| The Future of Dogs | |
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The Importance of Home Breeding |
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Grooming Aprons and Towels embroidered with 'Fight Anti-Pet Legislation. It Affects Us All" |
Dogs
In the Year 2026 With the end of practical middle class home breeding, came the end of most breeds of purebred dog in America. You cannot reduce the numbers in a breed below a certain level before the genetic diversity needed for litters to survive is lost, and in most breeds, most of the gene pool was in the hands of home breeders. Still more breeds were lost because the increase of inherited problems in adult dogs made many breeders give it up, even in the last places that allowed unlicensed and true home breeding. There was talk of breeding purebreds in secret but the networks needed to preserve a breed when few people own more than two dogs are extremely risky. The majority of Americans see good quality purebreds only on TV. Because of pet guardianship and very high values set by courts for a pet's life, vet care is now several times as expensive as it was twenty years ago. The Pet Guardianship Act of 2012 led to rapid increases in the cost of vet care which in turn caused many people to cut back. HSUS then promoted and got passed the Healthy Pets Act of 2018 which required all owners to get certain basic care and required vets to report that care to the government. Failure to get the required care for your dog can mean fines of $1000 or more. The HPA was the final event creating the split between legal and illegal dogs. Because vets are required to report illegal dogs, most of these animals get no care, although 'see no evil' vets are out there if you can afford them. There are only half as many vets as there were twenty years ago but they are making wonderful money.
There was no violence by these victims. If told to give up Fido for euthanasia, people cried and did it. When Cleo Club-President was busted on a fake charge by an ACO who hated her guts, and got suspended, fined, and had her judge's license canceled by the AKC, and was thrown out of her kennel club and dumped by lifelong friends, she plopped herself down on the couch and cried until she had gained 50 pounds. In 2006, pet owners crushed by animal control turned their pain inward. Not any more. Enforcement of the much stronger laws of 2026 – nearly 40 breeds are banned now and seizure-enforced pet limits are universal – has hurt tens of thousands of people per year for over a decade.
The predictable result has been that enforcement nails some owners who don't take it well, and there has been some violence. One
day just before Christmas
in 2015 a shelter worker took the leash from the In some parts of the country there are links between illegal breeding and organized crime. Just as happens with illegal drugs there has been violence associated with control of sales territories. Payoffs to law enforcement are common almost everywhere, often in the form of free puppies for an officer's family. A few shelters have been burned, animal control vehicles have been attacked, and there have been dozens of 'liberations' of seized dogs. A/C and shelters have beefed up security but there have been too many victims and there are too many targets; low-level violence of this kind seems to be permanent. Retention of caring and qualified officers has become a serious problem in many areas, however those for whom the problems are simply more proof of the nastiness and irresponsibility of all pet owners mostly continue their mission of freeing pets from being part of human families. For a time, snitches played a part in enforcing the laws but that largely ended after hundreds of cases of serious property damage (mostly burning of garages and automobiles), a number of thrashings and over a dozen killings. Even vets weren't exempt: Here's a joke that went the rounds on the 'net in 2020: "Know how to make your vet crazy?" "No, how?" "Take your dog to him for a rabies shot." (Since most dogs are illegal, you would be forcing the vet to choose between ignoring the law requiring reporting of illegal dogs, thus risking a $1000 fine, and the possibility of violence if he complies with the law, for a tiny fee.)
Very few of those cases have been solved. As with drug-related crime in urban areas, the list of suspects is often most of the people in the surrounding area and there are almost never any willing witnesses. After a time the police (whose pet dogs are, after all, nearly all illegal) simply gave up. 'Let sleeping dogs lie' (wink-wink) became the motto for most non-fatal pet-related violence. The welfare of dogs is much worse than it was in 2006. While true overpopulation is completely gone (nobody ever turns in a puppy to a shelter) the poor breeding and socialization practices that are normal among illegal breeders mean that many puppy homes don't succeed. The number of stray dogs has increased dramatically and nobody knows the extent of 'shoot, shovel, and shut up' occurring in rural areas. However, most strays that make it to a shelter and nearly all owner surrender dogs must be euthanized as unfit pets and this adds to the incentive for shelters to seize, import, and breed dogs. With the loss of middle class home breeders there are no longer any breeders helping buyers with problems or taking their puppies back. Human deaths from dog attacks averaged 12-15/year for decades. Since 2010, however, the number has increased as good breeding practices faded. 2026 will see about 35 Americans killed by man's best friend. Pet health too has gone downhill, due to the extreme inbreeding common among unskilled 'moonshine' breeders and the lack of vet care for most illegal dogs. Because of the very high costs, even legal dogs often get only the minimum care required by law. Next: 2026 Part III - The Turnaround
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