This is the truth about that ‘puppy in the window’ that ACA don’t want you to see.

ACA Breeders is a puppy factory farm with hundreds of dogs kept in appalling conditions. 44 gallon drums are being used as kennels for many of the dogs (some stamped with the word ‘poison’). Some of the breeding dogs are kept in tiny caged enclosures on concrete floors with nowhere to sleep, except for a plastic drum with a hole cut in the bottom. These dogs are not loved pets they are breeding machines. They are used to make their owners rich through sales to pet stores, including the ACA Breeders pet shop in Wantirna.

My investigation into ACA Breeders received full page coverage in the Sunday Herald Sun (November 18, 2007) under the headline ‘How could they be so cruel?’ The article detailed the lives of terror, confinement and deprivation suffered by factory farmed dogs. We raided the property again in late November and discovered the same horrendous conditions, the same breeding dogs living in misery.

Intensive puppy breeding is the hidden cruelty behind the pet shop window. The general public are unaware of these puppy breeding farms where thousands of dogs across the State are kept imprisoned for life churning out litter after litter of puppies. Female dogs come into their first season at approximately 4-6 months of age and this is when many unscrupulous breeders mate them for their first litter, when they are still only puppies themselves.

Mother dogs are not given any rest or reprieve between litters and are kept in a continual cycle of pregnancy. Father dogs live their entire lives locked in pens with small runs, if they are lucky, and are only there to ‘service’ the female dogs. Both the mother and father dogs spend day after day after day ceaselessly pacing back and forth in small enclosures, their only way of coping with endless despair. These intelligent animals are never walked, socialised or given any love; they are simply breeding machines. Pups are weaned from their mums between 4 and 5 weeks of age and then transported to pet shops for display to the unsuspecting public. Pet shop owners depend on love at first sight when people, especially kids, see the adorable little puppies, as it prompts people to make an impulsive purchase. What the consumer can’t see is the puppy’s mother imprisoned miles away in her small pen awaiting repeated pregnancies.

FACTS
In Australia we kill approximately 160,000 dogs every year because they are homeless, lost or abandoned. 350 unwanted dogs killed each and every day. The problems that cause animals to end up in shelters are preventable and the solutions are in our hands. Councils can have an impact on this issue by making the right decisions and taking the correct action. Councils are spending thousands of dollars on killing dogs in their pounds and shelters at the same time as they allow the breeding of more dogs by issuing permits for puppy farms to operate. It is time we get them to stop.

(1) HELP SHUT DOWN THIS PUPPY FARM
URGENT ACTION NEEDED NOW! ACA breeders have been violating the Code of Practice for 14 years and the local Council have not bothered to enforce the law. E-mail the Wellington Shire Council Mayor and ask him to withdraw the permit for ACA Breeders because they are violating the Code of Practice. The Mayor’s e-mail address is darren.mcubbin@wellington.vic.gov.au Please also CC your e-mail to the Shire Field Services Co-ordinator: gary.jago@wellington.vic.gov.au

(3) SPREAD THE WORD
Educate everyone you know and ask them not to buy a puppy from a pet shop. If you or anyone you know wants a companion animal, please consider taking a dumped dog off death row. This is much better than paying these puppy farmers who abuse the animals that are innocently in their care.

Watch my slideshow of images taken at Learmonth puppy farm (shut down in 2005 after my 10 year campaign) and at ACA Breeders, the targets of my current campaign.