Sven, a victim of the animal breeding industry

Anyone who buys a dog from a breeder is one of two things:

1) ignorant and doesn't realize they are helping a lazy person make a living off of the breeding, caging and exploitation of an animal or
2) a completely selfish individual who knows what they're doing: buying an animal while thousands, or millions, die every year in animal shelters across the country.

I hope you're not one of them. Or if you are, maybe this blog will help you become a better person.

Sven came to us because a local breeder couldn't sell him. She breeds 4 different breeds of dogs and apparently cross-breeds whenever she feels like it. Sven is half chihuahua and half min-pinscher.

Amazingly, she couldn't sell him!



She even lowered his price and put him on Craigslist. Still, no one answered. It seems that anyone who wants to buy a dog thinks lowered prices = defective dogs. Boy did they miss out! Sven is such a sweetie! He loved our other foster dog, Gigi, even though she was almost 20x his size! He played chase and wrestled with our cat, Hermes.

Sadly, he smelled SO badly when he arrived that it was clear he had been living in his own poo for 6 months, i.e., his entire life. It took several baths to remove or even lessen the smell. It was in his skin. She said "He must've rolled in something this morning" and "he's nearly house-trained." What a load! He had no idea what leashes were, had not been socialized and certainly didn't have any idea what house-training or paper-training was.

Who knows how many other animals are at her property, waiting in filth, all because she can't sell them to make a quick buck? Anyone who buys a puppy should feel the guilt of leaving the parent dogs in these conditions. Shame!

But after a month of training (if you need help with it, just ask) he finally started to learn! And since we couldn't find him a wonderful home here, we actually found him a great home all the way over in San Francisco. So, we sent him on his first airplane ride this weekend - and received happy emails from his new, loving family.

We've never done that before but we're so glad we did! Within hours of his arrival they already took him shopping for new clothes. (San Francisco is a little cold for small dogs with little hair, like Sven.)

Please, please don't breed or buy while homeless animals die.