SHELTERS MARKETING ANIMAL RIGHTS

Shelters and Animal Rights work together to put hobby dog breeders out of business using your tax $$$, expert sales staff, free stuff – and plenty of purebred puppies.

December 2017 update | TheDogPress.com

Barbara "BJ" Andrews, SAAB Member, SAAB

There’s a chilling financial connection between the political agenda of “animal rights” and the shelter industry. Start with this disturbing fact; offering "free stuff", shelters and rescues are now the most successful marketers of purebred dogs.

Wake up and meet your competition.  How do you stack up in the “puppies for sale” market?  Shelter choices include everything from puppy mill purebreds to snuggly mixed breeds and medical marvels guaranteed to give new owners something to talk about for years!

Most shelter animals come pre-programmed with a rescue story to make the owner feel like a saint for adopting them.  It’s enough to bring tears to your eyes.  It should. You are looking at the end of your heart-hobby, supplemental income, creative outlet and whatever else molded you into a purebred dog breeder.

Staggering 2017 search statistics: Google returns only 7 million listings for “dog breeders” compared to over 124 million for “animal shelter.”  But equally revealing, there are  over 46 million “animal rights” returns.

Let’s go to the shelter supermarket and see what you’re up against.  See that handsome sled dog?  Look, there’s a miniature Lassie!  Oh!  And this exquisite little piece of fluff, found in a garbage can, her big round eyes pleading for a second chance at life.  Who could resist her?  Who wouldn’t want to get a feel-good high guaranteed to last at least a day?

It’s free heart medicine, balm for the soul, and salve for the ego. Did I mention the adoption fee? Sorry, I was busy telling you about all the free services you are entitled to as an “adoptive parent” or heroic savior of one of “God’s forgotten ones.” It’s the slickest sales pitch this side of the side-show barker.

Let’s just call it a clever wrinkle in the “money laundering” business.

Many have recently lost a dog and with broken heart and blindfolded brain, they go to what are now called Pet Adoption Centers.  New multi-million dollar shelter supermarkets on choice acreage are appearing in suburbs across the county.  A new twist on what we used to call pet shops but in most states today, pet shops are banned from selling puppies.

Yeah, you thought that was a good law the animal rights groups got passed…

Dog breeders in hiding! Families might look in the classified section for a dog breeder but you, good breeder, are nervous about advertising locally. You heard there was an Animal Rights fanatic on the city council and someone you know just got raided by Animal Control.

So you spent a fortune on a beautiful website that isn’t drawing “millions of viewers” like the people who built it promised. What happened? Glance back up to online search statistics. There’s your answer. Here’s another. The American Kennel Club registers puppy mill litters. They always have but in 2002 AKC re-named puppy mills as “High Volume Breeders” so how can you possibly say your puppies are any better than those shelter and puppy mill purebreds?

It is NOT that people aren’t buying purebred dogs - they just aren’t buying from you!  You, the “responsible breeder,” have been outpaced by internet shopping, animal shelters, rescue groups and humane societies.  Granted, some “Pet Adoption Centers” and “Breed Rescue” groups are authentic and genuinely about helping animals.  Staffed by dedicated animal lovers instead of animal rights fanatics, they too are competing with commercial pet sellers operating under the disguise of animal shelters.

It’s all about taking the money in and getting “the message” out.

You may know this ruse but the average person doesn’t realize what’s happening until too late. By the time they are smoothly walked though the “adoption” process and then they finally face the fees, they have already made an emotional commitment to that kissy puppy or abused kitty.

Clearly there is a marketing war against hobby breeders. What do YOU have to offer a puppy buyer? Let’s see… a pedigree that goes back six generations representing decades of selective breeding? A perfect purebred puppy that is healthy and well-reared. I’ve got news for you. Today’s dog-adopter-puppy-shopper is looking for love or a shot of ego adrenaline, not boring statistics.

And with no marketing help from AKC, how can you say your purebred puppy is any better than commercially bred shelter puppies?

Is there a solution? Perhaps. Form an advertising pool. TheDogPress has pointed out that DOG BREEDERS MUST UNITE^{2} in order to survive. Your local kennel club could get the ball rolling. Your national parent club should join with other breed clubs to mount an advertising campaign. Get an attorney/CPA firm to manage the money. Hire professional fund raisers. Advertise where the buyers are. Online. Put your Purebred Dog Breeders Assoc. advert in the “pets for sale” sites. Compete with the shelters and puppy mill breeders.

It would be advantageous for Parent Breed club and Show clubs.  Since this was first written in 2014, dog show entries are down even more, kennel clubs are folding, and the public no longer goes to dog shows. Bombarded with local news coverage about heart-wrenching “puppy mill” raids (and HSUS ads), they go to the shelter-supermarket.

Or they go “online” where they are snagged by one of the first 10 sites the search engine presents, of which 30% are paid ads such as Adoptapet and SPCA. Only a few determined surfers will dig further down than the array of slick “puppies for sale” sites. Try it. I entered “looking for a puppy” and got 6,600,000 results. Did your wonderful “responsible breeder” website come up? No.

This isn’t to make you glum. It is to help you save your hobby and preserve your right to create healthy, beautiful, typey purebred puppies. Wake up and realize what your “competitors” have achieved. Where is the puppy buying market? At the shelters. What happened to your reputation as a caring connoisseur breeding top quality pets? Trashed by PETA and Humane Societies and not rebutted by a dime of AKC marketing. What is the APHIS and HSUS Connection? How did something so discriminatory against hobby breeders ever get passed? Where was AKC on that? If you advertise online, and you don’t follow the complicated APHIS rules, you are likely to get caught - and fined, starting at $10,000 per violation.

Goldman has dug up referenced and current related information in the display links below.

Share what you now know about the new shelter industry. click to send this updated article to your club secretary and to friends

{1} HSUS Political Power & Connections Revealed   {2} TUBA The United Breeders Of America   ~  Animal Rights vs. Animal Welfare

You might want to point out that the only thing that has changed is that shelters are doing better than ever before whereas show and hobby breeders are hurting!

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