You know with all of these dog laws that HSUS and PETA are passing before long all of the legitimate dog breeders (puppy mills seem to be exempt from many of these laws) will be forced into a life of crime. We'll be selling bootleg AKC registered dogs. We'll be stealing out in the night in our souped up Camaros, Firebirds and Mustangs with the hidden compartments under the trunk where we will stash our pups and then we'll head out into a moonless night over the backroads of Kentucky and Tennessee with our illegal cargo. We'll put up to a smokey joint with a sign that reads Fernando's Hideaway. We'll pull our hat down low over our face and sidled up to the door and knock three times. A tiny little window at the top of the door will open and an AKC judge will peer out, and we'll say, "Fabian sent me". They'll want to know the password and we'll utter "Potomac". The door will swing open into a room filled with smoke.....no wait...its pine shavings dust. We quickly hurry in with a wiggling contraband. Old breeders are sitting around a still.....oh no, sorry its a dog crate and some tequila, they're making Margaritas....and they're telling the youngsters about the days they remember when dogs were not hidden in caves in the woods. They got to run in green pastures, swim in our pools, sleep on our beds. They used to have competitions where we got ribbons and had dinner with good friends and laughed a lot.....gone are those days. Suddenly there's a noise and someone runs in the door shouting , The Feds are here. PUppies are grabbed and hurried down into the root cellar, someone pulls a rug over the trapdoor. Through the cracks we can see the Feds walking above us in the blue windbreakers with PETA in big white letters. You can tell the ones that spent years lobbying before joining the 'crackdown force' because their hands are stained with green from the cash they were handing out to all the legislators......Carry on friends I am sure you can come up with many more scenarios!

OMG, Judy - I just brought the last dog in for the night, got the house buttoned up, and poured a glass of Pinot before bed. Well, the Pinot is all over the keyboard and it's all your fault! That will be a hard one to top...

to add to Judy's lovely account, please do not forget the twin thugs, whose middle names are "THE" (you know Jimmy THE Fist, and Joey THE Foot) waiting outside in a USA-HEALTHCARE Camper.

They are there to knock some good old fashioned sense into you about health care. "Youse don need no private insurance" and a sharp kick to your - well - package comes next." Then they fine you for driving a van which only gets 15mpg. Confiscate that and force you into a GM (I mean a USA) Geo.

On the way home, with your icepack in place, your microchip implanted in your keister, you arrive home to find you now are sharing it with another family - (they deserve a house too!). Don't say nuttin' Jimmy and Joey will be back with steel toed shoes to make sure you spread YOUR weath around.

wooo hooo Love the government - after all they got Amtrak right (nope), medicare right (nope), post office (nope), the EPA (no - wrong again). Let's give them ownership of everything.

Makes me glad I live in Canada ....

Gosh Judy I drew a really good picture in my head (my dear Mom's words) over that scenario. Sure seems like it could happen doesn't it? What a shame. Thanks for really making us think.

Oh Lordy, this made me laugh! Unfortunately it is funny, but very, very sad but true.

My uncle was a bootlegger during the depression in Wisconsin from what my Mother told me. I wish he was still around so that I could learn how to become an outlaw the right way!

Let me get out my fedora and black overcoat with the extra large inner pockets - just big enough for furry contraband. I guess I could soup up my Tahoe.

