Yes, the Andersons are extreme and perhaps need to get a life, but they're not actually burning their dogs with cigarettes, letting them lie in their own excrement, making them have two litters a year, tying them up in a shed until the chain rubs their neck raw, kicking them when they misbehave, training them with electric collars, or any of the other terrible things that our so-called nation of dog lovers do to their animals.
Kate
Yes that is true and is absolutely tragic, but most of them aren't actually going public with what they are doing...which may lead many people to think that that is an acceptable quality of life for a dog
[or to excuse their own behaviour] The Andersons will be assumed by many people to be very knowledgeable about dogs - setting a role model. Would she sell one of her puppies to a pet owner who planned to keep the dog only in the house and garden? [it has often been heard before that many breeders will not sell puppies to people who don't keep their dogs in the house - and these are the same breeders whose dogs live outside...]
It also seems to contravene the Animal Welfare Act - Animal Welfare Codes of Practice April 6th 2010
Animal welfare organisations and vets helped Defra draw up the codes of practice for dogs, cats and equines, designed to give people information about pet care including diet and exercise, and to explain owners’ and keepers’ legal duties to their animals.
The new codes cover:
The Welfare of Dogs
The welfare of cats
The welfare of Horses, Ponies, Donkeys and their Hybrids
and also the Welfare of Privately Kept Non-Human Primates
The codes are applicable in England only (Wales and Scotland have their own equivalent codes).
you can access the codes from
http://www.freshfieldsrescue.org.uk/index.php/advice
The codes expand on existing legislation set out in the Animal Welfare Act. The advice falls into the following sections:
·The need for a suitable environment
.The need for a suitable diet
[I
]·The need to be able to exhibit normal behaviour patterns[/I]
·The need to be housed with, or apart form, other animals
·The need to be protected from pain, suffering injury and disease.
Specifically it states:
Give your dog the exercise it needs, at least daily unless your vet recommends otherwise, to keep your dog fit, active and stimulated.