How to ’save’ puppy-mill dogs: Don’t buy them
By Gina Spadafori
December 5, 2007
I’ve been writing about pets and their care for a living, more or less, since 1984. In all that time, I have completely and utterly lost any idea I ever had that laws can or even should be put in place to end the pure evil of puppy mills, mass-production facilities where “breeding stock” live in filth and fear, in cages open to the elements, for the duration of their lives as units of production.
Why? Because laws to clean up puppy mills will give us cleaner puppy mills, at best. As long as dog-breeding facilities are considered as “farming” — overseen by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, no less — you will never see an end to large-scale kennels, because the pet and farming lobbies will not allow such infringement on their ability to “farm dogs.”
No matter that a kennel-raised pup — even from a “model operation” — has for decades been known not to be the best choice as a family pet. (Wanna read up? Start with Scott and Fuller from the’60s.)
Mass-produced puppies, often raised in filth, are notoriously difficult if not nearly impossibly to house-train. Bred with no concern to congenital defects, those who don’t pop with parvo right away often end up with expensive-to-treat health conditions later. Raised without socialization as the offspring of sick, stressed out moms, many of them are also neurotic as hell.
When you buy a pet-store puppy or a “puppy-mill direct” puppy from an Internet ordering site, you may be giving one puppy a good home, but you’re guaranteeing the continuation of this sick, cruel industry.
As an aside, you’re also screwing up the holidays for veterinarians and dog-trainers everywhere.
Don’t do it.
Read our “No Christmas Puppies” posts from a couple years ago, or today’s story from MSNBC.com on a puppy-mill bust in Virginia. In the credit-where-credit-is-due department, puppy mills have always been a focus of HSUS investigations, and their section on puppy mills and why you should skip their retail and Internet outlets is well worth reading.
(The picture above is by our Morgan Ong, of a van load of former ”breeding stock” from a Midwest puppy mill. The dogs were brought to California for pro bono veterinary attention and adoption into their first real homes ever. Many were in deplorable condition. )
***
Just so happens I’m now raising a puppy for a friend for the next six months. Want to know what you get when you have a puppy from someone (reputable breeder or shelter/rescue group with a good fostering program) who knows what they’re doing? You get a puppy like Otter who:
– Is house-trained at 8 weeks, to the extent her bladder and legs can manage it (understands the concept, can’t always execute to perfection);
– Is socialized to think people are the center of the universe and soaks up learning like a sponge;
– Understands dog body language and is playful and respectful to other dogs;
– Knows that teeth hurt (especially baby teeth) and isn’t mouthy;
– Understands the difference (for the most part) between dog toys and human belongings;
– Is comfortable with having every part of her body touched and doesn’t freak at nail trims;
– Is confident, not fearful, explores in new situations; and
– Sits for her dinner.
She’s not a wonder puppy. She’s just what you get at eight weeks when you get a puppy from someone who knows what she’s doing, works hard to socialize puppies during the first few weeks of life, and primes them to learn new things willingly and happily.
Want a puppy like this? Look for a shelter or rescue group with an active fostering program, or find a reputable breeder if you want a purebred. Hint: At this point, that means no Christmas puppy. Get over it.
No matter how cute, don’t buy a pet-store pr “puppy-mill direct” Internet puppy. If everyone just passed on these puppies, puppy mills (even the clean ones) would end within a year. No sales = The end.
Great article! But please add “internet-direct puppies” to the pet store category. Many puppy mill operators are also marketing direct to the public, skipping the middle man and making even greater profit that way.
Getting rid of puppy mills will also require that people don’t buy these internet pups. How to tell if the breeder found on-line is a puppy mill:
-they take visa, mastercard or paypal before they ever speak to you
-they don’t ask questions about why you want a puppy or what kind of home it will have
- they require non-refundable deposits
-they will ship anywhere
-they have multiple litters advertised or “always” have pups available or on the way
-they bad mouth other breeders or AKC or National Club member breeders on their sites and often claim “special” breeding programs that eliminate all disease etc….
-they may even offer unrelated breeding pairs or trios and may push the idea of breeding for profit
this internet direct industry has now surpassed pet shops as a source of rescue dogs for bulldog rescue. Many times they are charging more than the dedicated breeder with health-screened, well socialized puppies. All the sites of course claim the best care, best dogs blah, blah but no reputable breeder will take a credit card or sell a puppy without extensive interviews. If it sounds too good to be true, it’s an on-line puppy mill.
Comment by Jennifer J — December 5, 2007 @ 10:05 am
Thank you for the suggestion. You’re absolutely right, and I added references to these “puppy-mill direct” Web sites.
Comment by Gina Spadafori — December 5, 2007 @ 10:12 am
Thanks!
