I will be watching the show which I probably would have missed if not for Justins's post. I realize that there are nut cases on both sides of the dog ownership issue. I'm a little nuts myself because my second pointer came from a shelter and was bred by an idiot who knew that his male dog had health problems and bred him anyway because he wanted to see what the puppies would look like. I spent a large amount of money getting Sam through distemper and immune problems. Before I bought Molly I found a 5 month old GSP who had spent 3 months of her life sitting in a small wire cage in a pet shop. When I went back to spring her (for what would have been a rediculous sum of money for a dog of dubious breeding) someone had purchased her the day before---lucky for me. When I asked about her and they looked her up in their records I got a chance to see the name of the breeder and when checking on them found a lot of violations noted by the USDA. I want my grandkids to grow up with dogs and that requires breeders---hopefully good ones.

I can't imagine any group wanting to do away with dog ownership entirely as that would entail either killing all the dogs or letting them out to fend for themselves which would be extremely cruel for domesticated animals.

 If you google "peta pet ownership" you'll pop a ton of quotes from Ingrid Newkirk, Peta's founder. I'll let those quotes speak for themselves. Peta's webpage is a little more vague, but I'd say the same idea of just letting domestic dogs eventually peter out entirely still lurks. From http://www.peta.org/mc/factsheet_display.asp?ID=133

I also have serious disagreements with how they present the life of working dogs on this page, but that's for another rant.

Here's the caption that lives below the Puppy Mill preview on the Oprah site:

"Oprah is asking animal lovers to unite. Find out why it's important to know where a puppy really comes from before you take it home."

We'll certainly have to wait and see how the information is relayed to the audience, but it sounds to me like they'll be educating viewers about the difference between puppy mills and responsible breeders. 

I'll definitely be tuning in.  The father of a family friend (who is retired) drives the Amish for extra cash when they need to go somewhere far away.  I tagged along on one occassion, and one of the farms had probably twenty kennel runs--all pregnant or nursing mothers of every breed you can imagine, living in poor conditions, and clearly not well exercised, socialized, or cared for.  Just pumping out pups for the pet shops.

I just finished watching it and would be very curious to hear what the breeders on this board think.

I was pleased to hear the representative from Main Line Animal Rescue mention that responsible breeders do not contribute to the problem, because they will take a dog back at any time. I know that was a concern of many breeders--not to be lumped in with the mills and BYBs.

However, the show missed out on a HUGE opportunity to educate viewers on what to look for when searching for a reputable breeder.  On two occassions it was mentioned almost in passing, but they should have had a bulleted list of what you need to know to ensure you are working with someone who has the dogs' best interests at heart.

My biggest disappointment was that Wayne Pacelle, President of HSUS was a guest of the show and a major contributor to the discussion.  Having been invited as a prominent guest only legitimized the HSUS, and I'm sure they'll have donations pouring in (thanks to the Oprah bump) when in fact the money could do some real good in the hands of local humane societies and rescue groups.

They did wrap up the show by emphasizing that you should never purchase a puppy from a pet store or online dealer, which I thought was perhaps the most important message of all.  If people stopped purchasing them from these sources and turned to shelters and dedicated breeders instead, there would be no market for the mills.

Oh, and for those of you who couldn't catch the show...

There was one particularly poignant segment in which the Oprah show was allowed to follow (now I'll probably not get this exactly right) an animal officer at the Ft. Worth county shelter as, each day, he would have to walk the kennels and decide which dogs would be euthanized the next day to make room for incoming dogs.  They followed the entire process--from marking their cards with a red E to the backroom.  I was touched by the sensitivity the shelter employees used when putting the dogs down, making sure that these dogs last moments were filled with kindness.  That must be a very difficult position to be in. 

When I was home for summer during college, I used to volunteer at our area shelter.  The rule was that we could never inquire about a dog that was missing--we could only hope that it had found a good home.  We were told it was far too emotional for the people that were responsible for euthanizing the dogs to be constantly asked about what happened to them.

