It is through events such as this that we as dog breeders can gain the momentum to dissipate the agenda of HSUS and other animal rightist groups. We must first ensure our utmost respectability, sincere intentions, and ongoing education, then boldly confront these groups and individuals that attempt to persuade the public otherwise. This is our mission and our duty as dog owners, dog lovers, and successful dog breeders. Join us in the battle to save the art of raising puppies!

Federal: S.3519 (Us Senate) & H.R.6949 (US Congress) now known as H.R.835

We are going to provide you two sections of H.R. 835 that will explain what Congress is trying to enact in our industry
right now..

‘‘(B) HIGH VOLUME RETAIL BREEDER.—
The term ‘high volume retail breeder’ means a person who, in commerce, for compensation or profit—‘‘(i) has an ownership interest in or custody of 1 or more breeding female dogs?and‘‘(ii) sells or offers for sale, via any means of conveyance (including the Internet, telephone, or newspaper), more than 50 of the offspring of such breeding female dogs for use as pets in any 1year
period.

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This event is held on Friday October 28th through Saturday October 29th. After the guest speakers on Friday, we will be hosting a banquet and auction, then continuing our education and fellowship through guest speakers and vendors on Saturday.

ICAW Auction Sale Items:

• Throw blankets (Lord's prayer ; scenic/wolves)
• Leaf burning cart
• 6 foot ladder
• 2-6 foot lifetime folding table
• Volleyball net & ball
• Wooden clothes dryer
• Polyethalene glider
• Handy man jack
• Bird feeders & houses
• Aluminum hip roof mail box
• Dog feeders
• Wind chimes
• Bulldog stud service (Winston)
• Misc.
• And much more!

We look forward to seeing you at the Seminar!!

   As my odyssey led me to ICAW that little package of dynamite didn’t forget me either. I started getting one e-mail after another from her. How invaluable every single thing she sent me was over the last two years. I have always talked about the tenets of the Indiana Council for Animal Welfare, "we can agree to disagree" "i may not like what you do but who am i to tell YOU what to do". Now I had a AKC Purebred show breeder on our side who got it. For over a year I had no idea where Sheila lived. One day I especially needed some help (typing over 200 words a minute is a skill that I do not have).

   Sheila answered my e-mail with "Why don’t you just come over!" as it turned out she was less than 5 minutes from where I usually write from. She knew it, I didn’t. The rest is history.
As our relationship kicked into full gear little did I know what I had gotten myself into. I truly found a kindred spirit, we loved food, movies, animals and freedom. In the last part of this Winter Sheila just didn’t feel good, come to find out the cause was stage 4 pancreatic cancer. Everyone always talks about someone they know not complaining about their lot in life. Sheila truly didn’t. I am a cancer survivor myself and found it quite interesting that we never talked about cancer.

   We talked about life, always about life. Not in a maudlin way just how we enjoyed it and were not going to let the Animals Rights crazies take it away from us. Many a weekend watching movies I knew nothing about, Sheila cooked and our banter was non-stop. Personally I knew what was coming, I could see it in her eyes. Still she refused to slow down when the rodeo was in Clermont she went by herself because I couldn’t go with her. When I saw her later that week she pulled out a picture of her sitting on top of a Texas Longhorn at the rodeo. She told me "I probably should not have done that but I just wanted to". That picture was taken approximately six weeks before she passed.

   Each day got a little longer and harder for her and culminated with her passing last Tuesday 8/17/2010. I went to see her in hospice and the one thing she would open her eyes about, was news on the Animals Rights front. No matter what she whispered, "carry on this battle". Sheila you have my word, " I WILL". Most of you will have not known my dear sweet friend, but she made an indelible mark on me and for that I am forever grateful. Good Bye Darlin!!

“They’re claiming we falsely advertise on our website, but it boils down to this — we take care of our animals and our animals are performing to standards,” Hendrix said. “If we weren’t taking care of our chickens, our chickens wouldn’t be taking care of us.”

Of all the folks in the world who should not be talking about misleading statements is the worlds largest Animals Rights group. We often see references to how little the Humane Society of the United States (HSUS) spends on shelters – less than 1/2 of 1% (.45% to be exact) of their annual budget.

HSUS finance records show that after you’ve made that [$19] monthly donation for a year, a grand total of $1.03 will reach a pet shelter.

