Mother's Day Weekend Vigil

This Mother’s Day weekend give a voice to the 130,000+ breeding mothers working overtime in puppy-factories producing litters for Mother’s Day gifts. Join our Flint and Eastpointe teams for vigil-demonstrations at the following locations:

Saturday, May 7, 2011

The Family Puppy 12 – 3 p.m
Genesee Valley Center
3341 S Linden Rd Flint, MI
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Paws-n-Claws 4 – 6 p.m.
19100 E. 10 Mile Eastpointe, MI
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Candles will be provided along with plenty of photos of mothers who never made it out of the kennels. I will also bring t-shirts and buttons (bring cash).

If you have a rescued puppy mill survivor, please bring them for the vigil portion of the events at noon and 4 p.m. You are welcome to stay, but we do not encourage our furry members to be close to the road during the demonstration.

May marks our third month of protesting The Family Puppy and sixth month at Paws-N-Claws. Why have we been coming every Saturday in all types of weather?

The Family Puppy is Michigan’s largest puppy-selling store. They import on average 100 puppies per month from out-of-state breeders with serious violations to the Animal Welfare Act. Flint does not need any business selling commercially breed puppies working against all adoption programs in Genesee County. Get the facts about their breeders.

Paws N Claws works with some of the same breeders as Petland! Seven of the ten out-of-state USDA licensed breeders that supply Paws-N-Claws have citations listed on their inspection reports, ranging from sanitation problems to inadequate veterinary care. In addition, USDA inventory reports show that these are large commercial operations with hundreds of dogs. They are just as bad as Petland, in fact, they use the same broker out of Minnesota.

The Designer Dog Gimmick

On Thursday morning ABC News - Good Morning America, aired a segment on designer dogs. Not only did they promote these dogs as great pets for people who live in cities, have allergies, or don't want a barking dog, but they also stated that the breeding of these mixes produces only the best traits of both breeds in the offspring. They stated that to get these quality puppies you have to pay up to $1,400 in pet stores. There was no mention of where these dogs are bred or how they get to the pet stores!

There is no guarantee what the puppies will look like or who they will inherit their temperaments from. One generation will add, combine, and result in total mixture of genes that can result in good bad or any combination in between. Anyone that can read can pick up a book at the library and find out who the whole gene inheritance works.
Mix down ears with up ears and now you have added ear problems, grooming problems and on and on.

Dr. Wanda Phipatanakul, chair of the Indoor Allergen Committee for the American Academy of Allergy, Asthma & Immunology (AAAAI), "The studies have not supported that there's any type of hypoallergenic dog. Even if you get a hairless dog, it's still going to produce the allergen." This is because allergies are caused not by hair, but by a protein found in animal dander, saliva and urine. All dogs produce allergens; a smaller dog may produce fewer allergens, but a person's reaction to the dog also depends on the individual.

These so called “Designer Dogs” were likely breed together because they were not registerable, but now breeders and pet stores see that they can market these puppies as the latest trend. These are just gimmicks to make money, it has nothing to do with quality. It is just another way to rip the public off by charging them top dollar for a mix breed.

For many years a purebred was a luxury most families could not afford and there were always unwanted litters in the neighborhood to take care of instead of waiting on a breeders list for the next litter. Now that everyone has a purebred, thanks to puppy mills (large commercial kennels), the industry had to develop something “new” for people to “want”. This only drives demand for more puppies produced out of cruelty.

If you want a dog that looks like no other, visit the shelter, rescue and call them any designer name you like. This way you are not encouraging the flooding of the country with all those puppies.

For all of us that work so tirelessly educating the public about the puppy mill to pet store connection, this was a huge set back. Obviously, Good Morning America, did not do any research on this subject and instead chose to air a totally false and irresponsible piece that chose to encourage sales and "educate" the unsuspecting public about what a "Morkie" really is. New York City is number two in the sale of puppy mill dogs in the country and this segment certainly will help to keep them there.

Please contact ABC TV and politely let them know how you feel and ask them if they could cover the other side of the pet trade to ensure the public is well informed. Ask to speak to the producer of the segment at 212-456-7000.

To view the segment Click on the link below:

http://abcnews.go.com/GMA/video/pet-trend-designer-dog-breeds-13426493

To contact ABC News Good Morning America click on the link below:

http://abcnews.go.com/Site/page?id=3271346&cat=Good%20Morning%20America