Tag Archives: puppy mills

Snoozing Brain and Snoring Dogs

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My brain is slumbering right along with the dogs tonight. I have tried, and failed, to write two different posts this evening. I start to write and just end up staring blankly at the screen, my fingers not tapping the keys, and the snores of the dogs taking over as the only sound in the room. They’re subjects that I would like to give my full attention and infuse with creative energy, so I’m holding off until I can truly think. I’ll take this cold-and-sleep-deprivation-induced opportunity to let you know that I’m still alive and make a few quick points, as well as share some pictures that I’ve been meaning to post.

  • Bushy Tail Bakery–You can now find their treats at Pawsitive Paws Academy in Cedar Rapids (137 30th St Dr SE) and at Tails A Wagg’n (210 41st Ave DR SW), also in Cedar Rapids. Lea Taplin, who owns and runs Bushy Tail, is also considering becoming a vendor with Iowa Valley Food Coop.
  • CR AniMeals–I like the sounds of this organization because they help animals and their people. They provide food for animals of the elderly, disabled, and other disadvantaged people who can’t afford pet food–it’s basically a “Meals on Wheels” for animals. I’m going to contact them about volunteering (I’ve been meaning to do this for a while–funny how things just keep getting dropped from the to-do list). Has anyone volunteered with an organization like this before?
  • Steps to Ending Puppy Mills Update–A reader (Laurie) noted in a comment to my post Toronto vs. Puppy Mills that Jack’s Pets, a large pet store chain in the Midwest, will no longer be selling puppies. I was not familiar with Jack’s, but I looked into the story a bit, and they have stores in Indiana, Ohio, and Kentucky. Read more here (at the link Laurie provided to the ASPCA page) about their decision to stop selling puppies in all stores and to partner with the ASPCA for in-store pet adoptions.

And now for some doggie photos. In Dog Toe Bouqets and Other Dog Blog-Inspired Musings, I posted my upside down pictures of Gertie. But when I went to upload the upside down pics of Duke, I realized I didn’t have any. So here are a couple:

Well, half of him is upside down.

Ok, he's not exactly upside down in this picture, but the photo does have the same jowl + gravity effect of many of the pictures on Upside Down Dogs.

I’ve been meaning to post the next pictures in a “Wordless Wednesday” or “Silent Sunday” type of post, but when I go to the trouble of creating a post, I find that I want to say something. So since I haven’t fit them into any other posts, here they are. The subjects are Gertie, my mom, and my niece Ella.

This is how we pet a dog.

Got it! I LIKE petting this dog.

Anyone have any other news about dogs?

Toronto vs. Puppy Mills

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Two black lab shelter pups accompany the Toronto City Council as they announce a law requiring pet shops to adopt out shelter and rescue animals only. (Stan Behal/Toronto Sun)

I know this is Iowa Dog Blog, and not North American Dog Blog, but several readers commented on One Step to Ending Puppy Mills in Iowa, in which I discussed the Toronto City Council’s newly adopted requirement that pet stores only sell shelter/rescue animals. And while that law doesn’t affect animals here in Iowa, or even in the United States, I’m hoping that our cities can act as copycats of Toronto. I promised that I would look further into this city law, which aims to find more adoptive homes for shelter animals, but ultimately to shut down factory breeders in the area. You can read more about this issue in this Toronto Sun article or in this National Post article. The articles don’t provide a ton of detail, but I’m guessing there’s not a lot of information to report since the law is so new. It will be exciting to see how the law affects the number of homeless pets adopted out to forever homes, as well as how big of dent it takes our of puppy mills.

I have also emailed the councillor (Canadian spelling) who spearheaded the campaign–first, to thank and congratulate him on passing this law; second, to see if I could ask him some questions regarding how the restrictions came about. I’ll let you know if I hear back (though I imagine he’s been inundated with emails).

As I looked into the Toronto law, I found out that cities in the U.S. have adopted similar laws. According to this story, from GlobalAnimal.org, Los Angeles has banned all breeding mills in the city. This ban also prevents pet stores in the city from selling factory-bred pets, though they’re not sure how they’re going to enforce this requirement. They will not require pet shops to sell only shelter/rescue animals. San Francisco has proposed a controversial law banning all pet sales in the city. You can read GlobalAnimal.org’s article with more details here. The article also mentions that South Lake Tahoe and West Hollywood have adopted similar bans and that El Paso and Austin, Texas are contemplating bans on factory breeding.

Do you know of any other city bans on puppy mills/kitten factories? Are your communities making progress toward thwarting puppy mills?

One Step to Ending Puppy Mills in Iowa

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Do I look like a sale item?

Have you ever been browsing in the mall, and the boutique didn’t have that little black dress in your size, so you went next door and bought a spaniel to soothe your shopper’s soul? Or maybe you just dashed in the mall to exchange a shirt and grabbed a Shar pei pup on your way out? No?! Ok, good to know that you don’t purchase your pets as impulse buys (and that you’re not a crazy person). Because that’s what mall pet stores encourage–buying animals with little to no thought. (Not to mention the fact that puppy mills supply most pet stores with their puppies for sale, and the horrible mistreatment and inbreeding of dogs in puppy mills has been well documented. I’m not going to go into all of the problems with puppy mills, but you can read more about it here.)

So, if you’re like me and you see no reason animals should ever be available for sale in between a Pretzel Maker and a Claire’s Boutique (unless it’s a one-time adoption event run by a responsible rescue/shelter organization), then you’ll be happy to hear about this ban: 70 Malls Across U.S. to Ban Pet Sales. The ban includes Lindale Mall in Cedar Rapids and Southridge Mall in Des Moines and one other Iowa mall. Lindale Mall has not housed a pet store since I have lived in this area, and I don’t know if they ever have, but I’m glad to know that they never will!

I would also like to see Iowa follow in the footsteps of Toronto, which implemented a requirement that pet stores only sell rescue and shelter animals. If Iowa adopted this rule, the ban on pet stores in malls might not be as necessary, though I still think it’s a good idea.  Here’s the CNN video where I learned about this new law, one that will hopefully help more shelter animals find loving homes and also deprive puppy mills of their main source of puppy sales. The video doesn’t provide a lot of detail, but it sounds like the animals will still be adopted out through rescue and shelter organizations. So I would assume their adoption contracts and requirements–like possible home visits or waiting periods, or at least paperwork that requires some forethought on the part of the adoptive pet parent–would still be in effect.

What do you think of the Toronto law?