Since math is not my strong suit, I got out my calculator:

$19/month X 12 months = $228

.45% of $228 = $1.03

How different the HSUS commercials would appear if they said “With your gift of just $19 a month, we’ll make sure almost 9 cents of that donation reaches a shelter somewhere every month…” It does seem to me that H$U$ makes many misleading statements in their advertising. Aprroximately 71% of the United States populace believes that H$U$ is an umbrella organization for our local shelters. Nothing could be farther from the truth,

If you really want to help Stop Cruelty to Animals in Indiana donate to your local Dog Adoption Shelter or a reputable Indiana Dog Rescue. Maybe if we all started to do that we wouldn’t have to worry about being mislead anymore by the crazies at H$U$.

Oh, and before I forget "Where do we go to complain about Wayne and the H$U$ and their misleading statements?" Because in this particular case Wayne does need to get a little "egg" on his face.

After the failure to end all Commercial Dog Breeders in 2009 by, among other things, trying to impose ridiculous cage restrictions that even a college professor couldn’t decipher, they are now using a different tactic by attacking the Indiana Pet Stores to eliminate buyers for puppies. How much longer is this behavior going to continue?

If the Humane Societies believe Indiana Dog Breeders don’t care about their dogs and the quality of life for their animals, they are making a huge mistake. Commercial Dog Breeders could have put up privacy fences and left things as they were. Or, they could have sent some of their breeding stock to friends and other family members thus reducing the quantity of dogs at each kennel. They could have forfeited their licenses and sold their puppies to other states that have recently fallen victim to their new regulations and are now screaming for puppies.

But, the Indiana Commercial Dog Breeders didn’t play games or try to pull any sneaky tricks. The breeders willing paid the USDA license fee and/or the Indiana Board of Animal Health fee. They joined the Indiana Council for Animal Welfare (ICAW). The Indiana Dog Breeders, Indiana Puppy Breeders, Commercial Dog Breeders and anything else you want to call those who raise puppies are spending thousands of dollars to upgrade their kennels. Some are building brand new facilities while others are remodeling their existing kennels with materials recommended in the bill signed into law by Indiana Governor Mitch Daniels and in effect as of Jan. 1st, 2010.

Raids have been conducted on kennels and private citizens for several years now. Lonely, elderly people have been a prime target. Scared and helpless, these people had to stand by under the watchful eye of law enforcement officers and while their beloved animals were carted off under false pretences. They never get their animals back. The animals were sent to shelters and put up for adoption. According to media reports, the animals were “rescued” because they were “so sick and so abused” and had to be relocated. Relocated means sent to shelters and adopted by the public, sometimes within as little as three days.

If the animals were so sick and so abused, why are the shelters adopting out these sick and abused dogs? Some animals were transported to shelters in other states. How are these animals getting across state lines without health certificates? If they had health certificates, they weren’t really sick were they? It seems to me there is a little more work to be done by the Senate and House of Representatives of Indiana concerning animal welfare.  

From day one ICAW has always stated that if you can not raise dogs correctly and legally we would not support you. Our Animals Rights opponents seem to not believe us. We have come to understand that these folks have just become the minions of HSUS. These Animals Rights folks have become brainwashed by the blather from the biggest factory fundraisers in the country HSUS.

We at ICAW are looking forward to the USDA’s changes in the next few weeks. So, yes, you heard it here, we applaud what the USDA is doing to rid the industry of the bad actors. Please take the time to read the above article and you will see why we are truly happy about the changes.

For those of you in Indiana that have not heeded our words, whether you are Indiana Puppy Breeders or Indiana Dog Breeders "Get It Right or Get It Gone". ICAW really and truly wants to Stop Cruelty to Animals whether it is in Indiana Pet Stores or any of the Commercial Dog Breeders who don’t want to listen. We have sent the message many times, now it will really be sent by no less than the federal government.

 How long before the Indiana Dog Breeders, the Indiana Pet Stores and the good citizens of Indiana start asking questions? Recently I was made aware of two alleged veterinarians offering an alternative to dog kennels under roof. Their program is call "FREE RANGE DOGS". Wayne Pacelle, president of HSUS, has been pushing for "FREE RANGE CHICKENS" in California. Is this just a coincidence? I doubt it.

On this program a fenced area of an acre with a community shelter would support 25 dogs. These veterinarians would teach the breeder how to socialize dogs so they would all get along. The dog breeder targeted for this program was at a loss of what to do. I believe I know what to do. Start asking questions.  

