“Pups are not just for Christmas, they’re for life,” said Lord Mayor of Dublin Ray McAdam.
At the Mansion House in Dublin on Monday morning, a meeting was organised by Dog Advocacy Ireland to highlight “Ireland’s shameful standing as puppy farm capital of Europe”.
“What I would say to people, is to make sure that they’re checked out with their vet very quickly and to make sure you’re going to purchase a dog or a puppy from an approved or a very well reputable dog breeder. I think that’s very important,” he said.
The Lord Mayor welcomed the European Union’s move to look at wider minimum standards and that the Irish Government is considering additional legislation to improve dog welfare.
READ MORE
John O’Callaghan, founder of Dog Advocacy Ireland, said €200 million per year is earned from “the abuse and mistreatment of this criminal abuse of dogs”. This, he said, is “a national scandal”.
“I’m already engaging with the political system to have this addressed because I think maybe politicians are blissfully unaware ... That has to change.”
Across the State “there is a breed for greed culture”, he said.
There is no cap on the number of bitches breeders can breed. O’Callaghan said some breeders have up to 600 breeding bitches.
O’Callaghan wants parents to refrain from buying dogs for their children for Christmas. The animals should instead be rescued from shelters and pounds, he said.
“There are 237 rescue shelters in this country inundated with dogs desperately needing loving homes. Every dog pound in the country is chock a block with dogs,” O’Callaghan said.
Also at the event was Cathy Matthews from Irish Dogs for the Disabled, an organisation that trains dogs to give independence to children and adults with disabilities.
Evan Moran, a sixth-year student from Maynooth, received Quinton, a four-year-old task assistance red labrador, earlier this year.
Quinton helps Evan, who is in a wheelchair, to pick things up, open doors and press buttons, and will accompany Evan to the exam hall in June when he takes his Leaving Cert.
Xena, a 12-week-old puppy, was one of the youngest attendees of the Mansion House event. A puppy in training, it will take her two years to qualify as a task assistance dog for wheelchair users.