Comment by Jennifer J — December 5, 2007 @ 11:21 am
Great article! There is certianly a double edged sword to this situation. The pet store puppies themselves have done no wrong and too deserve a home, but I completely agree and understand the reason for not buying them (so as not to contribute to the cycle). So sad…
Comment by Heather M. — December 5, 2007 @ 2:27 pm
Heather, it is very sad. But eventually someone does buy them or they are sometimes dumped on rescue. The pet store or internet seller has to move through them fast to profit. Everyday they sit and eat(and grow) lowers their value and costs the store owner or mill owner money. If they don’t sell fast, they will be marked down etc…
If that happens, the pet store owner won’t order more and the mill will breed less or move on to another source of income. So while it may be hard on the crop of puppies in question, it will help shut the industry down.
But I agree, it’s tremendously hard to see any animal miserable and suffering and not want to help. Various rescues have tried to buy up breeding stock at dog auctions. The millers quickly found out that it was a good way to sell of old, infertile and sick dogs and profit off it to boot! They have no trouble buying or importing more brood stock to replace those bought by rescue. So hard as it is, many national Parent Clubs and Breed Rescues won’t buy at auction or permit use of funds to buy pet shop or auctioned dogs. Having said that I applaud those who save the rejected dogs from these sources. It can be very difficult to know what to do and when. You want to save the dogs, but not help enable or facilitate the very industry that is abusing them.
Ultimately, Gina has it 100% right. If no one buys the puppies, the mills, mass importers and brokers will simply disappear.
Comment by Jennifer J — December 5, 2007 @ 3:40 pm
>>Because laws to clean up puppy mills will give us cleaner puppy mills, at best. As long as dog-breeding facilities are considered as “farming” — overseen by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, no less — you will never see an end to large-scale kennels, because the pet and farming lobbies will not allow such infringement on their ability to “farm dogs.”
Comment by trucorgi — December 5, 2007 @ 6:14 pm
Above
This is absolutely true.! And if/when MSN laws are passed, these “cleaner facilities” will be exempt from them. And if/when PAWs (now resurrected in the farm bill) passes, these “cleaner facilities” will pass and the home/show/hobby breeders will fail. Why? Because USDA/AWA regulations were written for commercial operations, not private residences. Breeders who raise puppies in their homes will never meet the criteria. We follow a code of ethics. We don’t have commercial flooring, drainage systems and air exchanges. The language in the amendment also opens the door for HSUS and other animal rights groups to become contractors for the UDSA inspection program. There will be fewer, not more well-bred puppies, and that really is the goal of these regulations. Don’t be fooled. The only way to fight puppy mills is to NOT patronize them.
Comment by trucorgi — December 5, 2007 @ 6:16 pm
I’m old, and I’m bitter. I am gradually coming to the conclusion that nothing - not all the education in the world, not all the anti pet store campaigns, not all the film footage of mills - will stop the willfully ignorant from buying from pet stores.
The willfully ignorant don’t care where their puppy came from. They pretend to believe it when pet store owners say that ‘their dogs’ come from ‘good breeders’. They want a dog, now, with no strings attached, and paid off monthly on their credit card.
With articles like the ‘too busy to housebreak’ yuppies, why are we surprised there are still people out there who just do not give a damn about where their dogs come from, or what lives the parents left behind are leading?
I think education is nice, but we need legislation stopping live animal sales in pet stores. Greedy, stubborn, willfully stupid people will always exist, so let’s make it that little bit harder for them to get pets the same way they buy sweaters.
Signed, a cranky old dog woman
Comment by Carol — December 5, 2007 @ 8:41 pm
The sad truth behind the friendly facade of pet stores is that there often lies a puppy mill. The documented problems of these mass breeding facilities include overbreeding, inbreeding, minimal veterinary care, poor quality of food and shelter, lack of socialization with humans, overcrowded cages, and the killing of unwanted animals. To the unwitting consumer, this situation frequently means buying a puppy facing an array of immediate veterinary problems or harboring genetically borne diseases that do not appear until years later.
Consumer demand for purebred puppies, more than any other factor, perpetuates the misery of puppy mills. Unfortunately, a dog’s lifespan is often longer than a consumer’s desire to maintain their “product.” As a result, millions of purebred dogs are sent to animal shelters every year, where roughly half will be euthanized.
Take a look at the financial impact of Columbus, OH Petland stores on Franklin County (statistics provided by the Director of Franklin County Animal Shelter, Lisa Wahoff, in November, 2006):
7-10 Petland dogs per day are admitted to the shelter. 80% of those dogs are:
*not spayed/neutered
*are in very poor health and/or mental state
*have no microchip reigstered to anyone other than the broker, and no owner can be tracked. Petland takes no responsibility.
*are not an appropriate match to the owner, resulting in owner release within one year of the purchase.
The Results?
A low-end average of $30 per day for each Petland dog (if the dog is healthy) X 7-10 dogs = $210-$300 per day!
