Jun 6, 2020
We wanted to immediately alert you to a disturbing development: the Texas legislature is preparing to gut the state program that prohibits puppy mills. If you are one of the animal lovers who helped us pass the 2011 Texas Dog & Cat Breeder Act to regulate the conditions in large-scale animal breeding facilities, or one of the many Texans who understand that if unregulated, large scale breeding facilities become inhumane puppy mills producing dogs for profit in the cruelest condition, we know you will share our alarm.
You may be wondering how this is happening now, when the legislature isn't even in session. By law, Texas requires a "Sunset Review" of state agencies every 12 years to determine whether that agency should continue to exist. During that process, programs and departments within the agencies under review can be changed or abolished. The Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation (TDLR) is currently under review and must be reauthorized by the Legislature during the 2021 Session. In advance of the vote, the Sunset Commission reviews the agencies in depth and makes recommendations through a Staff Report. That report was just released.
During the review process, THLN provided information and data demonstrating the importance of the program licensing and regulating large scale commercial dog and cat breeders created by the 2011 passage of The Dog and Cat Breeder Act. Despite that, in the Sunset Staff Report, the Sunset Commission advised that the breeder program is not necessary to protect the Public and therefore states that the breeder program "could be safely eliminated."
Elimination of the program would certainly NOT be safe for the dogs in large scale breeding facilities, the puppies produced for profit without even the minimum care, and the unsuspecting public defrauded through puppy store sales of puppies with serious illnesses and health conditions. It's our job, just as it was in 2011, to remind legislatures of the risks.
Under the current program, and as defined by The Texas Dog and Cat Breeder Act, large scale breeders are required to provide basic protections for thousands of dogs and cats confined and raised in large scale breeding facilities by requiring humane housing and care standards and needed veterinary care. Because a law doesn't work unless it can be enforced, the TDLR Breeder Program requires periodic inspections and annual veterinary care. Anyone who has 11 or more adult intact female dogs and /or cats and who sells or offers to sell 20 or more dogs or cats in a calendar year must be licensed. The law provides exemptions for certain types of dog breeding, including dogs bred for herding livestock, hunting, or competing in field trials. If a breeder is operating without a license but meets the requirements for licensure, the business will be subject to enforcement actions, including administrative penalties and sanctions.
As we develop a plan to move forward, our goal is to protect this incredibly important program, which was created by the legislature with the support of thousands of Texans. An administrative review should not be able to deconstruct and dismiss a law that was passed by the legislature, and a program that is critical to protecting animals and humans of Texas. And we can't make forward progress if we are forced to start all over with a fight we already won.
We will have more information to share with you in the days and weeks to come as we continue to analyze the report and prepare an outreach plan. We did not want to waste any time in alerting you about this important development.
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FacebookJanuary 29, 2019 ·
There are 45+ dogs in cages. I saw Mom stepping all over the puppies. I saw dogs attacking the puppies. I was also towed about Giardia and parasites.
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January 28, 2019 ·
We got our blue female weim from top of the rock on aug 2017.
I live in Oregon so I could only text and call her. We met a top of the rock weim in Portland, named Fitz, the one who has now been diagnosed with hip dysphasia. We contacted Roxanna and was told our puppy had the same dad as Fitz which made us even more excited since Fitz parents & I had become friends. All of those messages were scrabbled, I would constantly ask for photos of the pups and the parents, she would give me excuses and I would get 1 or 2 days/weeks later. Never straight forward answers. I was flying into Dallas to fly Ellie as my carry on, I paid $1000 for her and she agreed to meet me at the airport. Plus $125 to fly her as my carry on.
When I finally few into Dallas to pick up my pup, she asked me for an extra $100 in gas money to drive an hour to meet me! I said no, since I’m paying for the dog, plane tickets, extra for her to be my carry on and she got very upset. She was over 2 hours late to come and didn’t even show up, I got more excuses and she sent her husband.
Ellie came with all sorts of parasites in her stool and vaginitis that never went away, so we had to put her through a heat cycle in order for a 90% chance to get rid of it, which luckily it did. Now we found out that Fitz and Ellie aren’t even related! Roxanna has no idea who’s who with all of her weims, we had to tell her multiple times who’s parents are who! she’s didn’t even pull Fitz dad out of the breeding lines! Ellies dad, who is smokey is now confirmed 3 months ago to have bad hips according to her.
it has all just been a mess! we will be getting Ellies hips X-ray in the next few months to check for issues!
she was from the litter of LOLA AND SMOKEY JUNE 18,2017
FITZ PARENTS ARE VALKYRIE & MOMS AKA NAME IS TOTRW HALOS STREAK OF BLUE MOON TURQUOISE (IDK WHERE AN ACTUAL NAME IN THAT IS)
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Cristina Thompson
Cristina Thompson here ,this needs to be report it !FILE YOUR COMPLAINT
If you do not know if a person or company is licensed, use the Unlic
as a ex military federal employee ,saw many third world counties from east to west ..he is came to realize that this state isn’t much better them any other third world countries he saw..and he is perplex how we can be this way ,,I must say we need to improve our laws .. for the wellfare of the dogs and animals in General ,,Politics aren’t part of my life i must say we have a president that as Americans we must be shame .he don’t care for the animals BUT AS A STATE AND ONE OF THE BIGGER OF THE UNION,,WE MUST BE BETTER ON OUR OWN,, As the governor wrote back we must work with our cities and counties,,WELL WE NEED A STATE LAW TO GO BY ,that needs alot of improvement please i will keep an eye ..and i will vote for who stands for better care and betters laws for the animals ..Humans can protect themselves, animals can not !
Doris Fletcher
and i reported her she try to becoma a puppymill in her page of review that customer like me had many complaints ..from Oregon to California ,,they couldn’t belive
they went so far for a dog and be misslead so much in many ways then one ..their pets had intestinal parassites..plus ,,I was the one that reported her cause i check ,
and she did let her licenced expired just in that period time..Texas don’t even have any protection for the customers that purchase dogs ,this is wrong many other states do,,we need also better laws to protect dogs from scam rescues ..we have horrif stories of rescues colceting pledges ((all tax free )and not providing for the dogs ,,the dogs end up bee abuse and neglect and suffering ,,please lets fix the big problem ..