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Puppy mills are facilities that mass-produce puppies for pet stores throughout the country and to emerging
foreign markets. They are licensed by the Department of Agriculture.
Puppies are often subjected to horrific conditions from birth and during
transport from breeder, to broker, to pet stores hundreds of miles from where their life began.
Choose from the articles below to become more informed on the subject.
A behind the scenes look at the puppy mill industry
Undercover, hidden-camera footage has shed stark light on the dark world of puppy mills, where dogs are forced to live their entire lives in small cages, and to breed continuously until they die. In a world of pregnancy for profit, little prisoners bark in desperation, unable to escape their cramped and stench-filled conditions that prohibit even normal walking.
Only pregnancy brings temporary relief to dog, crammed five and six to a cage. Between pregnancies, hundreds of dog compete for attention and food - their bony bodies a testament to inadequate food and water, sub-standard housing, insufficient exercise and infrequent, if any veterinary care. Some dogs can barely open their eyes, fatigued beyond belief, their filthy hair matted and falling out... they are past the point of cleaning themselves, a basic instinct now overridden by exhaustion and disease. Many dogs never survive long enough to see another litter, their lifeless bodies slowly rotting away, inches from the living.
As early as four to six weeks old, the puppies are packed several to a crate - with little water or ventilation - and transported to pet stores across the country. They are shipped via pick-up truck, tractor trailer or plane. Many times they arrive at pet stores malnourished or ill; some never make it at all.
The Solution
Without pet stores, the puppy mills wold go out of business. To this end, every one of us who seeks a companion animal should adopt from humane societies, or breed-rescue clubs. As you read this, millions of healthy, lovable, adoptable dog are sitting patiently in shelters - waiting to die - competing with the cruel and profiteering puppy-mill and pet-store industries. Only when people vow to adopt animals, instead of buying them, will we see a reduction in the millions of companion animals tragically killed in our nation's shelters each year.
Reprinted with permission from In Defense of Animals.
For more information visit their web site: www.idausa.org
Excite's classified ad read:
Selling entire Kennel operation. Mobile Home made into kennel building, feeders, crocks, waters,
fencing, kennel cages, doghouses, lots of misc. equipment. American Eskimos, Scotties, Miniature
Dachshunds, Lhasa's, Jack Russell's, and Corgi's. Dogs will start at $100.00 and go up to
$1200.00 depending on if they are bred or with pups. These are good producing animals and will
produce well for you.
The ad caught my eye since I do Scottish Terrier Rescue. There is not a lot of Scotties in this part of the country and certainly not any formal Scotty clubs. What we do see a lot of is extremely poor quality, unhealthy dogs, cast off from yet another puppy mill.
Normally, I do not believe it helps to buy out these places. They just use the money to buy younger stock. This time I could not look the other way. I thought if they were selling off all their equipment, surely they were done with the puppy manufacturing business. The decision was made to get as many Scotties as possible out of this filthy pit.
They wanted $300.00 a piece for most of the dogs except for one bred female, which they felt, was worth $550.00. For the five Scotties all together, that came to $1750.00 big ones. Plus, that would only be the start. Vet bills were totally going to send me deeper in the poor house. Since there seemed to be no resources to pull on, resorted to begging on the Internet. To my relief, and I admit, my disbelief, groups and individuals started contacting me, offering to help. With in twenty-four hours, donations of $1000.00 were available. What a wonderful testament to humanity!
We drove 360 miles that morning to Pittsburg, Kansas to purchase as many Scotties as we could with the cash. What we saw as we arrived was not a pleasant sight. Cages of dogs, in horrid dirty cages, every where you looked. There had to be 50 dogs. The smell was so bad, it took days to get it out of our noses, it just kept lingering.
There were other people there buying dogs. Most seemed to be starting their own operation or adding to the stock they already had.
I had been advised not to tell them we actually were there to rescue these dogs, and thank goodness, we did not. Moments after meeting the owner, we told her we were planning on starting our own kennel, she was very helpful, telling me how she had been getting tons of calls from those AWFUL RESCUE PEOPLE, and how mean they were to her. That was the first of many times I really wanted to give her and her co-owner a big slice of my own opinion!
The co-owner, was very encouraging telling us how much more money there was in dogs than in cattle or horses. The owner was so helpful she even gave me the name and telephone number of her broker.
She wanted to make sure I understood how ethical she was, she showed me all the dogs that had broken and missing teeth and pointed out the "hot spots" on one female. (Mange)
She kept commenting on how good a producer this or that one was. One of the two-year-olds was such a good producer she had seven pups, four of them died, but "that was just from the heat."
Some where in the middle of all of this, the little thought in my head turned into a scream, "SHE DOESN'T THINK SHE IS DOING ANYTHING WRONG!" How sick can it be to think that using God's creatures in this way is all right?
Then we came to the Scottish Terriers:
- The first female: Toto, 2 years old, great personality, black, may be bred to Gator-couldn't tell me when, has extremely bad ear mites and one broken tooth. Appears to be in good health.
- The second female: Black Bear: 2 years old, great personality, black/brindle, bred to Gator-couldn't tell me when, looked to be in good health. They wanted $550.00 for this one.