It is my firm belief that until the public truly understands and appreciates the cruel aspect - not to mention the consumer fraud - connected with “dealing dogs”, pet stores will continue to generate millions of dollars for their breeders and distributors.
Comment by Mary O'Connor-Shaver — December 6, 2007 @ 9:41 am
It’s not just “purebred” dogs — puppy-millers LOVE the new designer dogs. They don’t even have to mess with paperwork to churn out “puggles,” “doodles” and more.
Comment by Gina Spadafori — December 6, 2007 @ 9:45 am
Here is an excellent way to stop puppy mills in their tracks! I support this endeaver 100000%
:^0 Please sign this petition:
http://www.petitiononline.com/.....ition.html
The “Puppy Mill Bill” simply states that “Puppy Mills” should be outlawed in every state. A puppy mill, for this purpose, will be defined as: Any individual, group, or business that produces a puppy, and sells or gives the puppy to another party to resell.
By signing this petition, you agree with the above definition and the outlaw of all puppy mills in the United States. This petition will be introduced with the “Puppy Mill Bill” to congress, once the required amount of signatures are obtained.
This is the way to go! Unhappy customers will bring a business down. If you can’t show your facilities, you shouldn’t breed dogs!
Comment by Karin Six — May 9, 2008 @ 11:10 pm
Uh … that defines EVERY breeder as a puppy-mill.
Comment by Gina Spadafori — May 10, 2008 @ 1:52 am
So, Karin Six, the “Dog Lovers of San Diego County” are opposed to the existence of domestic dogs? Because, as Gina says, you’re defining every breeder as a “puppy mill”—meaning that there would be no legal way to produce any dogs for any reason or purpose.
Sorry, but I happen to think my life is richer for having my little dog in it, and I’ll have to decline your invitation to define her very careful, very responsible breeder as a “puppy miller.”
Comment by Lis — May 10, 2008 @ 3:57 am
I’m wondering if the intent of the wording was to define only breeders who use brokers to sell their pups as “puppymillers”.
Comment by slt — May 10, 2008 @ 10:00 am
I can see that reading in it, too.
Comment by The OTHER Pat — May 10, 2008 @ 1:17 pm
I like the idea of the bill but the wording needs to be tweaked. If legitimate breeders were registered and all others outlawed it may help stop the mills.
A Petland opened recently in my area and because I am such a dog lover I would go in and look on a very regular basis 2-3 times a week, however, I wasn’t in the market for a dog. I was truly amazed at the quick turnover of puppies and couldn’t believe they were selling that many dogs at $1100 a pop. Because I love dachshunds I spent some time with one of them. A sweet little thing but very nervous, had dirty ears and a runny eye. I pointed this out to the manager and of course got the runaround. After doing some research on the internet and the bad press about Petland I haven’t returned as it would break my heart to know where these dogs are coming from although I would love to stand outside and tell customers where these dogs are coming from.
Comment by Marti — May 20, 2008 @ 12:45 pm
Agree in some ways and support your article to the point of the sick puppies, being crammed, not taking care of, sold to many owners etc. But not all puppies from mills are as untrainable as you write. We got one from a petstore that closed down in our mall many yrs ago, due to them buying from puppymills and puppies having so many health problems, they had one day to get rid of the puppies in a sidewalk sale. I have to say it is the best one we have ever had, no health issues, no training issues, perfect with the kids, and he is a Golden retriever that was 11 wks old, and had already been through 3 pet stores, it was ridiculous. He is eager to please and am not ashamed where he came from. Actually know more people who have had problems with pets from rescue or animal shelters, especially due to them being abused or not knowing their background. Especially for families getting a puppy, at least you get them young, both sides should be viewed.
Comment by Sunny — July 22, 2008 @ 6:12 pm
Sunny, the exception does not prove the rule. Commercial puppy farming is an abomination that should be abolished *yesterday*.
Comment by The OTHER Pat — July 22, 2008 @ 6:36 pm
To make the point again: I’m ABSOLUTELY DELIGHTED your dog has found such a great home.
However, in providing such a great home, you doomed your dog’s mother and father and hundreds of thousands of animals just like them to a lifetime of utter hell. This is a long-established and well-documented fact.
YOU, yes YOU, have made it possible for a puppy mill to profit and so continue. YOU, yes YOU, have doomed a thousand loving dogs just like yours to miserable lives in a crap-filled wire cages, exposed to the elements and never to enjoy a life that bears any resemblance to your dog’s.
It’s not about whether YOU got a puppy YOU like. It’s about YOU supporting a sick, cruel industry with your purchase.
Which is exactly what you have done.
If you’re good with that, you either don’t know much about the hell you’ve doomed your dog’s parents to live in or you are about as heartless a person as can be imagined.
Which it is, I don’t know. I’m certainly hoping it’s the former, and you’ll do some research before buying another dog from a puppy mill retail outlet.
