I'am one of those that can't resist those puppies advertised     My heart go's to the shilz zoo    I can't help my self   if I could afford a place I would buy all I could

Ron

You're absolutely right!  Responsible breeders don't advertise in newspapers, sell litters to anyone with the cash, and breed everytime a female's in heat.  This town is full of people making a buck off their pets, and the Californian is helping them do it.  I've contacted various writers about your (and my) idea that the Californian stop running all those "puppies for sale" ads, but nothing has changed. 

And now I see that the Californian wants readers to submit a pet photo and ten bucks, and they'll donate your money to homeless animals.   So instead of making it much harder for the source of all those homeless animals--i.e. backyard breeders--to keep filling the shelters, the Californian will start throwing a little money at the grossly mismanaged KC Animal Control.  Why aren't they willing to stand up to the root of the problem and QUIT RUNNING ADS BY BACKYARD BREEDERS?

Don't stop preaching the need for adoption....I stand behind your words & beliefs and hope one day people will wake up.  No one needs a designer pet.  So sad that we live in a throw-away society.

Stop with the advertisements of pure-breds and focus on the forgotten pound pets.   

I have two pure bred labrador retrievers and I would just like to say that prior to getting the second one we wanted to adopt a dog from Animal Countrol on  Mt. Vernon but we went in and saw one we liked and they make you put your name in and raffle them off on a Thursday morning.  We couldn't take off of work all morning for it.  I think that if people walk in there and want a pet let them take it right then!  Can you imagine how many other people were in the same situation?   I think first come first serve is fair enough.

I had a similar problem when trying to find a small to mid sized house dog.  At that time SPCA was closed on my days off and I worked half a day on Sat.  All the smaller dogs were gone by the time I got off work.   I found one at the pound but it had a couple of days left before it could be released for adoption and I tried to reserve it but they wouldn't let me.  I understand checking to make sure you have a place for a pet but to put up so many roadblocks is crazy if they want them adopted out.

When I first say Zack I thought he was a scraggly hairy faced thing but cute in his own way.  He'd been up for adoption for two weeks when I saw him and I kept wondering why no one wanted him.  The young man at the desk said he was dropped off because the owners were having a baby.  Boy oh boy did they miss a bet.  Zack LOVES kids.  My 18 mo. old g'grandson adores him and Zack is remarkably patient with him  He just outruns him if he gets tired of him.  The new 5 week old g'grandson fascinates Zack.  When he cries Zack is right there to sniff and see what this new creature is doing.

He couldn't be any better.  Vet calls him a Westie cross and I've found pix of poodle/westies that look a lot like he does.  Who knows?  Who cares?   He's my Zack and all the papers he needs are the ones from the vet with his shot records and showing he's healthy. 

ADOPT A PET.   You'll both be better off for it.

If you can afford one and if you have the time. kindly folks kept trying to give me dogs all the time when I had Kelsey~ he took all my time,and walking to the store for dog food,finding the money for it and vets bills...just not in the picture .Just a thought for all of us who chose to be responsible and pet less.

you shoulda petted him more -- not less

Chico~ he really did not like dogs much~ they'd bark,he'd jump or cry at them if the yelp was a certain pitch...plus it would have been cruel to the dog,all my time was devoted to working muscles,massaging same, managing school,diet,,the list is endless plus on $800 a month having a dog would have been financially irresponsible,no car ~ morally wrong(how to get to vet?) We had fish,he loved them...

Fish are hard to pet.

Thus understandable that you chose to be responsible and pet less

LOL~ yes plus following then with his eyes was a sneaky "mom trick" to get him trying to focus...heh heh, it worked!  We went to a zoo once~ he would have taken home the seals and the alligator....but I had to say no!

Fish are actually very hard to take care of correctly and many die because people are not educated about how to do so. The first 2-3 months a tank is up and running are an especially critical period as the filter "cycles" (becomes capable of processing fish waste). During this period, toxins from the waste or filter by-products can build up in a tank unless you have been taught how to measure the toxins and how to mitigate them. It's very common for entire tanks to die during this period if the person is not vigalent. Once the filter establishes, you're not off the hook. You still have to make sure to change the water and clean the tank regularly or the tank can become victim to something called "old tank syndrome" where the pH crashes and the filter "uncycles" in the process. It's no wonder that so many used tanks are for sale on a daily basis. It's not as easy as most people think it is.

