Well, with a properly calibrated Dobie-a-Matic, you can use individual dogs up to 90 pounds.
chefguy, you are cruel. That song is going to be stuck in my head all day now.
Unfortunately, unless the cops are going to actually pursue animal cruelty charges, it’s very, very hard to police dog breeders. The most that the AKC can do is to cease to certify any further pups from that breeder. It’s not a police organization, just a registry for keeping pedigrees. And there are several other kennel organizations that can be used, once one has been kicked out of the AKC.
And, as one who wouldn’t want to own a chiuahua for any reason, I want to say that the breed of dog doesn’t matter: Both women described in this article are idiots and should be facing serious repurcussions.
Actually there are new laws aimed at shutting down the bad kind of backyard breeders as well as puppy mills, which also sadly affect responsible breeders who are small scale.
“We’ve DONE dead chihuahuas!”
“All right. Let’s go over how to defend yourself if you are attacked with…A BANANA!”
After reading part of this thread early this morning, I noted that one of the very late night movies available was “Cold Dog Soup.” I read the synopsis and gave the movie a miss.
[hijack]Huh. I’ve more often heard that the margin is 7-10 weeks. At least here in Finland, the usual age for releasing a puppy to an owner is about 7 or 8 weeks; Bea came to us at 12 weeks, but that was because we had just moved back to Finland at that point. I understand, though, that there are different schools of thought on the issue.[/hijack]
This struck my eye in the article:
So she takes the puppy to a vet, who says it’s too young and should be returned to its mother, but when the puppy dies, she goes back to get another puppy that’s most likely the same age?
“The last time someone attacked you with a dead chihuahua, you dropped a ton of shi-tzus on him!”
That’s the problem. Any idiot can put two dogs together and get puppies. And many idiots do.
I agree with you.
I got my puppy from the pound when she was five weeks old. (She was “over-due” to be put down, from a litter which had been abandoned right after birth.) The poor little thing didn’t know how to drink water, and couldn’t eat hard food. She was terribly sick and probably would have died without the intensive care I gave her.
She’ll never be a “normal” dog because of it. She didn’t get the crucial socialization she needed from her mother and littermates. I’ve done what I could to make up for it, but she’ll always be skittish and awkward.
Dogs like this can be dangerous. Sometimes, they turn into fear-biters or can become aggressive unless the owner knows what they’re doing-- to stop these kinds of behaviors before they start. I wouldn’t ever recommend a puppy that young to anyone who doesn’t have a lot of experience with dogs.
I agree with everyone here who has condemned the breeder as irresponsible at best.
Legal question, though: the end of the article mentioned that police are considering felony burglary charges. Yet, the article implies, at least, that the woman was not successful in actually obtaining another puppy. There are separate criminal charges for attempted burglary, aren’t there? What am I missing?
Yeah, that’s the bit that made me decide that they should both be loaded into a catapult and flung into the sun.
Also, as an FYI, Missouri is rather notorious for the vast number of rather ghastly puppy mills in the state. As pathetic as this “breeder” seems to have been, she’s still probably better than many others in the state, sad to say. So I wouldn’t anticipate anything much happening to her for giving away a too-young puppy.
IANAL, and state statutes will certainly differ, but typically burglary doesn’t require a criminal act being taken inside the house. Simply breaking and entering is sufficient, although it’s also necessary that the person *intend * to commit a felony (such as Grand Theft Beagle) inside.
To use the article as an example, if the woman pried open the door and took a step inside, intending to commit a felony inside, at that point she would have committed burglary. If she pried open the front door and didn’t enter, that would be an attempted burglary.
Again, this isn’t legal advice. Always consult an attorney prior to puppy-napping.
–KidScruffy
Suppose he’s got a litter?
Regards,
Shodan