Read on Twitter
When I see tweets like this one, I understand that some people are just trying to troubleshoot a problem instead of providing a long-term solution. i've tryed to express it in my comments but (of course) I faced people that misinterpreted what I said. https://twitter.com/Gr3ffi/status/1293649801779671040
My point is that banning anything will not do any good. It is the same as some dog breeds were banned in UK but there are still plenty of cases of dog's aggression towards people. Do we have to start banning all of them or should we look for a solution?
As I always say as a dog professional, for every wrong going of a dog, there is a human mistake on the background. So instead of banning breeds that are actually quite good if trained (as all dogs if there is genetical/health problems underlying) we should start either -
Licinsing the owner, or/and oblige them to go for a training course. Experience of other counties (even from 1980s) shows how beneficial it was for both dogs and society. By all means, dog science is much progressed from say 2010 and I see people here that did not yet catch up.
And I come back to the original tweet. Banning internet selling is useless. It will simply not work. I understand the concern and I raised awareness re puppy farms and scammers long ago but I see it was overlooked by my enthusiastic but not yet knowledgeable commenters.
Let's see why people go to Internet to get a dog first. I tryed to rehome a GSD some years ago. I was refused for a simple reason I had no garden. No one talked to me, no one tried to find out how i am going to look after dog etc. It was just an email response for my application
to the registered shelter. The dog went to a lady with a garden but with no experience. Do I need to tell you what happened next? She returned a dog back as she could not manage. This dog requires experience. But shelter did their checks.. Did it work? No. Was it good for dog? No
Later on, my friend, a professional vet, tried to rehome a dog. Refused the same way. That was atime I started trying to change some silly rules charity/shelters operate. I appreciate their try to find a better home for their fluffy clients but the way they do it doesn't work.
Why? They simply ask wrong questions to the potential owners and they focus on things that are not really important for a dog! So why does a dog need a garden if he is supposed to have outdoors walk at least 2 times per day with one of them a long walk?
What are you going to check in a potential dog owner's house? A size? A living room or a kitchen? What? Dogs do not need a large space to live in if they have all their walks and training outdoors. They will be tired and happy to have a sleep! A lot of barking issues are coming
from dogs that have big space they are trying to control and protect. I understand that charities usually have little knowledge of modern dog psychology and behaviour that is where most of problems are coming from.
Many of my clients suffer as they were given dogs they can't manage due to lack of experience! How did it happen? first time owner was given a GSD with aggression to people and dogs. How nice... Probably were properly checked and had gardens and money to pay for dog walkers and
day care both not actually needed with owners that do it themselves before and after work (and before going to sleep). I started thinking that shelters do support lazy owners that either do not bother or not aware of what their dogs need. And the last thing he needs is a garden!
So what are you going to check or which questions are you going to ask before giving a rescue dog to his new family? How many hours dog is going to stay alone at home? Fair good one. Most of charities will not give you a dog if you are away for 6 and more hours...
Well, I sleep 8 hours and my dog downstairs is fine staying on its own for this period of time. Who made those rules that are hard to comply wth? People that have no idea of dogs. Train your dog to be confident while you are out, give him long lasting bones, a toy, exhaust him.
You will never be able to ban internet sales. People that were refused by "charities" will go any way to get a dog or a puppy. That is why we see so many problems now. But the solution is very simple and straight forward - each dog/puppy needs to be registered (councils).
It is just a registration, no pedigree needed. Without this paper it should be illegal to sell/buy a dog and no insurance, no vet checks should be provided without it. It should be like selling a car sort of thing. This is nearly the same other countries use centuries ago.