It is serious and getting more so by the day. HOwever that was not my intent to make folks think but to just share my own laughter. You know how sometimes things just fall apart so badly and continue to do so ...that you just have to start laughing at it all. If you don't laugh you're going to cry. You know funny thing happened to me on this forum many years ago. Some other posters and myself were talking about some accomplishment one of the HySpire dogs had, and as always someone got on there to slam us all and he/she said "Jeez guys, its not brain surgery, its just a dog show" That person was trying to be mean but actually gave me a little motto to live by that has helped me through many stressful times. I find myself freaking out because a shipment of the good stuff from one of the boys is becoming difficult for one reason or another and I'm not sure I am going to be able to get it there ( snow storm/flooding/ plague of locusts,whatever) and then I remember what that person said...Its only a dog breeding- not brain surgery, and I calm right down, put my head down and move forward doing all I can do but knowing that if it doesn't happen the world will not come to an end and if it does happen, world peace will not occur. I use it in other parts of my life when I am getting all out of sorts about something. I just take a step back and realize again...Not Brain Surgery. Of course should I ever hold the key to world piece or a scalpel in my hand while performing brain surgery, I'll be a bit lost because my mantra won't be able to work in that situation!
So anyway that funny little scenario regarding bootlegging just occurred to me and I was sharing the laughter. Really we need for Mike Silva to weigh in on this- I am sure he could paint this picture even further out into ..Heaven knows where.
On a bit more serious note did you know that it used to be against the law ( not so many years ago) to own a dog in China and you went to prison for it. If PETA had their way, that's where we would all be in the U.S. PETA is spreading their word in other countries as well and people in those countries are not aware of PETA's real agenda and I know this because a friend from Europe sent me some info and a petition re: animal cruelty and there was something in it to indicate PETA's involvement . I wrote her back and told her I would not sign and why and what was going on here with PETA and who they really are. She was totally surprised and said she now realized why she was getting nasty letters from everyone she sent this petition to in the U.S.
Judy

Judy you have made my day more than once today.,...you are so correct. This is not brain surgery...good motto. We do the best we can and that is all we can do!

On the non-Continental tip, the UK's RSPCA was instrumental in getting Cruft's banned from being televised this year..............they went after the financial supporters, the dog food companies.

My friends' said Cruft's was a very different place this year, had lost a lot of it's luster.

There are also mandatory changes to the breed standards upcoming for many dogs, they were deemed something to the tone of"cruelly deformed by definition". The Labrador exhibitors were forewarned that overweight dogs would be severely penalized.

The new Czar that Obama has appointed believes we should all be vegan, as anything interfering with animals in a natural habitat is cruel. He is a strong advocate in PETA.

Too bad for all of us doing the right thing by Labradors.

You know there will still be Labradors around only they'll be only bred by Therapy dog facilties and puppy mills ( I am not linking the two in anyway) because they will still be breeding Labs for drug detection, therapy dogs, cancer sniffing dogs, perhaps still in the Pups Behind Bars programs but those dogs will be being bred by those who specialize in those Labradors specifically. I doubt there will be anymore show dogs or field trial dogs being bred and I would suspect that PETA would love to stop the breeding of the hunting/field trial dog first of all, because then they can stop hunting and dog ownership in one fell swoop.
I never thought I would see the day. I was never a person who felt radical about the government interfering in our lives but I really am starting to more and more every day. I loved it when a friend in Texas wanted to put up a kennel building and went to the City to ask what permits she needed and they asked her if she owned the land, and she replied she did. They said, "Its your land, build whatever you want" Go, Texas!!!!! But I know Dallas just had some tough dog laws passed so it has hit there as well. I think the hardest part is that no one listens to the side of the dog breeder, we are unheard and put on the defensive and made to look like the bad guys. Every Veterinary assosciation and dog food company out there should be fighting these dog laws with every dime of profit they have. This is their bread and butter.

Well Judy...........you just know that laugh really helped me a lot, tons and tons in fact.
thank you for your humour, irony, truth, and most of all fabulous writing.
Colleen

Just a comment on the serious side- while I agree with Judy that veterinary organizations (and dog food companies) should be fighting hard along side the breeders..... unfortunately the veterinary world is also getting infiltrated by the animal right's activists. I know it sounds odd- why would they ever go to vet school in the first place- but I think they don't start out that way but are "cultivated" in small ways (anti-racing/drafting/hunting, anti-cropping/docking, anti-breeding... then once that is the accepted culture the more aggressive ideas come out).

