Research Paper (thesis statement) topic on: Educational games (400-500 words)
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eng122.w2.modeloutline.pdf
Running head: RESCUE AND SHELTER DOGS 1
Rescue and Shelter Dogs: Outline
Yolanda B. Student
ENG122: English Composition II
Professor I. M. Jackson
August 31, 2016
RESCUE AND SHELTER DOGS 2
Rescue and Shelter Dogs: Outline
I. Introduction
A. Thesis statement: Due to the pet overpopulation in America and the exacerbated
medical ramifications of selective breeding, people should adopt rescued dogs
rather than purchase a puppy from any type of breeder or pet store.
II. Body Paragraph: Pet overpopulation
A. Pet overpopulation is causing environmental and social problems.
1. Pet waste left behind by unsupervised and/or homeless animals have an
impact on ground water quality (Paterson, 2011).
B. Rescue organizations reduce the pet population in America by spaying and
neutering all animals before they are released.
1. There were 3,500 individual animal shelters operating at capacity in the
United States in the mid 1990s (Motavalli, 1995). The numbers grow because
too many pets are allowed to breed freely without control.
2. According to environmentalist Jim Motavalli (1995), the average female dog
can produce two litters a year, which means that one un-spayed girl dog can
be responsible for 67,000 births during her fertile years if her offspring are
also left intact and not spayed or neutered.
III. Body Paragraph: Genetic modification
A. Designer and purebred dogs are created by artificial genetic modification through
selective breeding practices.
RESCUE AND SHELTER DOGS 3
1. Since humans have selectively bred dogs for physical and behavioral
characteristics through inbreeding, pedigree dogs can be plagued by genetic
disease (Farrell, Schoenebeck, Wiener, Clements, & Summers, 2015).
B. Selective breeding practices result in exacerbated medical conditions in canines.
1. Previously, breed standards were focused on aesthetics and temperament with
disregard for health, leading to increased medical issues in pedigree dogs.
Indrebø (2008) found that it will take “several generations to change the breed
through genetic selection in order to eradicate the unhealthy over-typed dogs”
(pp. 1-2).
C. Rescue organizations do not participate in selective breeding for designer or
purebred animals.
IV. Body paragraph: Commercial breeding
A. Pet stores do not take the steps necessary to ensure healthy pets.
1. The only way breeders can ethically create healthy litters is through ongoing
diagnostic screening of all dogs along with genetic testing regardless of
arbitrarily chosen aesthetics of the animal (Farrell et al., 2015).
2. There are ten recommendations for ethical breeding programs that require all
breeders to only breed very healthy dogs, calculate percentages for breeding
stock, limit “matador breeding,” exclude female dogs who are unable to give
birth naturally, screen for polygenetic diseases, conduct DNA testing, and
practice natural puppy-rearing with birth mothers (Indrebø, 2009).
V. Body paragraph: Preservation of breeds and standards
A. Counterargument: Pedigree dogs represent a cultural history.
RESCUE AND SHELTER DOGS 4
1. Desire for a pure-bred dog may be based upon popular culture trends
rather than more rational or logical decision-making processes (Ghirlanda,
Acerbi, & Herzog, 2014).
VI. Body paragraph: Guarantees of health
A. Counterargument: There is no guarantee of a healthy pet when adopted from a
shelter where the animal’s history is unknown.
B. Rebuttal: While it’s true that there is no guarantee of health when a pet is adopted
from a shelter, it is not financially supporting breeders who are breeding animals
with disregard for health and welfare.
1. Many municipalities are banning the sale of puppy-mill animals due to
the animal welfare concerns (Taylor, 2015).
2. Purebred dogs suffer needlessly and genetic diversity, as exhibited in
mutts from the pound, is preferable for a healthy and stable pet (Jeppsson,
2014).
VII. Conclusion
A. Call to action: The sale of commercially-bred puppies from pet stores should be
banned unless all ethical recommendations become legally mandatory.
B. Concluding statement: In the meantime, many mixed-breed dogs in shelters are in
need of homes. Therefore, families should first consider adopting a dog from a
shelter or rescue organization rather than purchasing a puppy from an unregulated
commercial enterprise like a pet store or large breeding enterprise.
RESCUE AND SHELTER DOGS 5
References
Farrell, L. L., Schoenebeck, J. J., Wiener, P., Clements, D. N., & Summers, K. M. (2015). The
challenges of pedigree dog health: Approaches to combating inherited disease. Canine
Genetics And Epidemiology, doi:10.1186/s40575-015-0014-9
Ghirlanda, S., Acerbi, A., & Herzog, H. (2014). Dog movie stars and dog breed popularity: A
case study in media influence on choice. PLoS One, 9(9), 1-5.
doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0106565
Indrebø, A. (2008). Animal welfare in modern dog breeding [Special Section]. Acta Veterinaria
Scandinavica, 50(56), 1-6. doi:10.1186/1751-0147-50-S1-S6
Jeppsson, S. (2014). Purebred dogs and canine wellbeing. Journal of Agricultural and
Environmental Ethics, 27(3), 417-430. doi:http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10806-013-9470-y
Motavalli, J. (1995). Our agony over animals. E: The Environmental Magazine, 6(5), 28.
Paterson, J. (2011). A greener pawprint. E: The Environmental Magazine, 22(3), 22-27.
Taylor, J. S. (2015). Anti-puppy mill legislation across the country is dogging pet stores. ABA
Journal. Retrieved from
http://www.abajournal.com/magazine/article/anti_puppy_mill_legislation_across_the_co
untry_is_dogging_pet_stores