You will find that the people here don't want to hear about these issues and definitely DO NOT want to think about it or talk about it. ;o)- Pup

Pup, if no one wanted to talk about it, then why do you have several comments?  The problem was not that no one was thinking about it: the problem was you refused to think of it any other way. 

How fair and responsible is it for breeders to profit from innocent animals without any abiding knowledge of the animals’ future care? Is that responsible?  Truly responsible animal lovers would bring an animal into their home and take care of it, not use it for capital gain - Iped

THANK YOU!! I totally agree!  I think it's cruel to breed animals who, because of the constant inbreeding and artificial selection, will live most of their lives in pain or dealing with illnesses.  Those itty-bitty chihuahuas that Paris Hilton and her ilk popularized are a prime example of this bizarre, breeding phenomena.  Dogs were never intended to fit in purses or be an accessory to an outfit.  They weren't meant to be the size of sewer rats.  And, they dang sure weren't made to run around on legs so tiny that they can hardly get onto the curb without help. 

I was just talking about this on another blogger's thread: Mutts are probably the healthiest dogs you can get because they're not the bi-product of massive inbreeding.  They don't often manifest the problems that purebreds do. 

You can't address the problem of over-population until you address the huge amounts of money running through the business of puppy mills and breeders.  and, you can't mandate sterilization because, ultimately, you'd end up with no healthy animals (mandatory means ALL... so, what exactly do you do when ALL dogs are sterilized?).  And, let's say you do MSN - that means the people who ignore the law are going to be able to demand unthinkable prices for their puppies. 

It's a complicated issue. 

HEY CALIFORNIAN!!!    DO YOU HAVE A RESPONSE TO OUR QUESTIONS? 

I would like to ask the Californian to be part of the solution instead of part of the problem.  Why don't you quit accepting advertising from breeders?  Seeing those adorable, innocent little faces staring out from the top of the classified ads is heart breaking, as I know full well that one less animal will be adopted from the pound and one more breeder is well on the way to adding more “perfect” litters to the whole unwarranted mess.

The Californian wants readers to submit a pet photo and ten bucks, and they'll donate your money to homeless animals.   So instead of making it much harder for the source of all those homeless animals--i.e. backyard breeders--to keep filling the shelters, the Californian will start throwing a little money at the grossly mismanaged KC Animal Control.  Why aren't they willing to stand up to the root of the problem and QUIT RUNNING ADS BY BACKYARD BREEDERS?

If they can't "harass the public" to enforce dog licenses, how, pray tell, do you suggest they actually enforce MSN? Instead of constantly bashing animal control, see this as a step in the right direction. If you must cling to MSN and poo-poo license enforcement, then see this as training for how to go about enforcing MSN. They're learning the ins-and-outs of certain neighborhoods in the process of this canvassing. Hey, maybe they'll even find a few puppy mills in the process as they go peeking over fences and knocking on doors. From what I've read, they're even going to pass out flyers on existing low-cost spay/neuter options and vaccination clinics. So see it like a dry run for MSN enforcement and let the pilot project be. Or are you really afraid it's going to show that there are workable solutions other than MSN?

Great points, but we don't need more laws.    People need to be responsible for their own actions and be accountable for the quality of life they live and create in their community.  I don't blame the vets or the newspapers for the mess, but we all must do anything and everything  we can to help alleviate the problem.  The Californian shouldn't just  "bring our attention to the problem" and then start patting themselves on the back for their minimal efforts.  They have, in their power, the ability to do more--and they should.  Vets should offer more affordable spay/neuter programs to the community and people need to realize how wonderful it is to love a pound puppy or kitty.

Please no more laws simply because people don't have, or won't use, common sense!!  How about each and everyone just doing the right thing, the things that are best for our community, without government intervention?  What a concept!  If you need or want to be told how to live or what to do at every turn there are plenty of other countries you can choose to reside in.  To name a few:  China, Cuba and North Korea.  They’ll gladly tell you how to live.  Let’s not lead our own great country any further down that socialist road.