{"id":665,"date":"2014-07-23T21:46:01","date_gmt":"2014-07-23T21:46:01","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/naiaonline.org\/blog\/?p=665"},"modified":"2014-07-24T17:54:56","modified_gmt":"2014-07-24T17:54:56","slug":"supply-demand-and-puppy-progress","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/naiaonline.org\/blog\/shelter-rescue\/supply-demand-and-puppy-progress\/","title":{"rendered":"Supply, Demand, and Puppy Progress."},"content":{"rendered":"<p>In Duluth, Minnesota, <a title=\"Duluth\u2019s puppy problem: There aren't enough of them\" href=\"http:\/\/www.duluthnewstribune.com\/content\/duluths-puppy-problem-there-arent-enough-them\" target=\"_blank\">demand for puppies now outstrips the number available for adoption in rescues and shelters<\/a>. This is great progress, accomplished though outreach and education, and mirrors patterns seen in many other American communities over the last two decades.<\/p>\n<p>The celebration does not come without its share of frets, however:<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p style=\"text-align: center; font-size: 11.5px;\"><em>Some worry, though, that without more adoptable puppies in the system, families inadvertently are being funneled into using puppy mills and other forms of unethical breeders.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>Of course all animal lovers would like to see puppies come from only the most humane and ethical sources possible, so this concern may seem valid at first glance (indeed, in a perfect world, all puppies would come from conscientious breeders, live their entire lives with loving, responsible owners, and there would be no need for rescue at all), but if you think about the statement for a moment, it\u00a0really begins to collapse in upon itself.<\/p>\n<p>After all, if there were still\u00a0enough adoptable puppies in the system to meet demand, that would be an indication that all\u00a0the wonderful hard work that has gone into owner education, spay-neuter efforts, and making adoption a viable and appealing option for so many families had fallen short. Simply put: if you\u00a0<em>do<\/em> have enough adoptable puppies to meet demand, there are still\u00a0a lot of people in your community producing litters who\u00a0shouldn&#8217;t be. This isn&#8217;t responsible, and it\u00a0certainly isn&#8217;t good for the welfare of dogs. Unless the goal is to sell puppies, not having enough is a pretty darn good &#8220;problem&#8221; to have.<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_671\" style=\"width: 310px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"http:\/\/naiaonline.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/07\/tooFewPuppies.jpg\"><img aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-671\" decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-671\" src=\"http:\/\/naiaonline.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/07\/tooFewPuppies-300x200.jpg\" alt=\"Perhaps hard to believe, but in some settings, too few puppies is actually a good thing...\" width=\"300\" height=\"200\" srcset=\"https:\/\/naiaonline.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/07\/tooFewPuppies-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/naiaonline.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/07\/tooFewPuppies.jpg 600w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-671\" class=\"wp-caption-text\"><center>It may be hard to believe&#8230; but in some settings, too few puppies is a very, very good thing!<\/center><\/p><\/div>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>There are countless reputable, responsible breeders, just as there are countless reputable, responsible rescues and shelters. Whether a potential owner chooses a breeder or a shelter as their source, our hope is that they do their homework and <a title=\"Consider the source when choosing your next best friend\" href=\"http:\/\/www.naiaonline.org\/articles\/article\/consider-the-source-when-choosing-next-best-friend\" target=\"_blank\">support\u00a0the best option available<\/a>.<\/p>\n<!-- AddThis Advanced Settings generic via filter on the_content --><!-- AddThis Share Buttons generic via filter on the_content -->","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Simply put: if you do have enough adoptable puppies to meet demand, there are still a lot of people in your community producing litters who shouldn&#8217;t be. This isn&#8217;t responsible, and it certainly isn&#8217;t good for the welfare of dogs. Unless the goal is to sell puppies, not having enough is a pretty darn good &#8220;problem&#8221; to have.<!-- AddThis Advanced Settings generic via filter on wp_trim_excerpt --><!-- AddThis Share Buttons generic via filter on wp_trim_excerpt --><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[6],"tags":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/naiaonline.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/665"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/naiaonline.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/naiaonline.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naiaonline.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naiaonline.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=665"}],"version-history":[{"count":12,"href":"https:\/\/naiaonline.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/665\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":678,"href":"https:\/\/naiaonline.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/665\/revisions\/678"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/naiaonline.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=665"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naiaonline.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=665"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naiaonline.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=665"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}