Dogs have steadily grown to be a deeply ingrained part of many family's lives. I know that my dogs are a big part of my world and I would feel empty without them. However, as with any area of supply and demand, there are some major issues rooted in the dog breeding industry.

Both of my dogs are rescues from local shelters, however I know many family's that have acquired their family pets from breeders around the nation. While I don't believe there is anything wrong with seeking out a particular breed for your next member of the family, I do see some major issues within the practice of breeding itself. These issues stem from a widespread desire to have a dog that fits personal aesthetic preferences with a large disregard for what those preference might mean regarding health, longevity and comfort for the dog itself.

To start from the beginning, breeding disrupts the natural selection of natural mating in animals. Breeders decide what traits they deem desirable and mate the dogs that best display these traits. While this doesn't sound negative in its basic explanation, it can get pretty dicey when breeders decide that they prefer traits that can lead to serious health problems. Inbreeding is a large culprit here. Breeders often use dogs from the same litter that share a desired trait. They then breed these dogs (also siblings) in order to increase the chances of obtaining the desired traits. We readily accept and acknowledge that incestuous relationships between humans leads to damaging genetic traits in offspring, however we ignore that this same fact holds true with animals. Inbreeding in dogs has been proven to increase chances of cancer, eye and heart disease, skin, immune system and neurological diseases, and a long list of other issues specific to certain breeds. Not to mention it has been shown that inbred dogs are often less intelligent than those born of a wider gene pool.

Now, these issues are not going away anytime soon. In fact, because breeding purebred dogs requires constantly narrowing the gene pool, these issues are only growing and getting worse. Dogs are being bred for looks and lineage and in turn are being born with diseases and genetic mutations that cause them to live in pain and discomfort.

This pain and discomfort is small price to pay for good looks, right? At least, that seems to be the argument of breeders who continue to breed dogs that they know suffer major health problems but happen to fit a certain desirable aesthetic market. These market standards are often determined and controlled by the American Kennel Club, whose standards are disgustingly arbitrary.

For example, here is a brief description of the standards for a pug taken from the American Kennel Club website : "The head is large, massive, round - not apple-headed, with no indentation of the skull. The eyes are dark in color, very large, bold and prominent, globular in shape, soft and solicitous in expression, very lustrous, and, when excited, full of fire. The ears are thin, small, soft, like black velvet. There are two kinds - the "rose" and the "button." Preference is given to the latter. The wrinkles are large and deep. The muzzle is short, blunt, square, but not upfaced. Bite - A Pug's bite should be very slightly undershot."

It has been shown that these standards lead to many health issues for pugs. The "massive" head "with no indentation of the skull" leads to serious breathing difficulties. The "bold and prominent" eyes lead to several serious eye conditions including ulcers, dry eye, blindness, and infection. The "large and deep" wrinkles lead to skin disease and irritation/infections that can be lifelong and difficult to treat. Here we have only discussed a few of the issues associated with standards for a pug's head, this does not include the plethora of other issues associated with other sections of a pug's standard body.

These "standards" have been created by people with no regard for the health of these animals. They are purely aesthetic and do not lead to a better quality of life for animals or owners. Pugs are not the only breed subject to these "standards", as every breed of dog is subject to these arbitrary judgments with no breed being immune to many health issues. It's not as if these health issues are hidden from breeders either. They are fully aware and even at times warn buyers of these potential issues. Yet, they continue to selectively breed these animals to further portray these destructive traits.

Not all desirable traits can be bred into dogs however and so they surgically remedy this with things like tail and ear docking. This is by far one of the most unnecessary and ridiculous practices carried out today. This is yet another completely unnecessary and painful practice that dog breeders carry out in order to meet an asinine standard that has nothing to do with the health or quality of a dog, and not to mention negatively affects their ability to communicate and display emotion. While breeders argue that puppies hardly feel the docking at all, as their central nervous system is not fully developed, this has been proven FALSE time and time again. Tail and ear docking causes serious pain and discomfort and in some cases can lead to chronic neuroma where the dog feels considerable pain for the rest of its life. But hey, it looks good, right?

To move on from the major issues breeding causes with its extreme focus on looks over health, dog breeding also contributes to the euthanization of over 1.2 million dogs each year in the US alone, with another 3.9 million dogs sitting in shelters and countless more on the streets. There is already a massive need to curb the population of dogs in the United States by responsibly spaying and neutering pets. However, breeders get a free pass and are allowed to breed over 20 dogs a year.

There is no reason to think that purchasing a purebred dog will give you a better quality companion than finding your next best friend at your local shelter. The stigma that dog breeders can offer you a better dog is not based in any fact, and in truth your chances of ending up with a dog with severe health defects is not any lower when purchasing from a breeder. The pros of adopting rather than purchasing seem to be insurmountable. Breeding should be made illegal in the cases where it leads to lower quality of life for the animals and in fact I believe breeding should be suspended entirely until we have found a solution for the growing problem of overpopulation and homelessness in dogs around the nation. While many may see my stance as radical, I would like to ask those that claim to be passionate dog lovers how it seems acceptable to continue to add to a growing problem with no thought of the repercussions?

If you are interested in adopting a canine companion I implore you to visit your local and surrounding animal shelters first. There are hundreds and even thousands of dogs waiting to be given a home before it's too late.