Comment by Gina Spadafori — July 22, 2008 @ 7:12 pm
Obviously not enough people believe you and your point hasn’t gotten across, because your not making an impact. The dogs or puppies in rescue, a lot are from puppy mills, so if someone goes to a rescue for a dog, and their background shows their from a puppy mill, the potential people shouldn’t adopt it? seems like you are very discriminatory. We live in a free country and free speech and should see both sides. A lot of people adopt dogs from rescue or reputable breeders and they themselves abuse the dog or don’t properly care for it, how do you rate them? Enough, your comment says it all, a reply isn’t necessary and will doubtfully be read by any.
Comment by Sunny — July 22, 2008 @ 8:27 pm
Sunny, when you adopt a dog from a shelter or rescue, you’re not giving money to support the puppy mill industry. You’re not subsidizing the systematic exploitation and abuse of animals who are suffering cruelly.
That’s the difference between adopting, and buying from a pet store, and I think it’s a pretty obvious difference.
Some people adopt from rescues or buy from responsible breeders, and then abuse the dog. Rescues and responsible breeders try to screen those people out, though, because they care about where the dogs wind up, and what their lives will be like. Pet stores don’t screen, beyond your ability to pay, because they don’t care what happens to the dogs, as they don’t care what’s happening to the dogs’ parents. As you don’t care what’s happening to the dogs’ parents.
People who abuse the dogs in their care bear the moral responsibility for their choices, whether they are individual dog owners, or large-scale puppy millers. The existence of abusive individual dog owners doesn’t excuse or mitigate the wickedness of the puppy millers.
And when you choose to buy a dog from a pet store, knowing where that dog came from, and what its parents’ lives are like, you, too, bear moral responsibility for your own choices—and that responsibility is not excused or mitigated by the existence of other dog owners who choose to abuse their dogs, eitehr. You are responsible for your choices; they are responsible for theirs.
Comment by Lis — July 22, 2008 @ 8:41 pm
It’s a huge talking point among the puppy mill apologists right now, “Why is it wrong to buy a puppy from a mill but okay to turn around and buy that same puppy from a rescue?”
They’re trying to obscure the point Gina made and the point you’re making, which is that the issue is not the PUPPY but using our dollars to support things we believe in rather than things we do not.
Of course people love their pet store puppies. That isn’t the point.
Comment by Christie Keith — July 22, 2008 @ 9:17 pm
That’s been a talking point among the puppy mill apologists for years. Right along with “Of course our dogs are happy and healthy or they wouldn’t reproduce! It’s good business after all!”
Um - right. Well, sorry to say, but between hormones and AI (artificial insemination) and a large enough number of dogs to keep trying on (as you discard the ones who don’t “take” like useless junk) it’s possible to keep pumping out puppies. The puppies are the “lucky” ones - they get out of there, while their parents - the “production machines” - remain stuck in those he!!-holes.
Oh yeah. THAT’S an industry I want to support.
NOT.
Comment by The OTHER Pat — July 23, 2008 @ 6:10 am
Puppy millers are those who use brokers and also pet shops to sell dogs. I am not sure why someone would think I do not support domestic dogs. For the record, I love dogs. Its this type of rhetoric that keeps people spinning. I wholeheartedly believe that people who love dogs should raise and sell them. The public should also demand the right to see where their pets have been raised and what they have been exposed to (i.e. early human exposure, cruelty, death…). This imprints on the mind of the animal. There should simply not be any puppy mills. We do not need them and the cruelty to animals is disgusting! There are enough caring breeders out there who love and support dogs and take the time to raise them the right way. There are also people who cannot get their minds around why you should get your animal from a shelter or rescue instead of a pet shop. Let me spell it out… If you get your animal from a pet shop, you are supporting a cruel industry. If you get your animal from a rescue, (i.e. a place who is soley in place to help a dog and not for profit,) you are RESCUING a dog. The dog may or may not have come from a puppy mill. More than likely (because I am in rescue), it is from a puppy mill and came from a pet shop. The owners, not properly screened (and who have paid a pretty penny for a unhealthy animal) have decided not to keep their animal.
Comment by Karin Six — September 16, 2008 @ 8:37 pm
I agree with what you said, but here is the other side of the problem. Recently I tried to adopt a Westie from “SOS Dogs” out of Cherry Hill, NJ.” Because I did not meet all of their criteria to adopt a dog, I could not have one. Now I realize that they are trying to protect the dogs, but by not knowing me at all, and not knowing that I AM a responsible dog owner, I was turned down. I have never lost a dog. I have never had a dog die young. My dogs are well trained, loved, looked after, walked daily and cuddled constantly. But I was not good enough for them to get a dog. How sad. So where does someone like me turn? Well, my choices are an SPCA or a pet store. Now how often does an SPCA get a Westie? Rarely. So, my only choice is a pet store. Until adoption programs are more willing to allow for differences in peoples’ lives and schedules, puppy mills will thrive. In fact, organizations like “SOS Dogs” indirectly will help keep puppy mills around if they don’t allow people to adopt that don’t meet their standards. Before it was too easy to let anyone adopt a dog. Now they have made it too hard.