As far as our legislators go... I got an idea after the very difficult fight we had here in Connecticut this past spring with anti-breeding legislation. I agree with Judy that on the whole the entire "hobby breeder" or whatever term you want to use is essentially unknown to the legislators. We need to get known and understood and we need to do it long before the legislation comes up and we are frantically contacting our representatives. NOW is the time to get to know your legislators. I think that local dog clubs should make a point of having their members make contact with their reps and even invite them to some of the club events. Let them get to know us and put a face to the word "breeder". Especially if your club event is a public education type of event (a stand alone event or in conjunction with a bigger dog event), but even just inviting them to your show or your annual picnic. Take the opportunity for them to meet your dogs, and see WHY the private breeders are the best resource for prospective puppy people. They need to see firsthand what we all do and why- rather than simply hearing the bad side of things from biased sources. The best part is that even for folks who aren't inclined to become a political activist you can still make a huge impact simply by letting the reps get to know you!

That was perfect Judy! As I was reading it I could hear your voice in my head. It was great for a laugh, which I needed today.

Do you think PETA has something to do with the incredible price of dog food. It is making it very hard for someone with a large kennel to keep going.

Oh my lord Judy, you brought tears of laughter to our eyes when we read your post!! Thanks for the light moment.

As I pulled the original Drewett-Heim oil cloth rug over the trapdoor I was relieved I had Judy create a rustic scene of moose and trees. It was a hard decision to make it dog free, but I always feared a raid of this sort. I had made it up to the rafter with only a moment to spare as the door opened with a thunder. As I peered over the edge of the rafter at the balding heads with the blue and white cloaks I feared I would get caught, but I had to hide the “old timers” and the “newbies” so our legends could live on. As I was shifting back into my hiding place I noticed a yellow twizzle moving back and forth behind my grandmother’s antique rocking chair. I held my breath and hoped my prize little bitch puppy would not make herself known as the intruders scattered furniture and items within my drawers searching for dog beds, show leads, and cookies.

As the apple faced woman, with polyester pants pulled up to her breasts, spun around I was certain she had seen Reva. I was about to gasp as she headed in her direction, but held my breath for fear of being discovered. Reva was very special to me and to the underground Labrador community as she was a descendent of the great Receiver of Cranspire. He and the other spectacular dogs of yesteryear were the ones we spoke of. We were lucky to have Lady Herr at this meeting. She had traveled up from Texas to New Jersey in the dark of night with nuns on their way to Frederick, Maryland to sing in their annual choir competition. It was this event that had taken the place of the Labrador Retriever of Potomac Specialty the first year dog shows were banned in the United States. Nuns from all over the world would arrive for 3 days of competition and claim their spots in the parking lot with wooden pews that had been strapped to their bumpers or tops of their vans. I often wondered if those that arrived early stacked hymnals instead of cones to save their places.

I snapped out of my thoughts and stared in the direction of Reva. A skinny little man yelled something from across the room and the apple-faced woman made an about turn and left through the doors with the others. Reva was safe! There were tears in my eyes as losing her would create a void in my heart and would end generations of careful and thoughtful breeding. A breeding that could never be repeated as when the laws changed all veterinarians were forced to destroy all the frozen semen inventory in their clinics. I jumped down from my hiding place and removed the oil cloth on the floor. I swung open the trapdoor and was relieved that everyone was ok. As Lady Herr climbed the stairs I placed a blanket around her shoulders as she shook from the cold. Those that climbed the stairs after her had steam coming from their mouths as the root cellar was very cold this time of year. I threw another log in the fireplace and lit the fire starter. We gathered around and were thankful to have been spared once again. A few of the newbies could not take the stress and exited as quickly as they could. Lady Herr took her natural place among us on the long backed Adirondack chair I received from Jill Ickowski as a house warming present. With the blanket around her shoulders and sitting on that chair in front of the fire, Lady Herr looked like the royalty the young ones believed her to be.

As we continued with our teachings, this was one more chapter to add to our stories. It would not be too long until our raid was communicated from coast to coast in hopes of saving one of our sister underground clubs. For without the support of these members across the land our quest to tackle new or change old laws would be futile.