Date of Award
4-6-2026
Document Type
Thesis
First Advisor
Sharon Crary, Ph.D.
Second Advisor
Jennifer Everett, Ph.D.
Third Advisor
Lynn Bedard, Ph.D.
Abstract
To evaluate whether existing federal laws adequately protect the welfare of dogs, this research relies on publicly available inspection records and enforcement data from the United States Department of Agriculture and Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (USDA, APHIS), federal oversight reports from the United States Department of Agriculture and Office of Inspector General (USDA, OIG), and data collected by animal welfare organizations including Humane World for Animals and the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (ASPCA). These sources expose how current regulations function in practice and reveal gaps in oversight that allow harmful breeding conditions to occur in large-scale breeding facilities.
Recommended Citation
Knight, Ava '26, "Regulating Dogs or Protecting Industry? A Critical Analysis on the Animal Welfare Act and the Federal Oversight of Commercial Dog Breeding in the United States" (2026). Honor Scholar Theses. 323, Scholarly and Creative Work from DePauw University.
https://scholarship.depauw.edu/studentresearch/323