Victory for the Dogs!

Eileen, my dear friend, and Anny, my dear friend, a sweetie team lead, having a celebratory taste of champagne.

All staff were in the lunchroom when we first heard that PRU and Anima-Quebec were in negotiations. Two minutes later, it was that we had won. Everyone was in tears, tears of relief after weeks of caring for these dogs, not knowing the true outcome. We knew the courts had to do the right thing and they did.

This is Janis, my amazing team mate in Giants. She brought in the champagne to celebrate but only a wee (as Eileen would say) taste as work had to go on.

• December 13th will be the penalty phase of the court case.

• In March of 2012, it will be determined if Nicole Labombard will ever be able to own dogs again.

• The Quebec government will put in place stronger welfare regulations in the next few weeks.

There are 2,000 puppy mills operating in Quebec and this was the largest seizure in Canada. HSI will continue their excellent work in Quebec and shut down these horrendous puppy factories.

Please educate those you know who are looking for a dog or a puppy. Discourage backyard breeding, too. Get their pets spayed and neutered.

There are breed specific rescues from whom they can adopt and there are so many in need of homes. Ensure they do their research on the breed they want. However, I can tell you after spending a month of volunteering at the shelter, I no longer have a specific breed (although, I still love the Pyr) in mind. I fell in love with Shepherds, a Bouvier, a Schnauzer, Dogos, mixes and even a little Eskimo dog. She tore at my heart with her quiet demeanor and big, soft brown eyes . It was their amazing personalities that slowly came out as they realized we weren't going to hurt them. That is with what all staff fell in love. These dogs can finally trust human beings. They will finally go to loving homes and those who were previously in loving homes, get to return to one, never to be used for breeding, again.

Personally, and probably in the opinion of many others, I think it should be mandatory to neuter/spay all dogs unless you are a responsible breeder who breeds maximum two breeds of dogs and only breeds their bitches twice in their lifetime. Breeders should be inspected every now and again to ensure the well-being of their dogs. There needs to be guidelines for breeders.

When unneutered dogs go into the vets, the vets should set up a spay/neuter date for that dog and those dogs should be reported to the city. If that person does not take their dog for that surgery, a follow-up can be done by the city bylaw services to ensure that dog is sterilized. Perhaps someone else has a different and effective solution.