Elias Weiss Friedman

We don't have to get into all the details of that, but I just think it's a noble thing if you're interested in getting a dog to at least consider getting one from a shelter because dogs aren't meant to languish in small cages and be not social.

They belong with their people in a family.

Even going to a shelter and just seeing it for yourself, I think is a meaningful thing to do as someone who loves dogs.

I think to make a distinction, not the practice of breeding a responsibly breeding a dog that you care about, for example, like dog shows, for example, there is a best practice and these

People are not responsible for the overpopulation in shelters.

They're not making money out of this.

They're barely breaking even.

They are breeding a breed they love to keep it alive, a legacy, whether it's a hunting dog, a it's the very 100 to 200 purebred breeds out there are interesting and I think

worth preserving.

It's a fascinating thing.

The issue comes when you have someone who's trying to make money off of a trend of a breed's popularity, like a celebrity gets a dog and then everyone wants one of those.

It's this impulsive fashion-y phenomenon.

And the hallmarks of a puppy mill, as you will, is the ability to get a dog next weekend quickly with a credit card without any sort of

The breeder looking into your background or interviewing you at all.

And without any accountability as if the breeder is not keeping up with you.

Those are the dogs that can end up in a shelter.

And so I just wanna make that distinction off the bat is that if you decide that you really want a specific breed, it, you need to make sure to do a lot of research and find a breeder that is doing it with love and a care for preserving their breed, not to make money.

And it should take a year.

It should take at least six months for you to get a dog.

If that's the path you wanna go down.