This is where the breeders mistake usually ends up.  I'd much rather see them in this cage.

Daisy has come back in spirit to bite the backyard breeders who made her and other crazy, inbred dogs like her.  I was delighted to read in the Sacramento Bee that Congress may soon be "pulling the leash on puppy mills."  I hope they use a choke chain!  One can only hope they pass the PUPS (Puppy Uniform Protection Statute) law very soon and put some of these creeps out of business.

It's a hot button issue, but regardless what breeders say about "good" breeders" vs. "bad breeders," if there was no money to be made from breeding dogs, they probably wouldn't be doing it.  I doubt it is entirely love for the breed that motivates them, since some people charge thousands of dollars for their dogs, some of which are essentially mutts.  Can you spell Labradoodle?  Breeders don't police themselves, and all that most of them breed is misery (see above) for all the dogs that don't end up in loving, permanent homes or are surrendered to shelters and for the people who buy them.  Even if you don't pay a bundle up front, you'll pay at the vet's office for all the health problems most of these dogs inherit due to careless breeding practices.  

With the downturn in the economy, even more people are getting into the dog breeding biz to make money. What a lousy way to make a buck!  With countless dogs dying in shelters every day across the country, these people don't need to be churning out even more dogs, most of which don't meet AKC standards, yet are readily registered by that organization simply because they are purebred (or purebread, as I often see in ads posted on Craigs List--most can't even spell the names of the Chawawas and Dashhounds they are selling).  It would be funny if it weren't so sad.  Around our house, papers are for piddling on.

Daisy's first owners bought her as a puppy at a local pet store chain, where she was shipped from an Iowa puppy mill.  I doubt it was called Daisy Hill Puppy Farm, like the idyllic one where Snoopy in Charles Schultz's comic strip was whelped.  I don't even like to think about Daisy's life before she ended up a pet shop girl, but I'm sure it wasn't pretty.  Some of those places are concentration camps for canines, where they live in the same cramped filthy cage for a lifetime and are discarded when no longer of further use for breeding. After a year, Daisy's family gave up on her, as anyone in their right mind would have.  I answered her owners' ad in the paper, and I suspect they were glad I came and took her off their hands.  

She was my worst dog ever, but I loved her immensely.  In all honesty, her behavior problems were so severe (rage syndrome, food guarding, and more), most people would have put her down.  I probably should have, but I just couldn't bear to do it.  I was her last chance.  We somehow managed to live with her and tolerated her faults for the remainder of her lifespan, 10 1/2 years.  My husband deserves special praise for putting up with her behavior toward him (she didn't like men) and loving her in spite of it.

For Daisy's sake and for the sake of others like her and their unsuspecting adopters, it's high time to make dog breeders accountable for how they operate their businesses.