Comment by Dru Schillow — September 19, 2008 @ 8:48 am
Well, my choices are an SPCA or a pet store. Now how often does an SPCA get a Westie? Rarely. So, my only choice is a pet store.
Nonsense. What about a home breeder? I’m not saying it’s right that the rescue was too rigid to see you’d be a good home, but that doesn’t make it right for you to turn around and support a business that will keep your puppy’s mother in hellish conditions. There is no justification for that, none.
A so-called “backyard breeder” or a show breeder are much better options for you. Don’t give your money to high volume commercial dog breeders.
Comment by Christie Keith — September 19, 2008 @ 9:24 am
No excuse. NONE.
When you buy a puppy from a pet-store, you are supporting a sick, cruel industry. You have made a choice to continue a hellish existence for hundreds of thousands of dogs.
Don’t support puppy-mill scum.
Your “choice” was to reward a system of unbelievable cruelty. We’re not going to sugar-coat that for you, sorry, and we’re not going to allow you to rationalize it, either.
This one’s a black mark on your cosmic scorecard.
Comment by Gina Spadafori — September 19, 2008 @ 9:54 am
Well, my choices are an SPCA or a pet store. Now how often does an SPCA get a Westie? Rarely. So, my only choice is a pet store.
Had you taken the time and done the research to find a responsible breeder, you could have bought a healthy, well-bred puppy whose mama and papa are likewise healthy, and happy, and living in comfort—rather than living in puppy mill hell, bred and bred and bred in horrendous conditions until they are no longer profitable, at which point they are killed or dumped. Which is what has happened or still is happening to the parents of your puppy mill baby.
The kicker is, you’d probably have paid less for a well-bred pet-quality puppy from a good breeder, than you did for your puppy mill puppy, whose parents are living in hell, or already dead because they were no longer profitable.
Comment by Lis — September 19, 2008 @ 10:12 am
Dru Schillow wrote:
Well, my choices are an SPCA or a pet store. Now how often does an SPCA get a Westie? Rarely. So, my only choice is a pet store.
Your choices:
Look for another rescue organization. There are thousands. Criteria for adoption varies. Surely, since you are such a well-qualified pet owner, you meet the criteria of some group. Be prepared to wait a little while.
Be more flexible about your criteria for a dog. Why was a pure-bred Westie — ANY pure-bred Westie, apparently — the only possible dog?
Find an ethical breeder. Qualify for one of her carefully-bred and well-loved pups, because you are such a good pet owner. Be prepared to wait a little while. (OMG! That resisting the immediate impulse thing again! How unreasonable can I be!?)
Find a pup from a local backyard breeder who at least keeps the dam as a pet and raises the pups with family. The genetics will be no worse than your puppymill product, and the environment immeasurably better. I found an ad in my local paper in ten seconds, Westie pups. None of that pesky impulse deferment or screening.
Find a grown dog who is being directly re-homed by his owners. Craig’s List is full of them.
Do without an additional dog. I know, incredible concept, not buying something even though you want it.
Walk into Petland, whip out your credit card, satisfy your see - want - buy compulsion, and doom your little commodity’s mother and father, and their replacements, to continued misery and abuse.
I see seven options above. Perhaps there are more that have not occurred to me. You chose the last. You knowingly caused unspeakable suffering to animals you never need to look at — animals identical in every way to the pets you “cuddle constantly.” They will never be cuddled. They will live and die unloved and uncared-for so that you can have a pet that looks exactly the way you want it to, exactly when you want it. And now you want absolution, because, you say, your hands were tied.
Find it elsewhere.
Comment by H. Houlahan — September 19, 2008 @ 10:47 am
All your points are well taken. Until 5 years ago, I owned 5 dogs. (Lost 3 from old age) I am not an advocate of puppy mills, but I have found that backyard breeders are too expensive.
Rescues in my mind were the way to go. Now they have over compensated and have NO faith in the humans that want the dogs if your life varies from their rules. I am not saying I am going to go to a pet store to get a dog, and I am still searching. But MOST people are NOT going to take the time to look around. If they want a dog, they are going to go to a pet store if they are turned down by a rescue group like me.
Comment by Dru Schillow — September 23, 2008 @ 6:52 am
Dru, “backyard breeders” are not the good guys, either, and they can wind up being very expensive, since the BYBs don’t health screen any more than the puppy millers do. (Although they may take much better care of their dogs. Or not.)
Finding a responsible breeder is a bit more work, yes, but it pays off in a better chance of a happy, healthy dog—and it usually costs less than going to a pet store.
If you’re not going to adopt from a rescue or shelter, taking the time to find a responsible breeder is both the moral thing to do, and the self-interested thing to do.
