Mark Cushing, founding partner and CEO of the Animal Policy Group authored, Pet Nation: The Love Affair That Changed America. Since 1998 the pet population in the U.S. has almost doubled — about two-thirds of the country now owns a pet. And that demand is only going up, while supply may be going down.

Cushing and I discuss pet stores selling animals, and the problems with their sourcing, and lack of transparency. Meanwhile, even now animal shelters in major metro markets like Chicago have a limited supply of adoptable dogs, aside from those who look like pit bulls. The solution is to transport dogs (and cats to a lesser extent) from states where there remains a surplus, but the surplus isn’t lasting forever.

Cushing too is concerned about the supply and demand issue, and he offers several creative answers which I agree we need to consider.