Comment from Roberta Pliner

I have raised the same breed of dog for nearly 40 years, including doing some breeding and showing. All my previous dogs were purchased from their breeders at their breeders' homes, which included varying numbers of breedable male and female dogs. Some of my dogs were bred by me. The
exception is my present dog, whose breeder I became acquainted with online via a breed chat list. At some point as our correspondence included personal messages with lots of photographs and videos of her then-current litter of puppies,
she offered me a puppy.
Thanks to the efficiency of the Internet, I was able to check her and her dogs out as to their quality and her reliability in a half-hour. I was promptly assured by other breeders who knew her personally that she was a responsible breeder who produced good, healthy, well-tempered dogs.
So when the puppies were old enough to go to new homes, the
breeder who lived 1500 miles from me and I met in the middle at the home of the puppy's sire, transferred the puppy to me, and I returned to New York with my new puppy.
The puppy was exactly what I expected after seeing weeks and weeks of videos of that litter, and she has matured into
the best dog I ever had. As well, her breeder and I became very good friends, and I helped her place subsequent puppies with friends of mine.
The result is a lot of happy dogs with happy owners, none of which will be possible any more under APHIS proposed new
regulations. What is needed is more owner education, more
awareness on the part of prospective dog and other pet owners as to what they should look for in a potential pet.
But restricting breeders to four breedable females and to selling pets only out of their own homes is just going to result
in the development of a black market for pets. I would not have the best dog I ever had today under APHIS proposed rules, nor would a lot of excellent responsible breeders be
able to stay in business.
Thank you.