# CA to import dogs?



## ILGHAUS (Nov 25, 2002)

I attended a meeting of my local Humane Society last night. There was a woman there who was saying that she has been in contact with a national news organization and several people in CA about sending dogs into CA as they are having a dog shortage? Is this possible? I know in the NE there was a shortage of puppies because of breeding regulations so is the same thing happening in CA?

Also seems to me that if they were indeed having a shortage of dogs that there would be one or two states a tad bit closer than FL to get their dogs.


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## WiscTiger (Sep 25, 2002)

WOW if there is a shortage you would have to prove it to me. Look at the shelter and rescue listing for CA.


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## dd (Jun 10, 2003)

I don't think there is a dog shortage in CA based on shelter listings. However I have been told that there is *small* dog shortage in some parts of the northwest. 

This is the situation in my area where there are waiting lists for small dogs at local shelters. Most small dogs such as bichons and lhasas never actually make it to the shelter websites because there is such a high demand for them. This makes it possible for the shelters to bring in needy dogs from outside the region.


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## Cassidy's Mom (Mar 30, 2003)

I don't believe it either. I do know that some of the shelters in the Bay Area (Marin Humane Society in particular) will send vans to shelters in more rural areas of the state which are having hard times and bring animals back up here for adoption. I don't know why they'd bring them in from other states.


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## pupresq (Dec 2, 2005)

I could believe a small dog or certain sort of puppy shortage in urban or affluent areas. Shelters in KY send a lot of dogs out of state to other shelters (though not as far as CA) - but it's usually certain kinds of dogs. We send a lot of puppies, a lot of small breeds, a lot of Retrievers and mixes of breeds with good "family dog" reputations, a lot of non-shedding breeds and wiry haired mixes. 

I thank goodness we can because most of the shelters here would have nearly 100% euth rates if they were totally depending on local adoptions. I know it can be controversial, and I don't think it's right to import dogs of a sort that are already being euthanized locally, but I think it's a win-win to import dogs of a type not available locally. Unfortunately people who go to the shelter hoping to adopt a Lhasa mix puppy are not going to adopt an adult Pit mix instead if there's no Lhasa, they're going to go out and buy the sort of dog they really wanted. This way dogs who were going to be euth'd get a home and fewer people buy dogs from mills and BYBs.


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## Cassidy's Mom (Mar 30, 2003)

> Originally Posted By: pupresqI could believe a small dog or certain sort of puppy shortage in urban or affluent areas.


That's the situation with MHS, although I don't know if it's small dogs in particular. Marin is the most affluent county in the Bay Area, and some of the shelters in the central valley are really struggling, so it's a great solution to give some of those animals a better chance at finding good homes. They also brought in a bunch of Katrina animals and from that busted puppy mill or hoarder that had something like 800 small dogs - in Arizona, maybe? Can't remember, but it was sometime last year I think.


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## BlackPuppy (Mar 29, 2007)

Somebody local to me said that the Prison dog program is having a hard time finding dogs, and that there is a shortage of dogs in the Spca.

This was in response to a new bill that is trying, once again, to make dog breeding cost prohibitive for anybody except the factories in Ohio.


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## dd (Jun 10, 2003)

> Quote: Prison dog program is having a hard time finding dogs


I find that very hard to believe. Numerous Ohio shelters are on board with the prison dog program and two rescues I know in Ohio have sent dogs to this program also. So breeding has nothing to do with it. Good dogs die in Ohio shelters every day of the week.


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## pupresq (Dec 2, 2005)

Yeah, I'm pretty skeptical of that too. I mean, the prison dog program isn't just (or even often) taking the little fluffy dogs that are so often in short supply and OH has TONS of every other sort of dogs. The shelter crisis seems to improve slightly the further north you go, so OH is probably better than here, but I'm still seeing an awful lot of wonderful dogs being put down there and every OH rescue I know is always full to the gills and turning dogs in need away. Indiana being about the same - better than here but still pretty bad.


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## onyx'girl (May 18, 2007)

I know my local spca gets dogs from KY(Harlan)regularly and also Mexico, as well as pulling from the 10 area shelters, (that sell to research). This spca adopts out an average of 20 dogs a week, though. Most are mixed, medium sized adults-or pregnant. What they don't do though is pull from the AC in the spca's city as there are other rescues here. There has been some strong opinions on this.


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## pupresq (Dec 2, 2005)

Yep, your SPCA is one of the reasons Harlan doesn't have to euth everything that comes in. Without receiving groups like that, the euth rate would be around 99%. Most of the dogs they're importing from us are either puppies or small breed dogs because that's what they have the highest demand for - which is totally fine! Those dogs would be dying same as any other if they stayed where they were and your group has taken quite a few medical needs dogs as well, which is always a huge help.


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## Myamom (Oct 10, 2005)

NE checking in here...what breeding regulations are we talking about? 

I actually saw a newspaper article in Georgia about the "shortage" of puppies in the NE due to our strict spay/neuter laws? HUH??


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## pupresq (Dec 2, 2005)

Don't know about strict spay/neuter laws overall but I get the impression that most of your shelters up there at least alter the dogs they adopt out and I think spaying and neutering are more the norm generally. I also hear from a lot of people in the north east that they can't find the selection of puppies and smaller dogs in the shelters that they're looking for. I would think PA is probably on the edge of that but since you have a lot of mills, the shelters are probably more full than someplace like MA or VT etc. I guess it's all relative.


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