Research funded by the Pet Leadership Council sought to establish data on the number of pet dogs Americans want each year and the sources available to fill that demand. Estimates from advocacy groups whose “adopt, don’t shop” campaigns urge consumers to shun breeders and pet stores and get dogs from shelters and rescue groups may have skewed data to support local law changes related to dog breeders, puppy mills and pet store bans.
Source: Washington Post, February 8, 2017.
Our concern was that so many very different estimates have been generated by a number of entities that have often led to conflicting conclusions,” said Bob Vetere, president and chief executive of the American Pet Products Association. “It is important to have a solid understanding of the facts before making decisions impacting the supply and availability of healthy dogs.”
INSIGHTS: Mark Cushing of the Animal Policy Group, the lobbying firm that crunched the numbers about demand for dogs, says the data show that U.S. shelters can’t meet Americans’ demand for eight million dogs a year. “It’s a total myth for anybody to say or think that every American who wants a dog can go to a shelter and find one.” Cushing said. “Increasingly, the ones we are euthanizing are very sick or dangerous.”