Dhana, a 5-year-old female golden retriever, was very weak when Renni Adhe Agustin found her lying on the Bintaro toll road in South Tangerang last year.

Her neck and leg were tied with a plastic rope to the leg and neck of a male golden retriever, which was later named as Dhani. He stood beside her as if he was giving her protection from moving cars.

'€œWhen I approached them, I smelled a mix of blood and pus from them,'€ said Renni.

Renni took them to a veterinarian, who confirmed her suspicion that the dogs were victims of a backyard breeder. The vet concluded from the telling wound on Dhani'€™s legs, indicating he was shackled to force him to mate, and from Dhana'€™s infected womb, a result of far too frequent breeding without proper medication.

Dhana survived, but the male dog died of a tumor, a result of too many hormones injected to make him always ready to mate.

Backyard breeders'€™ cruel practices have prompted an outrage among animal welfare activists in the country, including Jakarta, as the number of cases of dumped and abandoned dogs, mostly in miserable condition, continues to rise.

The activists, therefore, have started a '€œstop buying, start adopting'€ movement to fight against breeders whom they accuse of having little regard for animal welfare.

Backyard breeders considered dogs as business prospects, instead of living animals, said Fanny Wiraatmadja, an independent animal welfare activist.

She said that backyard breeders often employed cruel methods to produce puppies many times in a year with excessive hormone injections and Viagra consumption.

Fanny said that aside from using drugs, such breeders often violated procedures set by the Indonesian kennel club Perkin. They, for example, ignore age limitations, mate two different breeds and force several male dogs to mate with a female in her short period of estrus.

Despite their poor practices, their businesses remain afloat because the demand for pure-bred puppies is still high, Fanny added.

In a trembling voice, Fanny said breeders kept selling since people kept buying, while more and more dogs were left to die.

Nonetheless, Fanny admitted that there were good breeders who cared about their dogs. They would even buy back dogs from the buyers if they were not well treated.

A dog breeder in Bogor, West Java, who requested anonymity for safety reasons, said he disagreed with practices of animal abuse in disguise of dog breeding.

'€œI have seen breeding abuse and I feel offended by backyard breeders,'€ he said, adding that he did not merely breed dogs for the sake of money. '€œWe cannot make much profit because the cost of treatment is high.'€

The 51-year-old man, who is also a white-collar worker, said that he bred to conserve a particular breed that was rare in Indonesia.

'€œI cannot just give my dogs to buyers without assuring myself that they will be good owners,'€ the breeder said.

Meanwhile, Karin Franken, co-founder of the Jakarta Animal Aid Network (JAAN), said that potentially good owners showed strong commitment before adopting dogs.

Franken said potential owners had to consider their own environment and lifestyle before choosing dogs based on their appearances.

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