HometownSource Blogs

As a journalist, I do not report on opinion, I cover a story based on facts.

So when a journalist wants to stray from this responsibility, the blog is his/her best friend.

This week I covered the State Court of Appeals decision to allow a dog-breeding kennel here in Morrison County. I covered the facts of the case. Those facts, ever so brieftly stated here, are that Gary McDuffee owns and operates a dog-breeding facility in Belle Prairie Township, just north of Little Falls. His neighbors oppose his operation because of animal cruelty issues involved with what they, and many others, call “puppy mills.” The county has approved McDuffee to own and operate his business twice. The county has “limited” the number of adult dogs McDuffee is allowed to own at 500.

As far as business goes, McDuffee is perfectly within his rights. Dog kennels are regulated much like a dairy farm, by the USDA. When standards are not met, McDuffee is given a list of violations and expected to correct the problems within a set period of time or risk losing his license. McDuffee has never had his license revoked for failing to correct problems.

However, and this is where I stray from from the facts and offer opinion, the problem is not with violations to standards, the problem comes from unbelievably poor standards.

Cages are stacked on top of each other in what would appear from the outside a perfectly ordinary barn. Those cage sizes vary depending upon the size of the dog, and not speaking to Wheeler specifically but instead about dog-breeding facilities in general, those cage sizes often meet the minimum size requirements (quick fact - dog kennel cages must be 6 inches taller than the height of the standing dog inside). That just makes good business sense for the owner, because the economic of such a business would suggest profit comes from quantity not quality, especially when dogs are being sold online for upwards of $1,000 as ‘family raised” or “home grown” puppies. Even if the transaction is done in person, the buyer is rarely if ever allowed to see the conditions in which their dog lived for the first 8 weeks of its life.

It should be noted that I rescued my dog from a humane society in Minneapolis which had rescued her just a week earlier from a breeder who was shut down. I was not told why the breeder was “shut down,” but Bailie had already been fixed at the age of 7 weeks and she was scared of confined spaces, so I can only imagine the breeder didn’t treat her the best. Thankfully, she has a perfect bill of health and has gotten much better with confined spaces (she loves riding around in the back of my HHR and my apartment is only 800 sq. ft.).

I don’t fault McDuffee for doing business, I simply fault U.S. and individual state standards for allowing such businesses to exist.

There is proposed law in Minnesota which would improve on incredibly inadequate standards.

McDuffee is an incredibly nice person and, from all accounts, his employees love taking care of the animals at his facility. However the dogs deserve more freedom and a better home for the first 8 weeks of their life, especially when the first 8 weeks are potentially the most important.

If you want graphic and detailed, at times hysterically inappropriate, evidence of animal abuse, Google “puppy mills” and peruse the search results.

In summation of my opinion, I think it is very appropriate to call “dog-breeding kennels” what they are, “puppy mills.” If Bob Barker wanted us to “help control the pet population,” we need to regulate these dog-breeding businesses before it gets truly out of hand.