Great News and Congratulations to Facebook! (did I just say that????)

Yes I did! We are barkin' happy that Facebook did something socially conscious in the pet community and that's why we are posting this good news today. In response to concerns raised by the ASPCA and its national “No Pet Store Puppies” campaign, measures will be put in place to ensure that puppy mill dogs will no longer be sold via Marketplace on Facebook. The ASPCA is working with Facebook and Oodle, the online classifieds service that powers Marketplace on Facebook, to restrict listings of puppy mill dogs on the popular social media site. Through an ongoing removal process, ads placed by puppy mills have already started coming down. The process was designed to ensure that individuals may continue to post dogs available for a nominal adoption or re-homing fee. To read more click here.
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Hats Off Award

Halo Pet Food, partially owned by Ellen DeGeneres, wins the very first
'Hats Off Award' from TruthAboutPetFood.com. Pet Food giant Science Diet challenged Halo in 'Advertising Court' (bol!). The Hats Off Award is to recognize Pet Food Manufacturers that have acted or taken action encouraging the pet food industry to become accountable for their ingredients, labels, and manufacturing of pet foods and treats. More about this story here.

HSUS forms dog Breeders Advisory and Resource Council - Finally some Big Guns aiming at Puppy Mills

The growing march against puppy mills got some big guns supporting the effort late yesterday with the announcement of a (dog) Breeders Advisory & Resource Council formed by the Humane Society of the United States. In the press release announcing the council, Wayne Pacelle, president and CEO of The HSUS said:

“For too long, large-scale commercial puppy mills have given all dog breeders a bad name. We commend the responsible breeders who are showing leadership in their community and speaking out against the abusive operations that treat dogs not like loving family members, but like a cash crop. Everyone who cares about the health and welfare of dogs must be part of the solution, and we are excited about this new partnership.”

The council is composed of dog breeders from across the country. Their first goal is helping consumers understand the hows and whys of responsible breeding is essential to ending the cruelty inflicted on dogs by puppy mill operators, including those who sell on the Internet.

This is a great turn of events. BUT I read this quickly well after midnight and what I didn't see was anything about regulations for breeders, working with legislators to create breeder regs or how breeders would be monitored. I'm praying that the announcement of Breeder Regulations will be forthcoming soon. (read more here)

What do you think? Will the HSUS make a difference in your opinion?