Comment by Lis — September 23, 2008 @ 8:18 am
Dru — you got rejected by one rescue in NJ and you’re throwing in the towel?
Please, in the Northeast, there’s just no excuse for not spending a bit more time to find what you want. Unlike many areas of the country, we’re just loaded with options out here.
Heck, my marathon-running husband and my urban-agriculture self were turned down by a Chester County rescue to even LOOK at a litter of 8 Border Collie puppies because we were going to train our puppy for work. The rescue said that “no dog should have to work. you should just love it.” (for Border Collies!)
So, we registered with 3 breed rescues for working dogs, looked at pictures on PetFinder and went to some local “meet our dogs” day. After 3 months, we found a 5-month old puppy which best guess is a Border Collie/Shiba Inu mix (I didn’t even know what a Shiba Inu was until my vet told me) who now is a 6 year old joy in our lives.
Don’t give up after just one rescue. Besides, it’s fun going to “puppy days” at the local rescues.
Comment by Dorene — September 23, 2008 @ 9:21 am
The rescue said that “no dog should have to work. you should just love it.” (for Border Collies!)
Comment by Dorene — September 23, 2008
Oh how idiotic! Every dog needs a job!
These people are probably like my well-meaning but thoroughly annoying neighbors, who don’t train their dogs because “we don’t want to break their spirit.” Same sisters who argued with me that eggs can become chicks without the presence of roosters. Same neighbors whose dog is so yappy I can’t step out on my back porch without Mango starting her high-pitched, non-stop yapping 100 feet away. Same neighbors whose other dog, Cinnamon, was getting so territorial that she jumped the fence and attacked one of my dogs.
On that last bit, well, I can tolerate a lot, but not that. After warning and warning them about their dog’s behavior before the attack, I pulled their dog off mine (while they cried out loud in teary dismay) and THREW HER back over a six-foot chain link fence. (Adrenaline is an amazing thing.) I then very angrilly informed them that the next time their dog attacked one of mine they wouldn’t be getting her back over the fence alive.
No, of course I wouldn’t/couldn’t do it. But they weren’t so sure: They rigged a hot wire at the top of the fence, and the dog has never gotten out again.
But, you know, they “save” all kinds of animals, so I’m sure that “no work” rescue would love them.
They are nice, caring women, really they are. But so clueless it boggles the mind.
Comment by Gina Spadafori — September 23, 2008 @ 9:35 am
I understand what all of you are saying…..what I mean is that it should not be this difficult for someone to get a dog from a rescue. And if I hear what you are saying, there are reputable breeders out there that wont charge an arm and a leg for the purchase? That was why I went with dog rescues first, as the price is great! However, I assume most rescues from an adoption are puppy mill dogs and would have health issues anyway, which may be another reason to avoid adoption rescues. I’ll end with this. I found out today that there is an SPCA above Allentown that wont let someone adopt a cat if they never owned a cat because they dont know how they will treat the cat. THIS IS CRAZY! This line of thinking will continue catteries and puppy mills forever….
Comment by Dru Schillow — September 23, 2008 @ 1:51 pm
Dru, we hear you, too. Click on our “no kill” topic links to find out what we think about “holier than thou” rescues and shelters.
Comment by Gina Spadafori — September 23, 2008 @ 1:54 pm
I agree with Dru…it should not be such a task to get a pet from a rescue group. Personally, I think we should concentrate on CREATING (not “finding”) good homes for pets. Not every home is going to be every rescuers idea of “perfect” but IMO anyone who considers adopting should be given the respect of sincere consideration and a sincere desire to help them find the right pet for their family.
Another thought…I was reading today about puppy mills (can’t remember the magazine & left it at work) and it included a pretty detailed history of the industry. The author briefly mentioned some point in history when private farmers were suffering from loss of business to commercial factory farming of food animals —-and that it was the USDA itself —- who originally urged farmers to begin “farming” dogs to supplement their incomes. Does anyone know, is this true?
Comment by Joy — September 23, 2008 @ 5:31 pm
I can’t say for sure about the U.S.D.A. I’m actually waiting for a call now from a long-time puppy-mill investigator, and I’ll ask him.
But I so know that state ag agencies have pushed puppies as “alternative livestock.”
Comment by Gina Spadafori — September 23, 2008 @ 5:34 pm
I believe that USDA offers “rural development” loans for people to get into puppymilling.
Don’t take as gospel, as I may be misremembering which agency it is; but there have definitely been gubbmint loans for puppymill startups. All those wire-bottomed cages take a lot of capital.
It’s a legal business, is the justification.
So are titty bars.
Comment by H. Houlahan — September 23, 2008 @ 6:07 pm
Yeah, but titty bar employees get to go home at the end of their shifts.
I think you may be unfairly degrading titty bars by comparing the two.
You won’t find me associating with either, but titty bars and their owners are higher on the food chain than puppymills.