1.First thing you ask is how are they connected with HSUS. Also ask if this program has been approved by the USDA and/or IBOAH.

2.Ask if this is another crazy program to bankrupt breeders and if their intentions are to put them out of business.  Don’t be afraid of offending them. Get a description of their vehicle and get the license plate number. Remember, they most likely will be wearing small cameras and microphones.
   
3.Ask for ID and write down the ID number.

4.Ask what kind of dogs they raise and do they have their kennels set up this way. They will have to acknowledge if  they have put this in practice themselves or are they speculating. They probably don’t have their own kennel.

5.Ask for names, addresses or phone numbers so you can Find Dog Breeders already on program that you can contact.

6.Ask how you keep your dogs from being stolen when you are away from home or at night when you are asleep since you don’t have to be a 20 year old athlete to climb a fence.

7.Does the community shelter have access to the outside of the kennel in order for the owner to enter and check inside the shelter for removal of a sick or injured dog.

8.Ask what to do about hawks and owls if you have small breeds.

9.Ask how you know which male bred which female.

10.Ask how you determine a whelp date.

11.Ask how you discover a weak/sick dog before its too late. A sick dog could appear it is just napping.

12.Ask how you keep one chow hound from getting all the food.

13.Ask about feces removal and how you keep the kennel and the shelter clean, plus where do you put the dogs in order to clean the kennel.

14.Ask how you keep dogs from digging under the fence or finding a hole they can squeeze through and escape.

15.Ask how you keep a dog from eating the feces of another.

16.Ask how you deal with ALPHA dogs.

17.Ask for a list of what breeds you cannot put together.

18.Ask what you do about dogs not sharing the shelter.

19.Ask just how they go about socializing the dogs.

20.Ask about dimensions of shelter and height of kennel fence plus estimated cost.

21.Ask about materials used for fencing and ground cover.

22.Ask what you need to use for flea & tick control since the dogs will be exposed to the elements.

I have experience using a community kennel. Except for the yard dog, my dogs are 4 to 6 pounds and are turned loose together in a 16 x 16 chain link kennel everyday, weather permitting. I have two dog houses because they will not share just one. The male gets to be with the females for no more than a few minutes because they fight. Sometimes two will gang up on one for no reaon that I can see. They crowd the gate when I enter and sometimes one escapes. They ride the fence, they dig holes, they walk in feces, they share a water dish but will not share food. You can’t pick feces out of grass or gravel but you can rake the feces into a pile for removal if there is only dirt. The grass is gone so when it rains they are standing in mud. I can’t rake the dry ground when the dogs are there because they either attack the rake or want to play with it. Weeds grow into the fence and can’t be sprayed or mowed without moving the entire fence. My toy breed dogs look like lunch to hawks and owls, so my kennel is located under my one and only huge tree. None of my dogs know they can dig under the fence but they do know they can squeeze out through the space at the gate. I had to fasten a piece of 2 x 4 to the post to close the gap.

A few things concern me about this "FREE RANGE" idea. The egg producers couldn’t make it work. The large commercial egg producer had 10,000 eggs a day while the "FREE RANGE" producer had 900 eggs a day. After a few days the dogs are going to have open wounds, damaged eyes and ears from fighting, filthy from being in mud and some will be losing weight due to lack of getting their turn at the food. This is a perfect set up for the Animals Rights activists to claim abuse and neglect. Socializing dogs may work well when getting a puppy ready to go to a new home but it doesn’t work on adult dogs. I have had vet bills as much as $300 to prove it. So, when is a dog not a dog? NEVER.  
 

ICAW was founded after the defeat of HB1468 a group of dedicated animal owners who want to retain their human rights as well. It simply amazes us how pervasive the Animals Rights folks are in Indiana. One would think that with Indiana being such a large agricultural state that most folks would be aware of the Animals Rights folks. Little did we know how much so many people did not know about their activities.

The Commercial Dog Breeders found out, the Indiana Pet Stores found out, the Indiana Dog Breeders found out and probably the most important people who found out were the farmers of Indiana. We are grateful for the support of all of these people over the last 15 months.

So tonight we encourage all of you to go out tomorrow and execute your constitutional right to vote. Please remember to let Linda Lawson (D) District 1 and John Barnes (D) District 89 know that you won’t forget their involvement with the above bills. We think they both need to take a rest (at home that is).