- Third female: Pool's Skippy, 4 years old, friendly, broken teeth, has not produced for her, has very bad mange. WE COULD NOT GET HER.
- First male: Skippy do dah, two years old, extremely shy, soft coat, broken tooth, black, was pinned with female that had mange.
- Second male: Gator boy, 5 years old, mean spirited, extremely long straight legs, black, great producer. WE COULD NOT GET HIM.
After spending about three-hours there, I could not fight any longer. They would not take
$1000.00 for all five. I settled on three for $900.00 and he threw in a couple crates.
The only way I can explain this man is to refer to him as an old horse trader, if you know
what I mean.
As we pulled away, the owner called out to us, "take good care of my babies now",
I never felt more like punching someone in my life!
As soon as we returned home, we unloaded our precious cargo into the back yard.
It still makes me cry thinking of how tentative they were to step out of those crates!
Within 15 minutes the two females were galloping around, happy to be alive. The male is another
story. He had gotten carsick and was not too sure of anything. He just slinked off to hide
in the garden.
One by one, we gave them the first bath of their lives. Cleaning out their ears and treating
them for mites, we also treated each of them with a product called "REVOLUTION".
Surprisingly, they did not appear to have an infestation of fleas although we did find some
ticks.
In case you have not heard of Revolution, it is a topical parasiticide. Kills fleas and prevents
flea eggs from hatching, prevention of heart worm disease, treatment and control of ear mites,
treatment and control of sarcoptic mange, and treatment of intestinal hookworm and roundworm.
Wonderful stuff!
PHASE TWO: FOSTERING
- All of the dogs now have foster homes. Toto is now in Elks City, OK where her foster
family may adopt her. Believe it or not, they have a Vet who makes house calls on Sunday!
She is reported to not be bred, and is in good health. She will be spayed this week.
I am sure she is one happy little girl and in very good hands!
- Black Bear is now called Jenny and is in Bixby, OK. She received a clean bill of
health this afternoon. She will be spayed Thursday of this week. Her foster family
may also have to keep her, as she has already won their hearts.
- Skippy will be neutered tomorrow, and will be fostered out later this week.
His ears will probably always be floppy and I'm sure he will look better after a few pounds
and a good haircut. He seems to be afraid of men at this point, but did well for the vet.
He will come out of his shyness in time, but for now, he is sad. Needs a special home
with lots of TLC. Not aggressive towards people or other dogs, just sad and scared.
I do not believe buying out puppy mills is the answer to anything except putting more money
in these people's pockets.
The reason for this sell out, was because the couple is getting a divorce. After getting
to know them, I think they will go their separate ways and both will start their own operation
independently. As they say, it is the nature of the beast.
It is my belief the answer to stopping puppy mills lies in education. The general public
need to be discouraged from buying a puppy from Pet Stores. IF YOU CUT OFF THE DEMAND,
THERE WILL BE NO SUPPLY.
Yes, the industry has inspectors. The owner told me all about the inspectors, and in her
words, "THEY ARE NOTHING TO WORRY ABOUT. They have "written her up" a couple
of times, but it's not a big deal."
Legislature may be the answer also, if we can find a way to keep these careless breeders
from finding a loophole. And how about the AKC? These dogs all have AKC registration,
although the breeder could not tell me for sure when and to what dog the females were
supposedly bred to. She even had the wrong name on the two of the pens. After she checked
her information it became clear she had a female in the pen with her own son!
UPDATE: WHERE ARE THEY NOW
- Toto is now called "BonBon" and was adopted by her forever family in
Lawton, OK. They recently told me "they wouldn't take a Million dollars for her!"
Black Bear now has a much more fitting name, "Jenny". She is beautiful little
brindle and joined a wonderful forever home in Tulsa, OK. Her new Mommy had been waiting
for a little girl for a long time and loves her to pieces.- Skippy Do Dah also was re-named, "Murphy". His forever home, also in Tulsa,
has a little Scotty puppy for him to hang out with, alone with several small children.
He also lives close to his real birth Mother, so he gets to see her quite often.
Murphy may be the happiest dog I have ever seen.
The total expense of purchasing these three Scots along with the expense of
getting them healthy, not including mileage of transport totaled $1478.84! We could not have
managed this with out the support of so many compassionate people. From the families who
adopted these wonderful dogs, I want to say THANK YOU; it was worth every penny and every
bit of the effort.
I want to thank personally all of you wonderful people who coached me through this. Your
guidance and encouragement has been very much appreciated. I know we didn't save the world,
but we took one little step towards the quality of life, of not just 3 little Scotties, but
the quality of life of the family who adopt them.
Bless you all,
Bonnie Parker
Bonhaven Scottie Rescue
Give generously to Bonhaven or one of the other rescue operations. Become a foster family
to a rescue group. Adopt a pet from a rescue group or shelter, but NEVER, NEVER from a pet store.
For more information, visit these web sites:
In Defense of Animals
Puppy Mill Rescue
Small Paws Rescue: All About Puppy Mills
The Fund for Animals
Hearts United for Animals
I Help Pets
Petfinder.org
TulsaPets.com
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