Welcome back from your Turnoff Week fun. I had a great time on a road trip. How about you? What did you and your family do? Feel free to comment.
Tonight, however, is one of those rare viewer discretion shows that is actually worth considering, depending on how sensitive your kids are. It’s definitely problematic for younger kids.
Animal Planet is airing a special edition of their Animal Cops series with Puppy Mills: Exposed, at 10 p.m. Puppy mills, are of course, large scale breeding operations usually supplying pet stores with puppies from dogs that have been overbred. At the very best, the puppies are caged continually and have little human contact. And the show is mostly about the worst.
I wanted to make a point of writing about this show because of the explosion of interest in Portuguese Water Dogs. Because of all the publicity surrounding the Obama puppy, you know some folks will be looking to make a fast buck by over-producing puppies and that will result in shelters overflowing with sick and poorly bred dogs.
Not all large-scale breeders are as irresponsible and cruel as the people featured on this show. But the practice is problematic. The show is very balanced, making sure you see well-run facilities and explaining how to get the dog you want at the end, with a strong emphasis on adopting your dog from a shelter or rescue group.
I am highly in favor of this practice and I adore mixed-breeds. Our two dogs are mixed breeds and rescue dogs and they are so very special. But I can understand why the Obamas went with a pure-bred. One of the advantages of buying a pure-bred directly from a responsible breeder is that you’ve got a pretty good idea of what you’re getting and the Obamas needed a dog that would not aggravate allergies.
But please, please, please remember when you are doing your research to not only check out the shelter and/or breed that you’re considering, but also to check out whether you’ve got the time to walk the dog on a regular basis, train it to behave appropriately and give it the time and attention dogs need.
Puppy Mills: Exposed is hard to watch – the pictures are graphic, but probably could be worse. It needs watching. Puppy mills are a massive problem and can only exist because people don’t understand what’s involved in raising a healthy dog.
Anne Louise Bannon
Your Family Viewer
[...] have to give the show credit, that while there are some disturbing images, we saw far worse on the recent Animal Planet special. Finally, they did talk to a responsible breeder and discussed appropriate breeding [...]