Dog breeders get some new rules, but some people don't think you should be adopting anything but rescues.
When you think of puppy breeding, many people think of images of poor, starving critters, left for hours on end, alone, in dark cages.
That image has caused a lot of back and forth between dog breeders and rescue advocates. In fact, the Las Vegas City Council outright banned puppy mills and Clark County commissioners have talked about doing the same. A major player in the industry is trying to make a change.
"The breeder part of this equation has been a hard part until now," said Jim Seidewand, a pet shop owner.
Tuesday at the SuperZoo, the national show for pet retailers, the World Pet Association introduced Canine Care Certified, kind of like a big stamp of approval breeders can earn if they follow a long list of rules and prove it during audits.
"We feel that the regulated breeder community and the regulated pet store industry is one of the best places to get a puppy," said Seidewand.
The idea is to make dogs healthy and happy so they don't lash out.
A lot of the stuff presented at the convention this week is all about keeping dogs comfortable and that's a big part of these new standards.
"I'm all for rescues only -- versus breeder," said Mikah Gesler, a passionate dog owner.
No matter how intense the standards might be, for some they'll never go far enough.
"It's about the dollar. It's not about the pet, you know, they're making a living at it and they don't really care about it. It's more like a product than an animal," said Gesler.
Even with a permit, breeders in Clark County can only have 8 dogs and 8 cats as long as they follow the rules. The hope is Canine Care Certified would be the new national gold standard, something you would notice right away walking into a pet store.