Comment by JenniferJ — September 23, 2008 @ 8:01 pm
My late uncle owned such an establishment, in the Tidewater area of Virginia. He always used to say he was in “the business of separating sailors from their money.”
My brother worked his way through college (Old Dominion) as a bouncer. I think it was a good preparation for a career as an urban high school teacher.
So yeah … I’d much rather be related to the owner of a strip joint than a puppy mill.
Comment by Gina Spadafori — September 23, 2008 @ 8:21 pm
You are absolutely right. I stand corrected.
My apologies to the titty bar industry.
I have a good friend who once worked as a bouncer at a titty bar.
This has never make me think less of him, just enhances his general aura of “colorful.”
Had he worked as a corpse compost technician at a puppymill, our friendship would be in serious jeopardy.
I will happily throw my support behind rural development grants and loans for new titty bars.
Comment by H. Houlahan — September 23, 2008 @ 8:31 pm
maybe we can get a new federal grant initiative started! Low interest loans and government grants to property owners who want to transform their puppymills to “gentlemen’s establishments”.
I would far rather have my tax dollars spent on the one rather than the other.
Comment by JenniferJ — September 23, 2008 @ 8:59 pm
“maybe we can get a new federal grant initiative started! Low interest loans and government grants to property owners who want to transform their puppymills to “gentlemen’s establishments”.”
Bring new meaning to USDA “animal husbandry!”
Comment by Nadine L. — September 23, 2008 @ 9:05 pm
I’ve been doing research on puppy mills ever since Oprah had a day devoted to puppy mills on her show. I am now spending my first semester of college researching and finding ways to help these puppies. It think one of the biggest things is that, people have to become aware of what puppy mills are and know the background information of where they get their puppy! WE MUST BOYCOTT PUPPY MILLS
Comment by Jenn — October 7, 2008 @ 6:03 pm
Jenn, that’s an admirable objective. And the absolute BEST way to shut down puppy mills is to stop buying from them. Period. Dry up the market, and they’ll go out of business.
That means that - no matter HOW cute and appealing they may be, and no matter HOW much you want to “rescue” them from that cage - NO buying of puppies from pet shops. Because ALL pet shop puppies come from commercial puppy producers, plain and simple.
Buyers need to know where their puppies come from. They should know the breeder - preferably via person-to-person conversations, and ideally via face-to-face meetings. In the best of all possible worlds, buyers should see where the puppy was raised (and that it was not in a bank of wire-bottomed boxes in a dark drafty barn, or some variant thereof).
Seeing where the puppy was raised is not always possible, and this is why buying a puppy over the Internet carries an especially heavy charge for the puppy buyer to do his or her homework. For while not every breeder you might meet over the Internet is a commercial puppy producer, the Internet certainly has made it much easier for such puppy dealers to peddle their wares to an unsuspecting public. So puppy buyers who are using the Internet to find and buy their puppies need to remain especially aware of what to look out for in a breeder so that they don’t end up supporting one who treats their animals as nothing more than a cash crop.
A lot of it is about education and awareness. Oprah worked to accomplish some of that on her show (and she certainly has the exposure to do it!). Every one of us can carry on our own piece of that work by being ready to talk to anyone we know of that is looking for a dog or puppy about the things they should look out for in order to avoid buying their next dog or puppy from a commercial breeder.
Comment by The OTHER Pat — October 7, 2008 @ 7:49 pm
I am not the original author of this letter, but thought it was important to share with everyone, especially during such tough economic times when many people can’t afford to keep their pets anymore. The shelters are OVERFLOWING, so please don’t adopt from a breeder or worse yet a puppy mill.
A Letter from a Shelter Manager
I think our society needs a huge “Wake-up” call. As a shelter manager, I am going to share a little insight with you all…a view from the inside if you will.
First off, all of you breeders/sellers should be made to work in the “back” of an animal shelter for just one day. Maybe if you saw the life drain from a few sad, lost, confused eyes, you would change your mind about breeding and selling to people you don’t even know.
That puppy you just sold will most likely end up in my shelter when it’s not a cute little puppy anymore. So how would you feel if you knew that there’s about a 90% chance that dog will never walk out of the shelter it is going to be dumped at? Purebred or not! About 50% of all of the dogs that are “owner surrenders” or “strays”, that come into my shelter are purebred dogs.
The most common excuses I hear are; “We are moving and we can’t take our dog (or cat).” Really? Where are you moving too that doesn’t allow pets? Or they say “The dog got bigger than we thought it would”. How big did you think a German Shepherd would get? “We don’t have time for her”. Really? I work a 10-12 hour day and still have time for my 6 dogs! “She’s tearing up our yard”. How about making her a part of your family? They always tell me “We just don’t want to have to stress about finding a place for her we know she’ll get adopted, she’s a good dog”.
