doing anything wrong. There is no particular virtue in losing money on a hobby if you can do things better.

But hobby breeding and even breeding purebred dogs for profit are the old business models when it comes to pets. Thanks to some of our more creative animal shelters and local governments, there is now a new business model for selling dogs as pets.

Consider, for example, the shelter in Boise, Idaho, that wants to pay $25 per puppy to anyone who will sell them. As stated in their ad on Craigslist, the shelter intends to spay and neuter the puppies and then sell them at the shelter for “adoption.” The shelter thinks this will cut down on pet overpopulation. It's hard to see how. The shelter would be acting as a broker for puppies and encouraging irresponsible breeding to meet their demand for “rescue” dogs. After an outcry from breeders, the ad was removed though it has reappeared, more carefully worded.

Then there's the situation with the pet shop in the Freehold Raceway Mall in New Jersey. The lease of the pet shop was not extended – because they sold dogs. That didn't stop the Monmouth County SPCA from taking over the shop. They now use the space to – sell dogs. The dogs come from other shelters as well as from Puerto Rico. It also functions as a pet store and they sell leashes, beds, toys, pet clothing, and so on. They have a full line of pet products from popular brands. Just don't expect to find any registered dogs there.

Many people have seen this trend coming for several years as animal control and legislation have made it harder to breed purebred dogs while at the same time encouraging people to get their dogs from shelters. Shelters have literally become pet stores today where people are supposed to go to buy their dogs and accessories. A visit to PetCo or PetSmart can often give you the same insight as these companies are supporters of HSUS. They often welcome shelter dog adoption events in their stores and are not friendly to dog breeders.

Approximately 34 municipalities in the U.S. have banned pet stores in their precincts. While some dog breeders might erroneously think this is a good thing, it's only a small step from banning pet stores to banning purebred dogs and hobby breeding. Local governments don't distinguish between a commercial dog breeder and a hobby breeder. They can easily ban all breeding once they set their sights on the selling of pets.

The San Diego City Council is in the process of trying to ban pet stores in their city, leaving shelters free to operate as the only source for dogs in the city. Pet stores in California are regulated by state law and hobby breeders in the state are covered by the puppy lemon law, but shelters are not regulated. Anyone who completes the IRS paperwork can become a non-profit rescue group and there is no oversight, according to Kay A. Henderson, PhD, Legislative Liaison for the Del Sur Kennel Club. More than 10,000 puppies from Mexico come into California every year. These puppies have no paperwork and they may have no vaccinations. They can be poorly bred, malnourished, and unsocialized. They are a health risk. They're brought in to be sold to meet the demand for cute puppies, partly because current legislation has made it so difficult for American breeders to breed, especially in California. These imported puppies often end up in local shelters where purebred hobby breeders are blamed for them, with talk of “pet overpopulation.” Imagine that.

If the ban on pet sales in retail stores succeeds in San Diego, this will be the kind of dog that is available to people in SoCal, with few other options unless they look elsewhere for a pet. Every new law that is made reduces options for breeding and keeping dogs.

Finally, there's the case of LA Animal Services General Manager Brenda Barnette who says shelters need puppies to increase their revenue. Barnette wants to change the policy of LA shelters which currently requires late-term spaying for pregnant bitches. Instead, Barnette, a former breeder, has recommended that pregnant bitches be taken in by fosters and allowed to whelp their puppies. She wants the puppies to be fostered and raised until they are 8 weeks old when they can be spayed/neutered and then adopted out through the shelter or one of its pet shops. Oh, yeah. I forgot to mention that Barnette also collaborated on and supported an ordinance that prohibits any pet stores from selling puppies, kittens, dogs or cats from puppy mills or local breeders and mandates that ALL dogs and cats sold in any pet store MUST be animals taken from a Los Angeles City shelter.

Ms. Barnette makes clear in her report to the Department of Animal Services that keeping the puppies to sell would be a good way to raise revenue: “Fostering puppies until they are eight weeks old, and returning them to Animal Services to be adopted out, represents additional revenue opportunities through adoptions to the public or through pet shops.”

This amounts to a monopoly for the city on the sale of dogs. Commercially-bred and home-raised puppies are not allowed to be sold in pet stores. Yet the city is seeking its own ongoing source of puppies to keep these pet stores supplies with “merchandise.”

Barnette, the former CEO of the Seattle Humane Society, is, or was, an AKC Legislative Liaison. As you might imagine, her former existence as a dog breeder and Legislative Liaison caused some concern when she was being considered for the position of LA Animal Services General Manager. In response to those concerns, Barnette told the Los Angeles Times:

“I'm a member of the Seattle Kennel Club,” she said, explaining the extent of her job as legislative liaison for the club. "Every now and then I get a press release from the AKC saying 'This is the legislation,' and I hit forward and send it to all the other members.... I have shown dogs, and you may see me at a show."

Either Barnette wasn't doing a very good job as Legislative Liaison or this raises some questions about what club LLs are doing and how effective they are.

So, what's wrong with allowing bitches to come to term and whelp their litters? I admit, I don't personally like the idea of late-term spays, even though many vets say they are perfectly safe for the bitch. But the point is, if an animal shelter is trying to reduce the number of dogs produced, it makes more sense to spay the bitch and place her in a good home instead of involving foster families, raising a litter, and then spaying/neutering the puppies – or waiting until they are older when they might or might not be altered. Especially when all of this effort is being done to make money for the shelter. Aren't shelters supposed to do what's best for the animals instead of using them to make money?

One thing is abundantly clear from all of these cases: shelters are actively seeking dogs, especially puppies, to meet the public demand. This should tell us something about “overpopulation.” What overpopulation? There are clearly plenty of people who want puppies and dogs, especially if you have what they are looking for. There are still too many unwanted dogs in some areas – too many big, black dogs; too many “pit bulls” or bully breeds people are afraid to adopt; and too many Chihuahuas now in California. But there are shelters all over the country actively seeking dogs to meet demand. And they are trying to suppress purebred dog breeders because they see us as their competition, whether the dogs are in a pet store or we sell online or simply through word of mouth.

There is a new business model and shelters are acquiring and selling dogs. These “non-profits” are turning into for-profit entities and they certainly are not always doing what's best for the animals. They aren't responsible to buyers in the same way that a pet store business is or a hobby breeder is. They offer no guarantees. They don't have to know anything about the puppy or dog's history or health clearances. Basically, shelters can act free of any regulation or oversight and wash their hands of a dog as soon as he's sold. They don't face any of the restrictions placed on breeders. And some of these shelters are running breeders out of town. Watch out for it.