So sad.

On canine genetics and registry related forums, sometimes discussion comes up about a mention that another person not on the forum is looking for a pet of some type.

Some of the people give advice and guidance off forum to the potential pet owner, letting them know that rescues and shelter animals are available, and if they want to get on a waiting list, some members of the given forum might be able to screen them to see if they are an appropriate home.

However many MORE times than not ----- these people don't want to get involved with contracts, health testing a bloodline, registrations and periodic checks with a breeder. They are not interested in binding agreements, in waiting for sometimes as long as two years or more for a well bred animal with a known background and health tested parents. So reputable sources won't have anything to do with them.

There is appeal to the anonymous ease of just walking into a pet store, plonking down money and instantly having a cutie to love on for a while. Shelters in many ways have filled this need as well, and go so far as to import animals from other shelters and even other countries to sell in order to meet the demand. Shelters do not keep long term agreements with their placements nor do they follow up to see if pets they place develop problems over their lifetimes. And if some animals can't be placed from shelters, they too are often PTS.

While not all puppy/kitten providers to stores are actually abusive mills, I can't speak in their defense. They do not have a long term genetic or responsible interest in how their animals turn out or they would not put the placement of their pets into such an uncontrolled situation where the buyer only need meet the demanded price. Critters that go to the pet stores always have to ultimately fit into the bottom line.

I think one aspect of the real problem is this issue of popular demand. As long as there is a demand for 'easily acquired' purchases of anything, there will always be businesses, legal and not, that benefit from these. The same goes for the illegal sale of firearms and drugs. It's controlled by demand.

It is a very complicated subject.

Even the selection of a long term life partner (human) is rife with failures due to the nature of people and circumstances of chance.