Katie,

I did a search online for show clips (sometimes someone posts them illegally on YouTube or some other site), but couldn't find any.  However, The Oprah Show site has a pretty good summation of the show at the link below.  There are 18 slides in the deck that include many direct quotes from the show.

www2.oprah.com/world/global/slide/200804/global_20080404_101.jhtml

I thought it was pretty fair and balanced. I noted that the man from the Humane Society was in the audience and not on stage and that she only talked to him twice so I would disagree that he was a major contributor to the program. (My opinion----I feel the same way when the Clintons are given airtime so it is a matter of how you feel about the person.) They also noted that if you felt that you had to have a particular breed you should turn to reputable breeders or a breed rescue group. The section on the Ft. Worth shelter and how they had to select and euthanize the dogs was heartbreaking especially when you heard what the odds of them finding a home was. The conditions that the dogs live under in the puppu mills is abominable----never being allowed out of the cages for years and being bred twice a year and then discarded when they are too old to breed. It is hard to believe that anyone could be that cruel.

I noted that the man from the Humane Society was in the audience and not on stage and that she only talked to him twice so I would disagree that he was a major contributor to the program.

He was a large contributor in two segments and allowed to wrap-up the show, which was a pretty fair amount of exposure in my mind. But you're right, PF--if it's someone you don't have a favorable view of, even two seconds is too much.

I guess what bothered me is that the AKC (who's not entirely blameless) was only allowed two sentences to be read on-air in support of responsible breeders, while HSUS--who has no affiliation with local humane societies--was allowed to contribute as an "expert". The problem is that many people (and I was once one of them!) believe that HSUS administers local humane societies or provides direct support in some way. HSUS is banking on that misunderstanding to fund their extremist agenda--and that myth was perpetuated today. Meanwhile, local shelters and rescue groups are operating on a shoestring...

I noted on her site that she has links to help in the fight and the Humane Socienty was noted as were some others. (To be honest I guess I am not as aware about HSUS as I should be) I was glad to see that they did give a pitch to breed rescue outfits also. I like to give locally. Also thought the points on her site about finding a good breeder might help.

I also want to say that I am sorry that Justin feels he was driven off this site.  I found a lot of his comments to be very intelligent and helpful and it is nice to see young people who care about the breed.

I would like to point out that it is not true, if you adopt a dog from a shelter that you are supporting HSUS. The HSUS has NO shelters anywhere in the country---that was just clever naming. Shelters have been traditionally called humane societies long before the HSUS ever came into existence. How do you think they have so much money and have become so powerful? Because of the name---people assume if they donate to the cause, they are helping shelters across the US, which is so not the case. They are supporting lobbyists who perpetuate these so called "puppy mill" laws that end up overreaching and hurting good breeders and hunting kennels---look at the law being pushed in Pennsylvania and another in LA right now. I don't know that the HSUS helps any shelters anywhere. I do know they are indirectly tied to PETA, and become about as bad as PETA. Local shelters and pounds have nothing to do with the HSUS though.

I too was disappointed to see the HSUS and Wayne getting national coverage and almost endorsement by Oprah, but the show was not nearly as bad as I expected. What they didn't say though, is that the number of dogs in shelters are actually down (or were before the major housing slump lately). It was actually reported by the CDC to the United State Canine Registries conference that because the numbers were down, something like 40,000 dogs from OTHER COUNTRIES were imported and blended into our shelters. So that mixed bred stray you adopt thinking it was a local stray could actually have been from India or elsewhere! Now, isn't that crazy? Yeah, the shelters are so overflowing yet we can take in dogs from other countries? Something just doesn't add up there.......

Yeah, it IS sad to see people loose their homes and loose their pets because of it. I suspect as the economy worsens we'll start hearing about more pet homes gone bad as well as starving horses... thank goodness we're just dealing with dogs, which most of us can tuck in one extra here and there. Trying to tuck in an extra horse is another story entirely.

Horses are being hit really hard right now. The cost of hay and grain rose a lot this year and people just aren't paying it. Also the market is down. Even when people try to sell they are having a hard time.  My aunt found out that 2 horses starved to death close to her house.  She didn't know about them until it was to late.  

I can't imagine how heartbreaking that must be--dropping your beloved pet off at a shelter, hoping they find a good home.

And that's really awful to hear about those horses, Caly!  That must have been a really desperate situation.  Though I can't imagine allowing things to get so out of hand that I'd let my horses starve to death...  If there was no hope for a new home through sale or rescue, as awful as it sounds, I'd rather put the horse down than allow it to suffer like that.  That's a really terrible way to go.