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/