help me make a good case

[horsegirl]

The quarter horse congress is going on in Ohio , It is the largest quarter horse show in America. On the show grounds there is a area that has affectionately by hs goers been termed Puppy Alley. There is a huge influx of puppies there , I have been there and most are from Mills or byb. For how careful my show friends are with breeding the best QH to the best QH they have no sense that the same goes for dogs. Anyway , on a horse forum I frequent there again is talk of people excited to go and get a puppy form "puppy alley" . What are some good words of wisdom I can say to these people ? They seem to have no knowledge of the puppy mill concept.
thanks

[Emoore]

You could start off by showing them the pics and footage from AlphaTex kennels and some of the other puppy mill footage.

[carmspack]

Wouldn't it have been nice if the puppy alley was space given over to a rescue , shelter , situation to rehome dogs.

[Lilie]

I'm curious if the AQHA requires vendor permits from those who are participating in the sale of the puppies the same as they would trailer/tack (etc.) vendors. Perhaps if you can't change the minds of those who actually buy the puppies, you could get become involved in the politics of the selection of vendors.

Obviously it's too late this year, but could make a huge difference next year if you could get AQHA to disallow 'puppy alley'.

[horsegirl]

Originally Posted by Lilie

I'm curious if the AQHA requires vendor permits from those who are participating in the sale of the puppies the same as they would trailer/tack (etc.) vendors. Perhaps if you can't change the minds of those who actually buy the puppies, you could get become involved in the politics of the selection of vendors.

Obviously it's too late this year, but could make a huge difference next year if you could get AQHA to disallow 'puppy alley'.

good question , would that prevent mills from participating ?

[horsegirl]

Originally Posted by carmspack

Wouldn't it have been nice if the puppy alley was space given over to a rescue , shelter , situation to rehome dogs.

I am going to contact someone from the Ohio Quarter Horse Association. Super Idea

[wolfstraum]

Yes, I think there is a $100 or $200 permit required for "Puppy Alley" Last year there was a 'breeder" with Sable GSDs there - $1200 a pup - by the last Sunday, he had reduced them to $400 (I had a friend there who got all this info, including the website of the "breeder") Sort of an average BY commercial breeder with an untitled European line male, and a couple of females....titles in 2nd & 3rd generations.

Tell them to go buy their next show prospect at the local lesson barn/former meat auction - or breed their mares to a young ungelded 4H project colt - after all, they have AQHA papers too....

Lee

[CookieTN]

Prisonersofgreed.org seems like a decent website when it comes to educating about puppy mills.

[robk]

I have been wanting to go to the Congress for years. Never been, and didn't know about "puppy alley".

[selzer]

Most Ohio horse people love their dogs. But they may not be as into it as we are here, and may not realize these puppies are coming from puppy mills. Lots of horse people do get their horses at auctions, and such. We have halflinger sales up my way every year. It seems like a big party, lots of people, lots of horses, and you can get a good deal. I can see them not having a problem getting dogs that way.

What do you say?

You might say, " That's just terrible, those pups come from puppy mills, and they and the breeding dogs live in terrible conditions, no one who cared about their dogs would sell them to strangers they know nothing about like that. They probably fed the dams drugs to get them to come into heat so that they would be ready for this event. It is disgusting."

And you might get together a petition of people who do love their dogs, who are members of the Quarter horse association, and ask them to discontinue allowing this at the show, and maybe have a rescue-dog adoption event instead, as well as inviting people to provide information about how to help the many horses that are finding themselves dumped or abandoned.

Send letters to the delegates of the Quarter Horse Association with a well-thought-out alternative to this, with maybe the names of several rescue organizations that would be willing to participate if the puppy millers were not there.

Plan on next year, not this year, as most of the preparations are set for this year, but you can maybe make a difference for next year's show.

And if worse comes to worse, you can always provide a petition with so many names on it saying that you will all boycott the show if they continue to allow this disgrace. You will make sure that there will be plenty of people there with signs and news coverage as well.

If you have lots of energy there are things you can do.