Re: how could you separate puppies from their mother?
The following is a comment I got, which is about the two new puppies I brought to the house: https://protesilaos.com/news/2025-07-02-vlog-two-new-puppies-hut/. I am sharing it with the permission of my correspondent, without revealing their name.
how could you separate children from their mother? i’m sure there is philosophy about doing something as unnatural as this. if you need a dog company, adopt one. resuce one. don’t buy. don’t sell. don’t separate from mother
I expect there to be a philosophy for every issue. I also know that too much philosophising inhibits action and that our life is a sequence of deeds.
To your point, puppies can be separated from their mother only after they stop breastfeeding. Otherwise it should be avoided. Suppose the man who has the mother follows your line of thinking. Now he has 10 dogs. Within a few months they will be large in size and will form a pack. The owner will likely not be able to handle the situation, either financially or in terms of containing the natural aggression of the pack. Also, he will not be able to spend enough time with the dogs and, generally, form a bond with them. So either the dogs will be deprived of basic needs, like food and shelter, or they will be allowed to become feral where they will inevitably clash with humans. What do you think humans will do when they start feeling threatened by uncontrolled dogs? Are you sure this is an outcome that contributes to the wellness of those dogs?
Adopting a dog is noble. I have done so with one of my older dogs, Raizou. Though not all dogs can be adopted for a variety of reasons. For my case, I could not bring another adult dog into the house, due to the tensions it would cause with the other adult dogs I have. More so for a dog coming from a shelter that would likely not be well socialised and in need of extensive training. Bringing such a dog would require me to enforce strict segregation between the dogs in order to prevent fights. In the meantime, I would have to invest an inordinate amount of time to train the adopted dog, thus creating a sense of jealousy in the others. Do you understand how a dog like my Atlas will be ruthless towards any strange dog that challenges him? Again, this will not end well.
The phenomenon of puppy mills is something I am against. Though note this comes more from the demand of people for expensive “purebred” dogs, which creates a business incentive. Whereas all my dogs are mixed breed that I got for free, with pregnancies that occurred naturally. The mother of Meelon and Oreeon, for instance, lives here in the mountains in a spacious place where she is taken good care of. Her pregnancy is the result of a natural phenomenon. The only way for people to prevent the creation of puppies is to sterilise the dogs. I do not see how forcing such a condition on the mother and father is reducing harm, which I assume is your underlying principle.
All in all, each decision is a balancing act. Whatever we do, we have to act with a view of the bigger picture, think about the longer-term implications, and be responsible.