What is “Overbreeding” and why is it bad?

Want to start breeding dogs as a side hustle? Think again. Although it's common to pay hundreds, if not thousands of dollars for a purebred, a litter is likely to yield numerous puppies. The costs of responsible breeding are so high that many professional breeders barely break even. "There is no money to be earned in responsible dog breeding", says Debora Bean, a California breeder who supports her breeding habit with a side business creating dog-related products. Unfortunately, money can be made by breeding irresponsibly. To play that game, though, the owner must hate dogs. If they choose either of the first two alternatives, the mother’s and babies' health may be jeopardized. Experts say that irresponsible breeding is to blame for so-called "puppy mills" producing unhealthy puppies with hereditary problems including trick hips and chronic medical disorders. Overbreeding might weaken the female and make her life miserable. It takes a lot of time, training, knowledge, and attention to breeding healthy and happy dogs. That's why it's difficult to do it as a side hustle. So, I’m going to be informing the reader about how irresponsible breeding is bad, even about how responsible and legal breeding is not good at the time now either. 

“Overbreeding '' is when a person or group has dogs and breeds them as a job or side hustle most likely doing it wrong or ineffectively. According to Sidehusl (yes that is the exact name of their website it's not spelled wrong) “The Ugly Truth of Breeding Puppies For Pay ''updated 2022. Over Breeding can cause many problems with the dog such as “trick hips' ' and chronic medical conditions. Now, there are people who responsibly breed, but there really is no money to make by responsibly breeding. So, people resort to breeding in the cheapest way possible just to make money, leading to suffering babies, moms, and dads of all animals. Over breeders usually buy a female dog or already have one and they breed them whenever, wherever they want. Most of the time they don’t know how long to wait after a mother gives birth so they just get her pregnant again which leads to huge medical problems for the mother and the babies. Most of the time the disabled ones who got diseases from irresponsible breeding go to the pound, don’t get a loving owner, or an owner at all, then, they get euthanized and killed before they even reach one or two years old. Irresponsible breeders waste the lives of innocent dogs just to get a little cash. What's crazy is that there are numerous different operations of dog breeding, this next paragraph is mainly going to inform about the major ones.

Different dog breeding operations include animal mills, backyard breeding, registered breeding, and other small companies that might breed dogs. First, animal mills are filthy industrial-sized mills where they breed all sorts of animals, but mainly dogs. They keep them in filthy cages horrible for the animals' health leading to disabilities and severe injuries/health problems. Some people might be responsible, and that's okay, but every breeder is responsible for the overpopulation of dogs. Even if they produce the healthiest puppies and do it effectively and make the puppies feel safe, adding one more puppy to the world is taking another puppy's life away. The next operation is backyard breeding, and this one is by far the worst. Next, Backyard breeding. According to PETA “Why No One Should Ever Support a Dog Breeder” updated in 2022 “Backyard Breeding” is when a small group of people or just one breed dogs irresponsibly and keep them in cages that barely even fit the dog, are dirty and have sharp edges that can cut and infect the dog. These things that lots of people do should be stopped and we should punish them for bringing them into that situation. Backyard breeders, animal mills, etc. They are greedy, they are wasting an innocent animal's life just because they want money. In my opinion, I think these things are horrible. They put so many dogs at risk of death, pain, loneliness, stress, and discomfort. Registered breeders may breed responsibly, take care of the dog, and love them. But adding a puppy into this world is taking a different dog's life away, and just adding to the population of homeless dogs. Millions of dogs are homeless, depressed, and waiting for their eventual demise. There are great numbers of dogs or even animals in general who are in these conditions, it is very sad and disappointing. This next paragraph is going to be about the number of dogs/animals who are homeless, the percentage of dogs bred, etc.

According to PETA “Are Dog Breeders Bad? Negative Effects Of Dog Breeding” updated 2022, There's no reason to add to the world's dog population. Every year, more than 6 million animals become homeless, with half of them having to be euthanized due to a lack of suitable homes. There are over 30,000 puppy mills in the U.S. alone, with around 3,000 of them being unregistered. Every time a dog is bred, a different dog loses the chance to live a happy life.

According to Alastair Walker of Insurance Edge updated 2022. Few breeders require their babies to be spayed or neutered, allowing them to produce litters of their own in the near future, increasing the overpopulation situation. In just six years, one unmodified mother dog and her progeny can generate 67,000 puppies. Breeding a dog even once is unethical when millions of dogs die every year because no one will adopt them. Instead, animal friends should be spayed or neutered by their caregivers. Puppy mills, hellish mass-breeding operations where dogs are treated like puppy-producing robots and never given any love, attention, or even the opportunity to extend their legs, are just part of the dog-breeding industry. Labradors (81%) are the most overbred dog breed in the UK, followed by Pugs (32%), and Golden Retrievers (24%). Overbreeding happens when a lineage is repeatedly mated, enhancing the breed's negative characteristics. When a dog is compelled to have more litter than its body can safely handle, it increases the danger of dystocia, which is the difficulty in passing the embryo through the pelvic canal. 

In conclusion, these are only some of the things bad about irresponsible and responsible dog breeders, especially animal mills. Because all these breeders are increasing the population and overbreeding and putting them at risk. Breeding more pets just take away a chance for another pet to live and have a happy life. There are hundreds of thousands of breeders in this world, maybe even millions with only a small percentage of them being registered and authorized. Almost all of those unregistered breeders don’t know the correct and safe way to breed an animal and do it illegally. Overbreeding is a huge problem around the globe and is an important issue that must be dealt with. So next time that thought comes up about breeding dogs, think again.