3CW Efforts

canine welfare efforts

Public Education is Our #1 Priority

For the past several years, Colorado Citizens for Canine Welfare has invested in outdoor advertising to remind the public of the horrors of puppy mills and how to avoid supporting these unethical breeders. Billboards and bustail signage in Denver, Fort Collins and Loveland  give exposure to this important message to 200,000 citizens per week.

We want to thank our many supporters for the financial assistance that makes this effort possible. Learn more about how you can make a one-time or monthly donation here.

 

Breeders Selling to Stores 2021 Report

3CW has researched and compiled The Breeders to Stores Report summarizing where all out of state puppies come from and the Colorado pet stores that sell them. This data is useful to consumers to see where puppies in pet stores originate from. It is also used by lawmakers drafting rules and legislation to protect dogs being transported and sold in Colorado. Between 2017-2020, 93.7% came from commercial breeders (aka puppy mills) who violated standards set by the USDA. That represented 30,747 puppies!

See the full Colorado report here.

 

Pet Store Consumer Protection Act  HB-1102-2021

3CW supported and did the research behind the Colorado legislation that requires puppy-selling pet stores to disclose more information to prospective buyeres about where their puppies come from. 

Fighting New Puppy Mills in Conejos County Colorado

We continue to work to stop the establishment of new Colorado puppy mills in Conejos County.

The Conejos County Commissioners considered applications for zoning changes to allow new dog-breeding facilities AKA puppy mills in the summer of 2018. Conejos is a largely rural county on the southern end of the San Luis Valley in Colorado.

We joined with landowners and other concerned citizens and spoke at the county commissioners’ hearing on this in August of 2018. We helped with articles that appeared in the newspapers, provided them with excellent information about the environmental effects of dog-breeding facilities, and articles about the down-range effects of dog over-breeding on the many rescue groups and shelters that inherit too many unwanted dogs. We even gave them the text on a ban from another community that successfully put in place a ban on new dog-breeding facilities

Important Progress – Six-month ban implemented!

Ultimately, the county commissioners implemented a six-month ban on the establishment of new dog-breeding facilities to give them time to study the information provided to them on environmental, health etc. topics. The moratorium began in the Fall of 2018 and continues to this day.

3CW Is committed to fighting to stop all inhumane dog breeding facilities in Colorado

Puppy mills are inhumane commercial breeding facilities. The mother and father breeder dogs live in cages in squalid conditions 24/7. The puppies that are produced are often sick and not well socialized. In Colorado, there are approaching 200 licensed puppy mills. Across the US, it is estimated that there are 10,000 licensed and unlicensed dog breeding operations.

Nonprofit organizations like Colorado Citizens for Canine Welfare, Inc. (3CW) are often all that stand in the way of a proliferation of puppy mills. We worked with a high-profile leader (who is an attorney in another state) who has had success in several other states in fighting puppy mills and stopping the sale of puppy mill puppies through retail stores. We appreciate your financial support which has helped to cover the costs of fighting this expansion of puppy mills in Conejos County.

Thank You for Your Support of Our Efforts to Protect Colorado Dogs