A standard for our pets' reproduction ability

[AnimalFamily]

Wow, so much info here, I'm not exactly where to start?
While I do realize we have a serious problem here in the U.S., I'm not exactly sure what the solution is.
I do take exception to some of the ideas mentioned in your proposal.

As for the idea of sterilization vs. licensing?
I wonder about people like myself. I have my dog Payne. She was spayed at a very young age as we were being "responsible" pet owners. As she has grown I have revisited that idea many times. She is a 3rd generation dog. her grandparents were our first two dogs here. She is the most intelligent creature I have ever had the pleasure of knowing. As she is getting on in years, I have many times wished I had held back on having her spayed as she will be the end of her line and I would have loved to see that bloodline carried on.

I gather from your proposal, in my situation I would need to become a licensed breeder to breed my one dog one time??
The whole increased licensing issue just seems a ploy to put more money in governments hands, in my opinion of course. Don't know too many people in favor of that!
Part of the problem we have in general is that the laws we do have [for any number of issues] are regularly NOT enforced.

I agree completely with LPC; the term "fixed" is a widely used term that does not apply. One is assuming there is something wrong with our dogs to begin with. They are not broken, therefore they don not need fixing!

I believe the bulk of the problems lies with dog breeding facilities. Just look through any newspaper and you will see the vast number of registered purebred [or whatever new breed is coming down the pike] puppies for sale with outrageous prices attached. Do they sell all of these puppies? I think not. What happens to the ones they don't sell?

I think instead of enacting more laws one after another, we need to raise the conscientiousness of pet owners in general. People need to be educated in the art of responsible ownership.
Being a responsible pet owner is a full time job. We didn't have our children, then just throw them out in the back yard to let them fend for themselves. Why would we do this with our pets?

If you're paying attention, you know when your female is in heat. It is possible to confine her during this time. Thus cutting down on unwanted pregnancies.
Most importantly, teach your dog his/her boundaries. I know this is possible, I have done it. It does however, take time and a ton of patience!!!

I/we raised Payne as if we were raising another child, taking the time to teach her the difference between right and wrong.
I think if more people took this approach, it would cut down dramatically on the number of unwanted puppies.

As for the masses of dog breeders out there, if people stopped buying these 'special' breeds [mostly a status thing anyway] breeders wouldn't be so prolific.
I will take a mixed breed puppy over a pure bred any day of the week! I have seen so many "pure bred" dogs that just seem mentally inferior to most of the mixed breed dogs I have known in my life. Could be the breeding practices or maybe it's the owners' participation, I'm no expert. Or maybe it is a combination of the two?

The point is there will always be problems and just throwing laws out there willy nilly will solve nothing, especially if we don't enforce them.

If you know you will never want a pup from your current dog then by all means have them spayed or neutered. But think long and hard about it. If you think might want to breed your little sweetheart one day to carry on that special blood line then try practicing some responsible pet parenting. It should not require a license.
By the way, this goes way beyond just unwanted pregnancies. Roaming dogs cause a number of problems of others. My dog stays home!! My neighbors dogs do not!! It causes numerous problems for me on a daily basis....but then that is another topic indeed!!!