We lost our beautiful dog in January. She was not a puppy mill dog, but a shelter dog. She was a mutt, and that made her all the more beautiful. She was a terrior mix and looked like an all white Benji. I have never seen more beautiful eyes, nor have I ever known a sweeter dog. We didn’t know her past, but we do know that she was found wandering the streets and a couple found her and brought her to a no-kill shelter. Thank God for them, for their act of kindness gave this sweet animal a full and happy life she may not have had otherwise. She was about a year old when we adopted her.
I often think that she probably somehow got loose from her owner’s yard or house, and that family grieved over her loss. She was so sweet that she would have been loved by anyone. I wish they could know that she was given a good life with lots of love, a big and safe yard to run in, lots of happy walks, healthy food, and lots of dog biscuits.
My heart grieves for all of the abused animals that have not had this good fortune. How can humans be this cruel?
Don’t think that that bill is all good. The bill is overkill and will intrude on even the individuals that raise and train for such things as dogs for the blind, dogs for the police, dogs for helping the disabled, dogs raised for hunting, and dogs raised by other loving owners who show and promote the breeds. All of these dogs are raised in homes that treat them as their own children. They get regular vet checkup, are fed only the very best food, and have better lives then many people. They will all be outlawed if this bill passes.
Once again we are being duped into
We should just ban all dogs least someone be called a “puppy mill” simply because they raise puppies. /sarcasm
I understand there are inhumane puppy mills but this sort of emotional issue has gone past reasonable and has tried to ban all breeders.
As part of working with a rescue group, I found one of those places. I was responding to an ad on Craigslist offering up a free dog. She was several months old and the guy getting rid of her couldn’t make any money off of her, and didnt want to keep her for breeding stock. When I got to the place to come pick her up, it was absolutely disgusting. The dog runs had a 4” thick solid layer of feces as a floor.
The dog was in pitiful shape, filthy, skinny, untrained, unsocialized and generally neglected.I had a heck of a time even getting her to my vehicle, and getting her into a well-padded crate was difficult, though she eventually settled down and slept fitfully. It took months before she would do much besides cower away from people.
There were 2 new litters of her breed “on the ground”, plus 6 breeder females, and the stud dog. There were also 20 more each of 2 other (small breed) dogs in stacked small cages. The whole place was a mess. A couple people from the rescue ended up buying the puppies and the breeder females, luckily at a large discount from the usual 400 dollars a pup that they were getting. ALL of the dogs had tremendous parasite issues. They were all sick. The breeder females were too far gone to save, as they had been bred every cycle for a couple years, but fed only what scraps the owner could get for free from local markets and such, mostly old bread.
Once we got the dogs of our rescue’s target breed out of that pit, we called in the local and state authorities on the owner. Mostly we wanted the pups not to be tied up for months to years as evidence. They came in and shut the place and the owner down, as he was obviously not keeping up sanitation, nor was he licensed as a business nor paying taxes, etc.
The 7month old went to a foster, then a permanent home and is doing OK, though she has sequelae of malnutrition, and will for the rest of her life. Her behavioral problems that have lessened over time as she has learned to trust people.
The puppies have all been placed in new homes and are doing well, though some of the ones that were from the older litter all turned out a little smaller than normal for the breed. I know of the location of three of them that live on a place with other dogs, acreage, horses, etc. They turned out to be really nice, but VERY “needy” dogs.
With all that, I’m not for “puppy mill” regulations. What needs to happen is the proper enforcement of laws already on the books. With the budget problems of local governments, it’s not going to be a priority. The people running the enforcement need to be more “creative” in the use of already available statutes to close the bad ones down. In the above case, calling the tax people helped, as the guy was making a large amount of off-the-books income from the breeding operation, as well as another “underground” businesses. They were selling scores of dogs per year at hundreds of dollars each, unreported income.
“I love a dog. He does nothing for political reasons.” Will Rogers
Woof
The Amish community here in Ohio runs puppy mills, we’ve seen them. For a group of folks that everyone assumes to be so good, simple and earthy, they treat their animals like crap. I’m not saying all, but I’ve seen plenty of animals and livestock not properly cared for. I was raised on a farm and do have some clue about the care and treatment of animals, including those used for breeding.