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Originally Posted by LL1
I disagree again.The public does not have to 'get rid of' BYBs and mills,we can educate them to avoid buying from them and presure the SPCA and lawmakers to be stronger.Get some stats from your Ontario shelters and rescues.They're doing a fine job.What do you suggest on top of educating?The ignorant want it now folks will always exist.

I agree, rescues are doing a wonderful job, ESPECIALLY considering their lack of resources. They're getting a ton of good done on little to no budgets. And no I have no suggestions on how to fight the ignorant masses as of yet. But I'm left feeling there has to be a better way.

As it stands, the general public is more educated than ever on puppymills and BYB's. Yet both are NOT at an all-time low (as least it seems that way based on what i've read). Neither are pet store purchases at an all-time low. That alone leads me to believe that education in itself is not enough. It must be combined with other methods.



Originally Posted by researchbulls
It does work for some people I know that I am quite sensitive to those images and it is enough for me not to buy a petstore pup.

I know what you're saying, and showing those kinds of images does work for many people. The problem is that it is a small percentange overall, and many people become numb to them if repeatedly exposed through the media. We as a community need to find a method that works on a much larger scale if there is to be a large shift in ideologies. These methods (showing how puppymills really are) work wonderfully in small scales, i.e. one person at a time, but do not work as effectively in large scale. Changing one person at a time, while effective to an extent, will not solve the problem fast enough in my opinion. It will take decades, if not more.



Originally Posted by pags
I'm thinking out loud here, so to speak - so bear with me. But if we could make the pet stores totally responsible for the health of the pets they sell then they, in turn, would have to start taking a much closer look at their suppliers.

That's a good idea that would work in theory, but I have no idea how easy/hard it would be to implement. I think it's the right direction though. It mirrors what many countries in Europe are doing to solve their environmental problems, namely, to make manufacturers responsible for their own products. In this sense I suppose it would be to make puppymills and petstores responsible for their own puppies, just like responsible breeders are. No idea how that would be enforced though.

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