I was going through old files on my computer and came across something that I wrote 20 years ago. Many people are now asking, “How did we get here from there?” with all the problems that we have been facing as show dog breeders and exhibitors. It was the same question that people had when I wrote this 20 years ago, so it’s well worth considering. If you have been in dogs that long you will have your own opinions of what happened in the previous 20 years, and for the rest of you, please think about what I wrote then and what you are asking now.
You know, in all this mess, something has occurred to me: the biggest threat is NOT the Animal Rights fanatics so much as those who are what has come to be named AR-Lite!
What is “AR-Lite?” AR-Lite includes those people who have absorbed enough of the AR doctrine to be dangerous. They are all through the show dog world! They believe in MSN (mandatory spay-neuter) for EVERYTHING, not just dogs from shelters. They believe that “good” breeders do not have a single kennel run, but to have rows of crates in a basement is acceptable as long as they are kept “in the home.” They believe that everything can be fixed by more laws, not just enforcing the ones that already exist, and that if “breeders” are regulated, all the other problems will go away. They believe that if we regulate breeders, all the street dogs will suddenly go away and stop producing puppies. They believe in pet ownership, and would be horrified to realize that they have been unwittingly supporting the agenda of the AR people, which is to eliminate domestic pets, and in fact, think it is crazy nonsense to suggest it. Unfortunately, they have played right into the hands of the real ARAs without realizing it, and if they ever do, it could be too late.
Up until that time, “the enemy” was the animal rights coalition of believers who were against dog breeding and promoted life choices such as veganism. AR organizations were the leaders in political activity, looking for ways to control and limit dog breeding through the courts, making their views known with sometimes bizarre ways of promotion. They were self-described “press sluts!”
One AR group started their campaign as far back as the 1980s. Their first targets were commercial breeders, which they designated as puppy mills. In the 1990s, they started taking legal and political action, first by backing a well-known “animal league” before taking them over. The 21st century found them backing bills proposed in the federal legislature prepared by their own lawyers. When those failed, they started working state by state, county by county, and city, by city bringing in more and more restrictive legislation. They worked both sides of the political aisle, funding politicians of the most appropriate party in the states they represented. The first state bill requiring mandatory spay and neuter of all cats and dogs over the age of four months was proposed in California by a Democrat. A federal bill was then introduced (with the cute name of PUPS) by a Republican. They’ve never stopped.
In the meantime, breeders divided into those who believed the mantra “if you’re not doing anything wrong, it will not hurt you!” and those who saw the AR activists as a threat. Then there were those in between, some who had no opinion as long as it did not affect them in any way, and others were “fellow travelers” who denied that they supported the AR faction, but claimed their rhetoric when it could improve their own image or damage a competitor by branding them as a “puppy mill” that was breeding more than a single litter in a year—in other words, “AR Lite!”
