Proposal To End Puppy Mills

Brittany Kelso. 12/9/14, Anthropology 103, Kline, Final Proposal

How to End Puppy Mills

1. Central Project Idea (1 paragraph single-spaced):

For my project I choose to create a pamphlet informing people about puppy mills and how they can help to eradicate them. The pamphlet would contain some general information and then be tailored to the specific location it will be posted. Although not generally talked or thought about puppy mills are still present within the United States and elsewhere in the world. Puppy mills are no place for any animal to be raised. From horrid living conditions to neglect puppy mills do not foster the love or care an animal needs to grow and live. Animal neglect and abuse is prevalent even in our developed country

Oregonian culture is all for animal welfare and is central to the norms and values of our culture. As Oregonians we value our animal friends just as much as our human ones. You could say learning to appreciate and love animals is part of the enculturation process of becoming Oregonian. This may not be true for all people though some cultures may not see the importance of animal care and thus not see the important message of the project. Likewise some people may see the importance of animal welfare but may not be in the best situation to help or know how to help. Depending on the culture the pamphlet is placed into the information contained within may need to be tweaked to include information on why animals are important and how they are cared for is

Having one viewpoint on the matter will get me nowhere because not everyone thinks the way I do. By being able to get into the mindset of others and their cultures and make it to where they understand what I am trying to say, is key to the success of my project. Having an ethnocentric viewpoint is just setting yourself up for failure. If I were to just plainly say why I oppose puppy mills and hate anyone who has ever worked for one or bought a puppy from one is not the way to go. I understand that people unknowingly support puppy mills and although it doesn’t define them as being a bad person it would help in the future for them to be informed. I also understand that some people who work for puppy mills are just trying to support their families and probably equate the work to being like a farmer who raises cows. I want to try an inform everyone and in order to do this I can’t be hostile or ethnocentric. I need to be understanding and use cultural relativism to place myself in other people’s shoes so to speak. That’s why using a cultural anthropology approach to my project is essential to my project both locally and globally because everyone thinks differently and if I want everyone to help I cannot present only one way of