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.

Incredibly Rewarding

I just returned from two weeks of volunteering at the shelter. It was quite emotional for the first couple of days but I moved on and was well-rewarded.

It was hard work and long days but well worth it. Please consider volunteering for the dogs. They especially need volunteers during the week. People of all kinds arrive even for the day who drive in from Ottawa and the outskirts who have kids and dogs at home yet they find a way to come out. Those are the people who have a wonderful support system. There are even people from the States, and all across Canada. It's that important to them. Remember that every job is an important one in order to get the work done fast and efficiently. It is amazing to see this team work in action.

I plan on returning but will regroup this weekend. With some good luck, this will soon be over.

To see updates, see HSI Canada.

To volunteer, please contact Malena with your time availability.

Malena Porras-Pena
Volunteer Coordinator
hsi.volunteers@gmail.com
tel / 514.395.2914
fax / 514.395.8021

As an aside, it was wonderful to see my dogs, again, with their lovely soft coats.

Quebec ... The Puppy Mill Capital of North America

Paws R Us—That's the ad I would see in The Citizen newspaper when I used to look in the classifieds for dogs who needed homes. They also 'sold' these dogs to pet stores. They seemed to be around for a long while. I knew from the name that it couldn't be good. And, it wasn't.

This family bred 30 types of dogs at their farm in Clarendon Township. More than 500 dogs and puppies were rescued from these people with no souls. You can see the full story here: Humane Society International

It breaks me up that the owner said she is losing her livelihood and it breaks her heart. What about those dogs? According to her, the animals were seized because of cobwebs on the ceiling, untiled floors and improper ventilation. She makes it sound like nothing was wrong.

I hope this is only the beginning of the end of puppy mills. There are 800 unregulated breeders in Quebec. There is much more work to do. They also need to stop the sale of puppies in pet stores across Canada because those puppies come from puppy mills. No reputable breeder ever sells to pet stores.

This is also a reminder to those who insist on getting a purebred puppy to do your research. Simply google 'responsible dog breeder'. I have included a link Responsible Dog Breeding. Please note that there are breed specific rescues and all-around rescues may have the breed for which you are looking.

Soon after we had Clara, the breeder even came to our home to check on Clara at least twice to make sure she had been spayed, and to ensure she was being treated properly. They also followed up with phone calls. This is the way it should be. Some of you may think this is overboard, but it isn't. Ben was never neutered nor looked after properly and his end came after only four short years due to extreme aggression. He was caged most of his young life and starved.