Should dog and cat breeding be illegal?

[nobody]

It would never happen but I approve of every country making dog and cat breeding illegal for normal citizens. What I mean by normal citizens is just as governments grow illegal drugs for use in government research, government officials would still be able to breed German Shepherds or other breeds for police work, etc., such as bomb sniffing or finding missing persons. But normal citizens would not be allowed to intentionally breed dogs dogs or cats, or let them mate.

What this would do is save millions of animals in kill shelters from being euthanized and it would save millions of animals in no kill shelters from the misery of living in a tiny cage at a shelter, sometimes for years. There would be much more demand for these animals because people would not be able to legally buy a dog or cat from a breeder.

With no humans artificially selecting for specific characteristics, over time it would lead to the end of nearly every dog and cat breed on the following lists. I am perfectly fine with all of these breeds dying out because I'm really sickened by pet breeding and dog and cat breed competitions and all that.

List of dog breeds - Wikipedia

List of cat breeds - Wikipedia

One word about extinction. A law like this would never bring about the extinction of dogs or cats themselves, because there would still be stray and feral dogs and cats mating, as well as irresponsible people who allow their unaltered dogs or cats to roam the streets, as well as the aforementioned government breeding of police and rescue dogs, as well as people who breed dog and cats illegally for the black market dog and cat meat and leather industries.

But it would be easy to prevent black market purebred pet breeding, because vets could be required to report people bringing purebred animals in for treatment for example. And anyone seen walking a purebred dog would be subject to arrest for buying from a breeder, so it would only be a matter of time before pet breeders were found and arrested.

 

[Lou]

I haven't really thought this through but perhaps more regulation could be created.

Maybe before you could buy or adopt a dog or cat you would need a permit. The permit could have some of the elements of a license and a binding contract. If you don't meet the requirements of the license you could not get an animal. and if later you were found in violation of the contract there would be penalties. Administration and enforcement could be paid for out of fees and fines. There could even be a test that you would have to pass before you get a permit.

One requirement of the license would be to have the dog spayed or neutered. And animals would be required to get a chip implanted. The owners of lost or abandoned animals could be fined or maybe have their permit revoked for a period of time.

Perhaps dog breeders could get a different kind of permit which would be more expensive and involve more restrictions and more oversight.

 

[nobody]

I haven't really thought this through but perhaps more regulation could be created.

Maybe before you could buy or adopt a dog or cat you would need a permit. The permit could have some of the elements of a license and a binding contract. If you don't meet the requirements of the license you could not get an animal. and if later you were found in violation of the contract there would be penalties. Administration and enforcement could be paid for out of fees and fines. There could even be a test that you would have to pass before you get a permit.

One requirement of the license would be to have the dog spayed or neutered. And animals would be required to get a chip implanted. The owners of lost or abandoned animals could be fined or maybe have their permit revoked for a period of time.

Perhaps dog breeders could get a different kind of permit which would be more expensive and involve more restrictions and more oversight.

Currently the way things are set up, there are hoops to jump through when you want to adopt, like the shelter wants to speak to your vet about how you care for animals, and verify any current dogs or cats you have are up to date on their rabies shots. And you need written permission from your landlord or be the homeowner, which needs to be verified, etc.

On the other hand, to buy a pet, all you need is money. Some people buy rather than adopt for this reason alone. They are intimidated by the adoption process. So to tweak your idea, keep these same requirements used currently to adopt, but to buy a purebred, there is an insanely expensive license you need to buy, and hard qualification process to go through, which makes the pool of buyers extremely small, so that the breeders must charge a much higher price than they do currently. This way, the middle class won't be able to afford to buy purebreds and will adopt from the shelter. Meanwhile, the rich will have their pedigree dogs and cats, keeping at least some of the more popular breeds going, if that's important.

My dad has a mixed breed male dog he adopted from a shelter and his previous dog was a male pedigree he bought from a breeder and neither was neutered and neither had/has ever come into contact with an unspayed female dog so it wasn't a problem.

I think desexing changes animals' personalities and I don't like the idea of it being a requirement for all animals, especially ones who live their whole lives as someone's sole pet. For example, there is no benefit to having a male rabbit neutered if he is your only rabbit. But if there are other rabbits in the house, being unaltered results in problems like aggression, territorial marking and fighting, so it's necessary, even if all your rabbits are male.

Edit: Actually, never mind rabbits. You can have several unaltered male dogs in your house, together with spayed female dogs or not, and everything is fine, as long as your dogs never get out and roam a neighborhood where there are unspayed female dogs, which is usually pretty manageable.

Maybe in the future they will have instant DNA tests that can determine which registered dog or cat parented any given puppy or kitten, for the purpose of fining the person responsible. Then there would be some accountability. Sometimes people let unaltered male dogs or cats - especially cats - out to roam the neighborhood because any resultant pregnancy isn't their problem. A hefty fine would be.

Usually the shelters have an "all cats will be altered prior to adoption" policy but this doesn't apply to dogs because there are laws against dogs roaming around and they can be picked up by a dog catcher so most people don't let their dogs roam around. And because of this, unaltered dogs usually don't present nearly as much of a risk of unwanted pregnancy.

But I don't think leaving female dogs unaltered is a good idea, because going into heat could cause them to escape and run away to find a male. And there is a danger of getting pregnant while on walks or at a park, if there are unaltered males around.