Your opinions needed....should I participate?

Ok, so I'm just trying to get some opinions from you guys on what you think about this idea. I have strong views on both sides so I guess I just need some input before I make my decision.

A friend of mine that works at the shelter with me on the weekends came up with this idea and she wants me to go in with her. The idea is to start a sort of pet shop, but not just any regular shop. The idea will be for people who are either inexperienced, uninfomed or just ignorant dog owners. It will allow people to bring in puppies that their dog has had, with the understanding that the sale of the pups will go towards having their dog spayed. So basically, it allows people a second chance while at the same, HOPEFULLY, keeping shelters from overcrowding with puppies and dogs that don't have a home and also hopefully convince people who do want a puppy, and aren't concerned with pedigree, to cease purchasing from pet stores that obtain their dogs from puppy mills. Her vision is that all pups sold will be specifically from this background and that she will also be able to bring some older dogs in from the shelter and get them adopted out.

When a dog owner brings in a litter of pups, they will be given a voucher towards the spaying of their dog, valid through the humane society vet(who has already agreed to this). There will be a time limit on the voucher and as it approaches expiration, an intervention will be made to ensure this works properly. She has also vowed to keep strict records to ensure that owners do not take advantage of this and continuously bring dogs in, in order to receive free operations.

The purchase of a pup comes included with vouchers for: free wellness evaluation, current shots, special offers(i.e dog food, toys, etc), and spaying/neutering once the pup is of age(works similar to the voucher given to the person bringing litters in)

So here are my concerns:
-Will this allow people, who might normally be responsible and have their pets spayed(assuming they are not breeding them), to get the mentality that it's "ok" to make a mistake once.
-Is it even believable to think that people will not take advantage of this no matter how good you are at keeping records? I mean, couldn't someone just as easily have someone else claim the bitch as their own if the actual owner has already done this?
-The main thing that I'm worried about and it's related to the first concern, would is cause a "boom" in litters because people know that they will get one free shot?

All in all, I think she has good intentions but I'm still a little leary of the whole idea. I am all for dogs of all kinds finding homes, it's not their fault if they are pure bred or registered, I'm just really concerned that this might cause more trouble than it's worth and I really don't want to throw my hat in until I get a little reassurance.

Let me know what your opinions are, and if you have any suggestions that might help out with the concerns I have, please let me know!!!

Gosh, you're probably asking the wrong lot on here - most of us are in the UK where we think badly of 'pet shops' of any description selling pups. Our rescues and pet charities also have different policies on neutering and many of them will do it for free for those people who can't afford it.

So in short, I don't think it would be a good idea here, whether it would work in the States is a completely different matter.

If she is serious about doing it and her intention isn't to make money for herself, I would have thought it would be better to set it up as a charity rather than as a shop.

OK, you make a good point and I'm actually glad you brought it up. Shop was the only way I could think to describe it because I'm a little out of it this morning, but it would indeed be a non-profit organization and she actually wants me to go in with her to pitch it to the humane society to make it a sort of division. I'm with you as far as shops go, and I think word is sort of spreading around the states that most of the pet shops tend to sell from puppy mills or irresponsible breeders. So in short, it is going to be pitched strictly as charity, all proceeds will go towards the spaying/neutering operations and well-ness/shot exams for pups, everything else goes toward the shelter.

i agree with all of your concerns sammerson.. it could definitely lead to people having a lax attitude with regard to their dogs having litters as they know someone will be there to pick up the pieces. I just think they should be encouraged to spay their dogs before, not after a litter.. some people might just have a litter for the purpose of the voucher.

How would you fund all this? What happens if something goes wrong with pups in their new homes and they can no longer look after them/their health goes down hill; can you pick up the pieces/rehome the pup? What happens if you are inundated with pups and not many people willing to buy/adopt them; what will happen them then? How do you ensure that all pups and dams are neutered/spayed? Will there be a legally binding contract? What happens if the contract isn't forfilled - will there be court proceedings?

I would imagine that people would see this as a real handy number. Bitch out roaming gets caught, dump the pups off with you and get a free spay voucher to boot...

You say it's a shop - but more of a non profit thing. I think if you want to go through with this you have to decide; Are you going to run a shop or a rescue centre for unwanted pups? If as a rescue centre for pups; what do you do when people with unwanted/abondoned/stray dogs turn up wanting to give them into your care? Where do you draw the line?

I've asked alot of questions; but not for me to know. Just things you might not have considered as yet with this idea.
(I've lots more as well; but that would def be overload!:smt002 )

Definately a lot of good questions, some of which I have answers to, some of which are concerns that I have had, and some that I haven't thought of yet.

As far as funding goes, that's the main reason that she wants me to help her present this to the shelter and make it a sort of division of the shelter itself. I guess the idea is to make this the "puppy" section of the shelter.

As with any shelter employee, we are trained to do rigorous evaluations of people wanting to adopt dogs. This includes bringing them and their entire family in and giving them "play sessions" where they interact with the dogs and we evaluate how the dog responds to them and vice versa. We also require that they bring any pets they may already own so that we can observe how their pets interact with the adoptee. Once everything seems to be going fine, we then schedule an appointment to bring the dog they want to adopt to their home and see how that goes. The prospective adopters are also put through a pretty rigorous check to evaluate not only their knowledge of dog ownership, but other things as well, such as their financial stability, not that they have to be rich, but we just want to know that they will be willing to give the dog medical attention it needs. This is actually something else that I had thought about and just haven't asked her yet, I'm not sure if she is planning to run this in a similar fashion or not, but even so, it's alot for two people to handle, i agree, yet another reason I haven't agreed to this yet!!!

As far as making sure that dogs are spayed, I actually have a call in, waiting on a response, to see if there is some way that we can hold people legally responsible if they forfit on the contract. That's a biggee as well as that's the whole point of this little project.

As far as people bringing in unwanted dogs, I think the idea is to refer them to the shelter itself and maybe possibly take them in and process them into the shelter, just so people that show up at our site don't have to make another trip, which could in turn cause them to say "screw it" and just drop the dog off somewhere.

You definately bring up alot of good points and I have really been doing alot of thinking about this. I'm still a little leary of the whole idea, like I said, I think she has good intentions but i have already voiced some of my concerns to her and I have also stated that I think it is ALOT to handle. I know it can be done, she is actually a full time employee of the shelter and has worked there for about 8 years, so I know she understands the process and I think she would do well with coordinating everything and has the knowledge, I just think I would feel alot better if there were more people involved though. I think she hopes if she pitches this to the shelter itself, she will get more support from some of the other employees.

I don't know, I really have alot of doubts about this and I think I have just about decided to tell her no, however, I feel like I need to convince her to put it on the back burner for now.

Thanks for all the advise everyone, it has really been appreciated!!!