This move by USDA is going to absolutely bloat the agency beyond all reason, assuming it’s actually followed. This is an absurd “solution” to essentially a non-existent problem and sweeps up large numbers of serious dog and cat lovers who’ve dedicated years to their animals.
Keep in mind, those of you who even think for a minute this is a good thing. Sweeping a breeder who has as few as 4 unspayed, over-4 month old females (who may or may not be in the owner’s breeding program), but who might have sent a puppy to ONE purchaser several states away condemns that seller to NOT being able to let his or her dogs live in the owner’s house. Yes, you read that right. Those dogs are prohibited from ever lying on the couch, by the fire, or having their litters in the owner’s bedroom.
This is horrific for the welfare not only of the dogs, which will not get the socialization needed to make sensible pets, it will destroy people’s lives - those animals are an enormous part of their lives. And, remember, this is nothing but a scheme to bloat government with more unnecessary workers and more bureaucratic layers.
There are already laws on the books to address animal cruelty and neglect. This nightmare of a plan will punish not only the human beings, it will drastically change the lives of their animals - not in a positive way.
You are right about it, the restrictions and regulations (I have not looked into it but I think I said earlier, something about stainless steel whelping boxes, ALL CONCRETE for flooring, etc.) would not be able to be done in people’s homes who are just hobby breeders. So sad :(
We have outdoor kennels (wood, not concrete) for the dogs that don't come inside, but all get to spend some time inside at some point in their lives, particularly on retirement (our house is the dog retirement home!). We generally have between 6-10 dogs inside with us at any one time (not including the 5 cats, and assorted guinea pigs, turtles, fish, gerbils).
We are not a puppy mill cranking out pups by the dozen all year and selling pups to all comers indiscriminately like a retail pet store! We rarely have more that 3 litters a year. We whelp ALL our litters inside, either in the kitchen or the adjoining room, and the pups do not get outside until their shots (after 6 weeks). We are extremely careful of letting outside visitors in during the time the pups are most vulnerable to disease (we mostly prohibit it). And we are very careful on selecting individual pups for individual owners, through careful screening of the prospective clients, and by living with and closely observing the pups through the first 8-9 weeks of their lives.
We do not need anyone looking over our shoulder telling us how to raise and care for our dogs, when they don't have anywhere near the experience that we do. They haven't a clue on what they are trying to regulate! (I doubt any of them even have pets... and even if they did, caring for pets is quite different from caring for breeding animals.)
These proposed regulations would prohibit all this! Talk about hypocrisy...