[gambler-girl]

Originally Posted by cigwyllt

I'm afraid that your experience of the UK animal welfare situation is way out of date.

---that might be the case

I have no idea of the statistics and respective numbers of dogs per capita here and in North America but I do know that there are far more dogs in rescue here in than is morally right and that sadly their numbers are rising every day.

---my point is the scale in NA is far greater then in the UK. Sure 1 dog in a bad spot is too much!

Figures such as you are quoting are meaningless when they don't relate to the number of people wanting to buy the pups and the number of dogs being put up for adoption in shelters.There is obviously a huge market or they wouldn't produce the pups so there are clearly 1000's of customers. The actual number is irrelevant.

----Yes, but in NA people go to a mall pull out their credit card buy a puppy that get board with it a get rid of it.

My definition of a puppy farm is any where where dogs are bred purely for profit with the minimum of care to enable the bitch to produce more puppies for onward sale.

----again my point is scale, the scale which you would not believe

As for the spay and neuter question - neutering is the preferred option for most owners. I would never want to own an entire bitch - I have seen my parents lose two comparatively young bitches to uterine cancer whereas my own bitch who was spayed at the age of two lived to be 16.

----heer vets push for spaying when they are babies at aroud 5 - 7 months

Can I ask why you seem to be so angry? You say my sensibilities may be offended at the euthanisation of 10 000 puppies. Do I take it yours are not?

---- I am not angre at all, if that is the way you see me then thatis a failing of my writing. These other two woman are mad at me because I don't believe in anyone includeing police having dogs that are trained to attack people.

Aside from this my question was asked following a discussion with a fellow dog owner who remarked that here in the UK our culture of dog buying is very different from that of the rest of the world.

I simply wanted to know if it was common for people to buy a dog (often allegedly pure bred) without seeing the dam. I have no idea why this has sparked such an angry and argumentative response from you.

--- if that was narrow question then I miss understood your question, I addresssed what are the largest dog cultural differences between NA and my dog experience with Europe


--- I have reread my posts, I don't see what I said that could be constude as angry? Maybe not flowery but what do you read as angry?

GG

[Yogi]

Originally Posted by cigwyllt

I'm just wondering if there is a major cultural/society difference between the way we buy/home dogs here in the Uk and in the States. I'm always surprised here at the number of times people will post a pic of a puppy and ask what the breed/mix/parentage might be. Here in the UK it is very rare to buy a pup without seeing the mother and the rest of the litter. It does happen occasionally - there are puppy farm outlets and dog "supermarkets" but mostly anyone who has done the smallest amount of research will buy direct from a "breeder" of some sort. This could be a family whose bitch has become pregnant by accident or who have made a decision to breed one litter, a serious breeder who breeds to match the breed standard and produces high quality animals or someone who just uses their bitch as a cash cow. But in nearly every case you will see the bitch with the pups and have some idea of what you are getting.

Obviously there is the odd occasion when a rescue or shelter will pick up a litter of cross breeds or a slightly older puppy will need rehoming but it is very rare.

So I'm just being nosy and wondering - how do you buy a puppy? Do you see mum and the whole litter or is it more common to buy the pup without seeing her/them?

For all replying to this post.....STAY ON POINT OR I WILL CLOSE IT.

Re-Read the OP's question ie: US and UK not North America and Europe.

[Lara's mom]

Originally Posted by gambler-girl

You live in Toronto? Do you read news papers? I am not able to post links yet but go to the Globe and Mail and search "Toronto Humane Society." The Humain society in your city has been shut down! Closed ! People on the board of directors and the president, other employees are charged CRIMINALY for animal cruilty. Have you really not heard of this? The shelter is closed to I believe June 1.

GG

I would love to reply to you on this topic. Howver, one of the moderators has said that we have to stay on topic or the thread will be closed. If you want to debate this further, PM me.

[gambler-girl]

Population of the UK 61 million one internet source said 7 million dogs in the UK. Population of US 307 million post #10 said dog population approx 75 million. One thing about post #10 said 5-7 million dogs in the US go into shelters every year, if true, the equivilent to every dog in the UK going into a US shelter every year or almost 10% of the dogs in the US.......WOW

GG