New Subscription Database Set To Smear Dog Breeders

Just when you thought you've had your fill of fake news and relentless attacks on animal breeders... a new website masquerading as a pro-dog breeder publication is resorting to disturbing tactics to disparage dog breeders, dog breeding, and the AKC.

Last week, a new publication launched called, The Canine Review. Sounds familiar, right? Not to be mistaken by Canine Review, Canada's oldest independent competitive dog show magazine featuring Canada's top canine handlers and dog show enthusiasts, founded in 1978.

An imposter, The Canine Review, was launched recently by an Emily Brill, former writer for BuzzFeed andThe Daily Beast. Emily Brill is not a credible source for issues surrounding the hobby and profession of dog breeding. Her organization and website is nothing more than an anti-breeder, animal rights hit job on dog breeders, while resorting to the all too familiar scheme of publishing lies and misinformation. 

In preparation for the launch of her dupe publication-website, Emily Brill called several individual breeders and interviewed them under the deceptively familiar-sounding name of The Canine Review. In HSUS fashion, Emily Brill twisted the truth, taking inspection reports and breeding protocol out of context and used it to smear these breeders on her new website. 

Ms. Brill makes access to these smear reports on her website to subscribers only. So, for $19.99 a year, anyone can pay to read the lies she purports. 

So much for transparency and legitimacy in Ms. Brill's new "publication."  

Brill Tweeted about the logo design for her new website which calls into questions whether there are copyright infringements with the name being almost identical to the Canadian publication, Canine Review. 

Brill has also posted an advertisement on the Berkley Journalism website seeking freelance writers to produce "feature stories for paid subscribers who will have access to a database of profiles of breeders and animal shelters across the country." 

This post is to serve as a warning to all dog breeders to avoid speaking with Emily Brill or anyone from The Canine Review.

The Cavalry Group will release an article soon which will set the record straight about the misinformation and lies that Emily Brill has published.

To those who are members, thank you for your membership and support.

Your friend in the fight,

Mindy Patterson

President

The Cavalry Group

New Book Reveals Dog Shows Promote Dogs

By Jay Kitchener

Book Review:  The Dog Merchants by Kim Kavin

It takes an activist with a degree in journalism to inform us that dog shows promote dogs, and when two dog shows appear on national television, it’s the cause of all substandard dog breeding.  If Kavin really holds a degree in journalism, she might want to ask for her money back.  It’s not journalism to plagiarize the propaganda of controversial animal rights groups.  The source pages in her book are thick with references from the shady Humane Society of the United States.

A self-described expert on the luxury lifestyle of yachts, Kavin misses the boat when it comes to getting this story right.  Somebody throw her a life preserver.  She’s drowning in propaganda.

When a book claims to “expose” the commercial dog breeding and rescue industries, it gets my attention.  I give this activist credit for visiting the Hunte Corporation’s commercial kennels.  Unable to say anything bad about the Hunte facility, Kavin throws responsible journalism overboard and jumps the shark to claim that televised dog shows cause substandard dog breeding. 

The day before the book’s release, Kavin crowed on the Facebook page for her book, “My op-ed in today's Albany Times-Union, urging New York State lawmakers to go beyond passing ‘pet store puppy mill’ bans and also outright evict the Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show--the type of event that the American Kennel Club itself calls a huge marketing asset for the business model of commercial-scale puppy farms nationwide.”

Calling for the censorship of an annual American television tradition is not journalism, it’s activism.

In the book Kavin flops around like a fish out of water.  She can’t even get a reference to Prohibition right.  She points out the obvious that government prohibition of alcohol created a black market for alcohol.  However, she fails to make the obvious connection that the kind of government prohibition she’s advocating for would create a black market for dogs.

The Prohibition Movement began as a ban on the sale of alcohol on Sundays only.  It seemed reasonable and most folks supported it.  But over time the movement grew and the mission expanded to become a complete ban on the manufacture, sale and consumption of alcohol in public and in private.  This is exactly where we are heading with the kind of government prohibition Kim Kavin is proposing on dog breeding. 

It wasn’t illegal to drink during prohibition, and it won’t be illegal to own a dog in Kavin’s world.  It will just be illegal to breed a dog in Kavin’s world. 

American’s didn’t stop drinking during Prohibition, they just drank different alcohol—bootleg alcohol.

Americans won’t stop owning dogs in Kavin’s world, but they won’t own purebred dogs. 

Led by the controversial Humane Society of the United States, activists in more than 120 communities across the United States have forced their propaganda on local governments and bullied them to mandate that you many not buy a puppy from a professional breeder in a legitimate pet store, and that you may only buy a puppy in the store supplied by a shelter or rescue organization.  The problem is that these shelter and rescue organizations no longer sell animals in need of homes from the local community.  These organizations now primarily sell animals imported from unknown sources in far-away states and foreign countries with no regulation and no oversight.

The bans on the sale of animals in legitimate pet shops from professional breeders presumes that those breeders are unprofessional and sub-standard.  If that’s true, why would Kavin mandate that your next puppy must come from a mysterious place that might be even worse?

These bans mandate that the public may only purchase animals in a pet shop supplied by shelters and rescue organizations.  Animals sold by shelters and rescue organizations are exempt from consumer protection laws that cover animals sold by breeders.  Why would Kavin remove these protections for consumers and animals?

Government is working hard with activists like Kavin to make sure your next puppy comes from mysterious sources. 

What do you call a book based on propaganda?  More propaganda.  The Dog Merchants by Kim Kavin is one activists’ opinion trying to pass as balanced journalism. 

Written by Jay Kitchener who is a leading advocate in the purebred dog industry. Jay has been on the forefront in preserving the rights of dog breeders and animal owners, and recently helped in turning back an effort to ban retail pet sales in Maine. Jay is now serving as the New England Regional Director for The Cavalry Group.

