The November election will see a lot of hotly contested races both for Federal and local seats, but here in Missouri there’s one that’s flying under the radar. The reason I say that is because only one side of the issue is being heard and unless you dig deeper than just the headlines you’ll say it’s a good idea. Proposition B deals with dog breeding operations in the state. There are some bad operators, but mirroring the current administration in the federal government, the Missouri approach seems to be to kill a cockroach with a shotgun. You might get the roach but you’ll mess up your house in the process. The following is a reply I got by e-mail from a good friend who happens to run a breeding operation with his wife. I had asked him how it would affect his operation and if there’s an organized group opposing the legislation.
The Cattleman’s Association has been helping us in court the past year, funding our court cases. HSUS (Humane Society of the United States) has a hidden agenda; they want to shut down all confined animal operations. If this legislation passes, we could very well pay more for dogs, if you can even find dogs. My wife is spending a lot of time on the internet checking out educational websites. She may very well give it up and go back to school. She has been a dog breeder for 15 years.
If they win, the hog producers and cattle producers will be next. Are you ready to pay 50 or 60 bucks the next time you want steak? If they shut down the small cattle producer, we can expect exactly that.
There are a lot of well-meaning people who send money to HSUS every month. They have no conflict with the way a ‘responsible’ dog breeder conducts their operations. Tina believes if the legislation passes, all the specifications we are hearing about won’t come to pass. But which ones will and which ones won’t? Our pens are now close to twice the size required by our inspector. If we are required to have the size they are calling for in the legislation, we won’t have a single pen that is big enough. We just spent ten grand the past year building pens in my old building. We were starting to build an outside run for the dogs that fit the space required. But it may not be enough if this legislation passes. We are required to clean pens only twice weekly but we clean up poop every day, rain, snow, sleet or hail, extreme cold, whatever. Responsible dog breeders want the best for their dogs. We get healthier dogs, bigger dogs and bigger litters. We already let our dogs ’sit out’ one in 4 heats. They are talking about requiring us to let the dogs ’sit out’ every other heat. That’s ridiculous. It is healthy for a healthy female to produce puppies. Ask any reputable vet. If they need to ’sit out’, nature takes care of its own and the dog will not become pregnant in heat. Still, ours sit out once every two years. The ads being run on our station and probably yours are lies. I never realized how people are allowed to lie in political advertising. There is not a single word in those ads that are true. Their numbers are wrong, their situations are wrong, and their intentions are wrong. How would we like it if we were told that we are not being fair to our listeners running 15 minutes worth of advertising an hour? What if someone wanted to say that 7 minutes should be the law? I would be one pissed off mother if I were told I couldn’t sell more than 7 minutes of ads per hour. Do you think it couldn’t happen? I wonder.
That lady in Tuscumbia they talk about in the ads? She is a responsible pet breeder who took ill and could no longer care for her pets/stock. She was in the process of selling her inventory when the vultures from HSUS descended on her property illegally and stole her pets/stock. Anybody trespassing on my property with that intention will have to be carried out.
Good ol’ HSUS. Well, they do soooo much for poor dogs in those situations. They sent almost half a million dollars to shelters and rescue operations last year. Sounds good until you realize they took in 4 and a half million!!! It’s a business to them! If they gave a damn about the animals they would use more money to clean up some of these unlicensed breeders who really do confine the dogs in small cages. It’s all documented at humanewatch.org. HSUS is using lies to push their agenda. Anyone on the outside who knows no better will hear the ads and be for it. Nobody is running ads on our behalf. You know the cattlemen have plenty of money. I would bet Hunte Corporation, Mid America Pets have plenty of their own if they weren’t so worried about showing a profit this quarter.
Something needs to be done. I have told you before there is no such thing as a ‘puppy mill’. we don’t ‘mill’ puppies. Those of us who are responsible breeders take offense at that term. It’s like an ethnic slur to our group. However there are ’substandard kennels’. Most of the regulations they are calling for are already in effect. It is the ridiculous ones that would put us out of business.
This legislation will not affect the rednecks in the backwoods who are not licensed, and sell ‘under the radar’ of the inspectors. They are the ones who need to be put out of business. When Tina and I were making wedding plans, I knew she wanted to breed dogs again. I questioned her a lot about her operation and told her I would not be a part of anything like a ‘puppy mill’. She assured me responsible breeders don’t do business like that and our operation would be one we could be proud of. We were inspected a few months ago. Passed with 0 violations. That is not easy, even with the old legislation.
Hope that lets you know how we feel about it. It’s not the end of the world. When a door closes, another opens. We’ll be fine. But we probably won’t continue in this business. Even though we have done nothing but spend money to build better facilities for our dogs since we moved to the country. I know you are a smart minded American. Vote ‘Hell, No!’ on prop B!
I also told Tina years ago that I couldn’t treat dogs like livestock. She said that it isn’t like that at all. They are all our pets who just happen to produce an income. They are all treated like pets. Our dogs are happy, eager to greet us when we do chores. Most of them walk right by my side as I poop scoop or feed them. Most walk me to the gate when I leave. It takes about 15 minutes to feed the dogs. I usually spend 30 to 45 minutes a day playing with them as I feed.
Tina does the same inside the buildings with the bulldogs. I am sure not all dogs get that kind of treatment. It’s too bad. But it shouldn’t be a crime for a leaf to blow into a water container in between waterings. Read prop b. It’s in today’s Sedalia Democrat. It’s crazy.
For a discussion of the financial impact of Proposition B go here.
A summary of the legislation can be read at ballotpedia.org
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