Linda Douglas must be very confused as to why her animals were seized this time, when the SPCA had visited her property so frequently in the past and found nothing wrong. For decades the SPCA considered the provision of food, water, and shelter to be adequate care for dogs.

The SPCA has recently been forced to expand its definiton of neglect to include psychological distress. Independent animal welfare organizations who rehabilitate desocialized and psychologically damaged dogs from puppy mills, backyard breeders, and off chains, know that dogs are social companion animals who thrive on close human contact. We know that a cage is a cage, no matter how big or how clean. We know that no dog deserves to live its life outside, no matter how big or insulated the dog house is. We know that every dog would choose to be an only dog with its very own human rather that live as one of 20 or 30 or 40 dogs, all vieing for the attention of one or two humans.

We also know that thousands of dogs are killed each year in this province for lack of homes. Therefore, it is morally wrong to keep mass producing more.

Keeping a dog outside and repeatedly breeding her to make money from the sale of her pups to strangers is not loving a dog, it is using a dog.
Keeping and using multiple dogs in this manner is called puppy milling. The amount of food, water, and shelter provided cannot justify the atrocity of mass producing puppies to be sold at a profit to strangers and unknown futures.

The SPCA has been forced by independent animal welfare groups to start recognizing psychological neglect. It is finally doing what it should have done decades ago.