Why Celebrate National Purebred Dog Day?

Why do we need National Purebred Dog Day? Because the propaganda of the hostile political movement of animal rights has forced changes in laws all across the nation.

In my state of Maine, the shelter and rescue industry has driven the hostile propaganda of the political animal rights movement to the point of absurdity.

They say don't buy a puppy from a family unless you can see both of the puppy's "parents" on site. Never mind that the male dog doesn't live there. If he's not present, then they must be a you-know-what. It's the law now.

Make sure you get to see the family's entire house. If it's not absolutely perfect in all aspects including things that have nothing to do with raising puppies, then they must be a you-know-what. It's the law now.

If you think the family, in your expert opinion, might be a you-know-what, then be sure to make a couple of phone calls. First, call the state's animal welfare program. You don't have to give your name or anything. Just tell them where you were and that you think they are a you-know-what. Just one anonymous phone call is all it takes.  It's the law now.

That family will soon get a visit from animal welfare agents, accompanied by the police with guns, because of your anonymous phone call. It's the law now.

That family will also receive a visit from Child Protective Services, and all the neighbors will see, because "everyone knows" that anyone who is a you-know-what also abuses children. It's the law now.

Finally, be sure to call the Humane Society of the United States. If the family you just ratted out gets convicted, you get $5,000.00 cash.

Yay, you.

This is why we need National Purebred Dog Day. When there are no more breeders, there will be no more dogs.

If you think the source of your dog makes you a better person, then you don't need a dog, you need a therapist.

My dog. My Choice. Ditch the Guilt. Take back the conversation.

Written by Jay Kitchener who is a leading advocate in the purebred dog industry. Jay has been on the forefront in preserving the rights of dog breeders and animal owners, and recently helped in turning back an effort to ban retail pet sales in Maine. Jay is now serving as the New England Regional Director for The Cavalry Group.

Activists Announce Pet Shop Ban in Portland, Maine

After failing to achieve a state-wide ban in Maine in 2015 on the four pet shops that sell dogs and cats in the state, activists announced plans this week to re-introduce the ban in Portland, Maine “by the end of the month.”  There are no pet shops that sell dogs and cats in Portland. 

More than 120 communities across the United States have mandated in law that you may not buy a puppy from a professional breeder in a legitimate pet store, and that you may only buy a puppy in the store supplied by a shelter or rescue organization.  The problem is that these organizations no longer sell animals in need of homes from the local community.  These organizations now primarily sell animals imported from unknown sources in far-away states and foreign countries.  This is the phenomenon of retail rescue.

In 2015 the Maine Legislature passed the ban on the sale of professionally bred animals in pet stores with strong bipartisan support.  The governor vetoed the law, and it died.  Now, the same players who failed to get the state-wide ban in Maine are bringing it back at the local level.

One of the biggest supporters of the failed state-wide ban in Maine was Patricia Murphy, Executive Director of the largest shelter in Maine, the Animal Refuge League of Greater Portland.  According to their 2014 IRS 990 forms, this shelter has almost $11 million in assets.  Murphy is paid a salary in excess of $100,000.00.  In addition, this shelter is currently constructing a new facility with a budget of $6.5 million.

In public testimony in 2015 I told the legislature that Murphy’s shelter was importing animals.  Murphy testified after I did, and she took great exception to my statement.  She broke protocol for testifying to the legislature by straying from her script to address my statement.  She emphatically stated, “We do not import animals.”

The facts indicate otherwise.

According to a survey from Maine’s Department of Agriculture, Maine’s shelters imported 45% of their animals from out-of-state in 2014.  The survey shows that 3,436 dogs and 2,060 cats were brought into the state by Maine’s shelters that year.  The latest numbers from 2015 show a dramatic increase in these numbers with 61% of Maine’s shelter animals coming from out-of-state.  Last year Maine’s shelters imported 4,302 dogs and 3,342 cats.  More than half of the animals in Maine’s shelters now come from out-of-state.

But Murphy still believes her shelter doesn’t import animals.

Only days after Murphy claimed her shelter doesn’t import animals, one of her employees shared a post on social media lamenting how she was stuck in Boston’s rush hour traffic as she made her way to Logan International Airport in Boston to pick up a shipment of “sato” dogs.  “Sato” is Spanish for “stray dog”.

The pricelist for animals at Murphy’s shelter is complicated.  Imported animals are more expensive.  Most dogs sell for $300.00.  Imported dogs sell for $350.00.  Imported kittens sell for $200.00 each. 

According to their Facebook page this shelter sold 253 cats and kittens in December 2015.  If the cats were sold for $200.00 each, that’s over $50,000.00 in revenue in one month from cats alone.  That total doesn’t include additional revenue from 61 dogs and puppies and 15 small animals also sold in that month.

According to state statistics, over half of these animals came from out-of-state.

The proposed ban on the sale of animals in legitimate pet shops from professional breeders presumes that those breeders are unprofessional and sub-standard.  If that’s true, why would government mandate that your next puppy must come from a mysterious place that might be even worse?

The proposed ban mandates that the public may only purchase animals in a pet shop supplied by shelters and rescue organizations. For 25 years Maine’s Puppy Lemon Law has been one of the toughest consumer and animal protection laws in the country.  Animals sold by shelters and rescue organizations are exempt from all terms of Maine’s Puppy Lemon Law.  Why would government remove these protections for Maine’s consumers and Maine’s animals?

Government is working hard with the activists to make sure your next puppy comes from mysterious sources. 

Repeated calls to Murphy for comment were not returned.

Jay Kitchener is a leading advocate in the purebred dog industry and has been on the forefront in preserving the rights of dog breeders and animal owners nationwide. Jay serves as the New England Regional Director for The Cavalry Group.