[pyrnet] Shelters and Breeders (was: shelters)

["Linda Weisser" <lmweisser@home.com>]

----- Original Message -----
From: "darrell goolsbee" <dgg@star-telegram.com>

 For the most part these are not puppy mills in the sense we think
of. More like the livestock producer got the Pyrs to protect his stock
and then says, why not just have some puppies to sell, too.>>

It's interesting that that seems to be the case with almost all of the pet
shop dogs that we have traced.  None of them comes from one of those
Geraldo horror exposes.  Most of them are from farmers/livestock growers
who sell their excess pups to brokers.  Most brokers are in the midwest and
will actually send trucks to the farms to pick up the pups.  With "good"
(sic) brokers they have more or less "contracts" with these folks and a
very stringent set of guidelines for shots and wormings.  In general the
same breeders seem to supply the pet shop dogs to the top brokers.

It might interest some of you to know that Cornell did a project on the
health of pet shop vs "breeder" pups.  When purchased, pet shop pups were
just as healthy as breeder pups.  Pet shop pups had a somewhat greater % of
respiratory things (kennel cough....) and breeder pups had a larger % of
parasite issues (worms, coccidia etc.)  Now this did not address the long
term genetic health of the pups, but initially pet shop pups are not sicker
than any other pups.

Linda