Odds are your pet won’t get adopted & how stressful do you think being in a shelter is? Well, let me tell you, your pet has 72 hours to find a new family from the moment you drop it off. Sometimes a little longer if the shelter isn’t full and your dog manages to stay completely healthy. If it sniffles, it dies. Your pet will be confined to a small run/kennel in a room with about 25 other barking or crying animals. It will have to relieve itself where it eats and sleeps. It will be depressed and it will cry constantly for the family that abandoned it. If your pet is lucky, I will have enough volunteers in that day to take him/her for a walk. If I don’t, your pet won’t get any attention besides having a bowl of food slid under the kennel door and the waste sprayed out of its pen with a high-powered hose. If your dog is big, black or any of the “Bully” breeds (pit bull, rottie, mastiff, etc) it was pretty much dead when you walked it through the front door.
Those dogs just don’t get adopted. It doesn’t matter how ‘sweet’ or ‘well behaved’ they are.
If your dog doesn’t get adopted within its 72 hours and the shelter is full, it will be destroyed. If the shelter isn’t full and your dog is good enough, and of a desirable enough breed it may get a stay of execution, but not for long . Most dogs get very kennel protective after about a week and are destroyed for showing aggression. Even the sweetest dogs will turn in this environment. If your pet makes it over all of those hurdles chances are it will get kennel cough or an upper respiratory infection and will be destroyed because shelters just don’t have the funds to pay for even a $100 treatment.
Here’s a little euthanasia 101 for those of you that have never witnessed a perfectly healthy, scared animal being “put-down”.
First, your pet will be taken from its kennel on a leash. They always look like they think they are going for a walk happy, wagging their tails. Until they get to “The Room”, every one of them freaks out and puts on the brakes when we get to the door. It must smell like death or they can feel the sad souls that are left in there, it’s strange, but it happens with every one of them. Your dog or cat will be restrained, held down by 1 or 2 vet techs depending on the size and how freaked out they are. Then a euthanasia tech or a vet will start the process. They will find a vein in the front leg and inject a lethal dose of the “pink stuff”. Hopefully your pet doesn’t panic from being restrained and jerk. I’ve seen the needles tear out of a leg and been covered with the resulting blood and been deafened by the yelps and screams. They all don’t just “go to sleep”, sometimes they spasm for a while, gasp for air and defecate on themselves.
When it all ends, your pets corpse will be stacked like firewood in a large freezer in the back with all of the other animals that were killed waiting to be picked up like garbage. What happens next? Cremated? Taken to the dump? Rendered into pet food? You’ll never know and it probably won’t even cross your mind. It was just an animal and you can always buy another one, right?
I hope that those of you that have read this are bawling your eyes out and can’t get the pictures out of your head I deal with everyday on the way home from work.
I hate my job, I hate that it exists & I hate that it will always be there unless you people make some changes and realize that the lives you are affecting go much farther than the pets you dump at a shelter.
Between 9 and 11 MILLION animals die every year in shelters and only you can stop it. I do my best to save every life I can but rescues are always full, and there are more animals coming in everyday than there are homes.
My point to all of this DON’T BREED OR BUY WHILE SHELTER PETS DIE!
Hate me if you want to. The truth hurts and reality is what it is. I just hope I maybe changed one persons mind about breeding their dog, taking their loving pet to a shelter, or buying a dog. I hope that someone will walk into my shelter and say “I saw this and it made me want to adopt”. THAT WOULD MAKE IT WORTH IT.
Comment by Joyce — January 3, 2009 @ 12:42 am
Oh goodie. One more repost of this nonsense.
Comment by Dutch — January 3, 2009 @ 8:17 am
Joyce,
You appear to be posting this “letter” all over the Internet, including every Craigslist in every city.
While I do not doubt the depth of your caring, you are clearly an ill-informed armchair activist. Frankly, I doubt you’ve ever seen the inside of a shelter.
The only “shelter” with an 90 percent kill rate is PETA’s. Any “shelter manager” with a kill rate that high needs to be fired and replaced with someone who can catch a clue about community-based no-kill efforts that turn the live-release rate around — communities where 90 percent of shelter pets leave for new homes. In cities, in rural areas, in large shelters and small ones.
Find out about the no-kill revolution — and no, it’s not about closed admission or hoarding, no matter what you’ve been told. Pick up a copy of Nathan Winograd’s “Redemption” and see where the animal “shelter” movement went wrong — and how we can all set it right.
Being an “armchair activist” posting to blogs and Craigslist without a grasp of the facts isn’t going to help a single pet.
Comment by Gina Spadafori — January 3, 2009 @ 8:20 am
Maybe this was written by a PETA “shelter manager”… just thinkin’ out loud.
Comment by Dutch — January 3, 2009 @ 8:23 am
Well, that would certainly follow the “write what you know” rule.
Comment by Gina Spadafori — January 3, 2009 @ 8:24 am