Puppy Store Ban

Buh Bye Petland, et al.

Back in October of this year, Commissioner Michael Naft introduced a new ordinance to ban the sale of dogs, cats, rabbits, and pigs in retail stores, and on December 6th, it passed - unanimously! Woot!

What does this mean? Retail stores that have profited off selling live animals, and supporting unethical breeding practices and puppy mills, will now be fined a minimum of $500 up to the amount of the individual sale for each violation of the ordinance. They can, however, partner with rescues to provide space for pets available for adoption. 

Why is this awesome? The most obvious reason is that Clark County will be one less venue for puppy mills* to continue profiting at the expense of animals and the families who purchase the puppies. 

Even if you hate puppies, this ordinance will benefit you.  How, you ask? The Animal Foundation is one of the highest-volume shelters in the US, a slight improvement from being the highest just a few years ago. Who funds the AF? We all do. The AF receives funding from various sources, one of them being your tax dollars. Curious as to how much and where that money goes. Their 2021 Tax Return can be found here.

How are shelters and puppy mills connected? The most common reasons for owner surrenders to animal shelters are:

• Financial issues - genetic issues can be costly.
• Behavioral issues - potty training issues, and puppies who don't bond are challenging and can overwhelm new owners. 
• Living situation changed - puppies from pet stores are often impulse buys.

What's wrong with puppy mills?

Puppy mills are businesses built on breeding dogs for profit. Profit is a priority over the health, care, and happiness of the dogs. The dogs aren't living in homes, nor are they working in fields or living happy healthy lives. They live in cages with no enrichment and they are bred repeatedly. That is what they do their entire lives.

They are not fed high-quality food, they don't receive the medical care they need. They are bred and live in overcrowded, unsanitary conditions with no socialization.

Due to the volume of puppies produced and the greed for more money, puppy mills have more puppies than they have puppy buyers. They just breed dogs. They don't compete with them. They are not active in their communities. They breed. This means the have no puppy buyer connections, other than the internet and retail pet stores.

Without getting into the genetic issues from poor breeding practices, these puppies have environmental issues. They are not raised with the proper care that includes love, handling, neurological stimulation, proper diet, etc. Because of their lack of interaction and care, when they go to their new homes, they tend to be tougher to potty train and may struggle to bond with their humans. Add to that, genetic issues and throw in kennel cough or Parvo.

Paving the Way to less homeless dogs in Clark County

Of course, this isn't going to stop puppy mills or even end the problem of irresponsible dog owners and owner surrenders in Clark County, but, it's a big step in the right direction. 

Hopefully, these stores do choose to partner with local rescues so that more dogs in need of homes get the additional visibility needed to find loving homes.

*Since I don't know much about the equivalent of puppy mills for other animals, I've used puppy mills as a blanket reference to all mass for-profit breeding.

To continue through the photographer blog circle, click the link at the bottom of each post, starting here with Canberra Dog Photographer, Ina Jalil of Ina J Photography talks about one of the golden rules she goes by when capturing photos of dogs and pets.