Advocacy Reflection on Healthy Dog Breeding

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When first starting out, I believed I would be advocating for a ban on puppy mills. I realized later that this would mean advocating against something. With help from the professor, I changed my topic to advocating for healthy dog breeding. Through intensive research, I found that healthy dog breeding required a suitable environment, healthy parents and regular veterinary checkups. The breeder must have extra money to be able to support dogs and puppies for medical checkups and supplies. When healthy dog breeding takes place, the offspring would have a very high chance of living a healthy life without illness.

Responsible breeders must evaluate the breeding dogs’ temperament. If the dog doesn’t appear healthy mentally or physically, who says the offspring will be any healthier? Breeding dogs must have a comfortable, clean and safe living environment. They must be stress free and monitored very closely, especially during the end of the pregnancy.

Healthy breeding decreases the possibility of faults being passed on to the offspring. Dogs must be carefully selected so they do not pass on undesirable characteristics to puppies. Many breeds are prone to health problems such as blood disorders, thyroid and glaucoma. Responsible dog breeders care deeply about the betterment of the particular breed they choose to breed and are more careful in their practices, as well as the placement of dogs.

Close to three million dogs are put to sleep yearly in the United States. Most of them are abandoned, neglected, strays or shelter dogs. This is a tragedy dog owners inflict upon themselves and who we supposedly call “Man’s Best Friend.” The main reason why so many dogs fall victim to needless deaths every year is due to poor breeding practices on the part of dog breeders. There are far too many unwanted dogs born to far too many irresponsible dog owners. The thousands of dogs and puppies that end up in shelters are a testament to this practice.

Bringing puppies into this world requires a lifelong commitment to the offspring and the parent dogs. A responsible breeder meets with families wishing to purchase a puppy or dog to ensure a healthy environment. Being a responsible breeder means having the awareness and compassion to always put the animal’s welfare first. With these thoughts in mind, I wanted to create a video for this project but I couldn’t establish a proper plan. I became unsure as to what the video’s content would be. I had never worked on a five page website before so I figured: why not give it a try? My first problem with Google sites was figuring out the technical aspects. I had difficulty expanding the title and couldn’t figure out what color scheme to use. I didn’t want to use colors in the background that would initially take my audience’s attention.

I quickly became frustrated as the days passed and every graphic I designed seemed to get worse. Nothing fit. I also couldn’t settle on a proper name for my site. Before I knew it, I had three Google sites and no idea of what layout or information I would be using. My website seemed to go from nothing to what it is now within the last 24 hours. Overall, I am confident as to the quality of my advocacy project. I did not rush through the project and hopefully that reflects on my project.

http://sites.google.com/site/dogbreeding411/

Advocacy Project: Healthy Dog Breeding

For Project One, I will advocate for the awareness of healthy dog breeding. Several important factors must be considered when breeding new puppies. Responsible breeders must evaluate the breeding dogs’ temperament. If the dog doesn’t appear healthy mentally or physically, who says the offspring will be any healthier? Breeding dogs must have a comfortable, clean and safe living environment. They must be stress free and monitored very closely, especially during the end of the pregnancy.

Puppy mills are usually for profit and as a result, the well-being of dogs is largely ignored. Dogs are underfed and overcrowded. They cannot be left alone in a cage, without treats or toys, to be impregnated over and over until they are too old to reproduce. These mills do not evaluate the market properly. Puppies are sold at high price to pet stores, who resell it to naive consumers. There are shelters and humane societies overpopulated with abandoned dogs and puppies merely because the pets didn’t meet the owner’s expectations.

Bringing animals into this world requires a lifelong commitment. I began to feel strongly about healthy dog breeding after my car accident last month. A documentary on puppy mills made me forget everything I was going through. I believe we can reach several solutions to help promote healthy dog breeding and I wish to demonstrate these solutions through a five page website. If the website idea doesn’t work out, I’ll advocate through a PowerPoint presentation.

Screen Capture of My Desktop

The screen shot above was captured from my computer desktop while composing a fictional story. I was also writing for my UMD blog, listening to music, watching South Park and chatting with my best friend. I use several distractions when creating composition to maintain my flow of thought and stay motivated.

When I first saw my computer desktop as a screen shot, I felt like I was on another person’s computer. I’ve become so accustomed to using my computer for certain purposes and turning it off without taking a second to realize what it really looked like.

Composing changes shape in the digital spaces quite dramatically. Handwritten work takes longer to compose and may have spelling errors. This kind of composition requires more time and effort in creating a professional design. Typed composition can be checked by a word processor to avoid spelling and grammatical errors. A layout or design can be found as a template and there are options to delete and start over without wasting paper. With technology, there is less time, effort and material needed to be spent on composing in the digital space.

To better understand the digital composing processes, I believe people must research to learn information and then expand their knowledge through trial and error. A person must become familiar with the tools available for composing in the digital spaces and learn through their mistakes. For example, fast and easy composition can be achieved through word processors, blogs, emails, and social networking sites. Using these tools to communicate on a regular basis can also help someone better understand digital composing processors.