Tag Archives: breeders

Truths: Despite Our Differences, We Must be United to Save Them

Many of you know that in January I was diagnosed with stage 2 Invasive Breast Cancer. I remember that day well. I felt a bit out of sorts. I was in disbelief. I was scared and overwhelmed.

Yesterday, as I was scrolling FB, I came across an article that caught my attention. I started reading and reading and scanning and reading more. It was long and so much of what it said went against every single thing I stand for in my book, Bark Until Heard. It was as if every single thing I absolutely KNEW TO BE TRUE was under attack.

My heart started beating fast and my stomach turned. I could feel the blood pumping and my heart racing and my entire body trembling.

It was the exact reaction I had when I attended my very first dog auction and saw hundreds of dogs neglected and mistreated. It was like this punch to my gut that left me breathless yet trying to scream. That feeling when you cannot, in any kind of way, believe what is right in front of you because it is so awful. You just can’t fathom that anyone would want to hurt animals or, in the case of yesterday, destroy all the progress we have made improving conditions for breeding dogs and shutting down mills and curbing pet store and on-line sales.

What kind of person would want to set us back decades of passionate work? Work that so many of us fueled with our hearts and souls. Work so many of us would do all over – every single day of our lives.

When I got my cancer diagnosis, I did not feel nearly as sick as I did reading that article. When I had surgery and fought my cancer, I never felt as raw or as enraged or as nauseas as I did yesterday. Cancer couldn’t make me as sick as what I read in an article attacking an organization that has saved thousands of lives and has worked tirelessly to educate people on puppy mills.

Whenever I read about mill dogs, I always look at the 3 sitting near me. Puppy mills aren’t something I imagine as I read words on a page. I saw them with my own eyes. I have held the survivors. I have sat for hours trying to earn their trust. I have cried endless tears re-living the horrors I witnessed.

I take this all very seriously. The day I bought #171 for $65 changed the entire course of my life. And 11 years later, a single article that attempts to erase the truths I have fought for, the pain and angst I have endured, can bring me to my knees. Something even cancer couldn’t do.

Immediately, I reached out to my most trusted advocates. They were calming. They shared their unhappiness about the article, too. Then, they spent time explaining things to me that left me even more disheartened.

Lately, I have been following and contributing to the puppy mill mission from afar. My personal life took me in other directions and I guess I haven’t been in the trenches enough these days.

The article ripped my wounds open, but what some of my friends from across the country explained deepened the pain.

While the pet industry is busy solidifying – building a united front, the animal welfare groups have been busy attacking each other.

Everyone explained to me that between egos and financial jealousy, rescues are not supporting each other.

What a tragedy. Pure tragedy.

Decades of work are at stake – legislation passed and legislation in progress that is FINALLY happening- while rescues worry about egos and who fundraises the best?

I am in disbelief. Saving lives was never meant to be a competition. In fact, we all used to agree that the best thing that could happen to us is that we would “go out of business” because all the animals would have homes.

How in the Hell did we get so lost? At what point did we lose sight of the goal? The horrific irony that we let egos get in the way of saving the most selfless creatures on Earth?

How did we become so complacent that we can’t see all of our work and the millions of innocent lives that are at stake?

Let me be clear: we are under attack! And whether or not our legal work gets trashed might seem inconsequential, but we should at least all agree that the animals STILL matter! Do we all still recall that there are 10,000 puppy mills in the US mistreating animals every, single day?

Can we agree that those lives MUST COME BEFORE any of our differences?

If we don’t get on the same page, we are going to lose. And that means animals suffer, literally SUFFER and DIE. I am not being dramatic. I am being honest and real.

The pet industry is ripping us apart. They are finding ways to spin the truth and make themselves sound like the better group! The very ones who have shoved metal pipes down dogs throats to silence them, the ones who have poured agricultural acid on hundreds of dogs all at once to remove fleas, the ones who have shot dogs one at a time simply to dispose of them. They are promoting themselves like they are the heroes and we are the villains!

Do I really have to remind everyone who they are?

I have been distant, but not dead. The article wants us to think that mill dogs are socially adjusted, healthy animals… Well, just two years ago I fostered a little Tzu completely broken by the milling industry. She hid behind the wash machine for days on end. Her eyes so infected, her tongue hanging from head trauma, she was emotionally gone. Despite our best efforts, last summer she lost her eye after all her years in the mill with no medical treatment. She has come a long way, but her scars are still visible to anyone who meets her. And, she is one of thousands not dozens like the article suggests.

I certainly didn’t wake up today to find a whole new country treating animals as I always dreamed – but that is what the article attempts to say.

I will never forget my second auction when a man named Chuck told the rescuers and the protestors that while our tactics were different, ultimately, we were all there for the same reason. We needed to respect each other if we were ever going to make a difference.

I will forever be proud of all the people in WI who fought TOGETHER to make things better. Yes, our minds had different methods, but our hearts were all in it for the animals.

I know that if you are part of a rescue organization, your heart has to be in the right place. We have got to get back to the core of this fight. Look in the mirror and at the people who stand next to you at conferences and post endless pics of animals in need… no matter their tactics, their goal IS the same.

UNITED WE STAND, DIVIDED WE FALL… those aren’t just patriotic words, they ring true for us. We are better than this.

I always said whenever I had a chance that “WE” would win this fight because we did it out of love and compassion not money and greed. I still believe that – we ALL need to believe that.

Just look around you, I know you have at least one dog near you that would be dead if it wasn’t for your rescue or some other group that saved him. That desire to save them all – it is real and it is what unites us.

We are against an industry that brings in BILLIONS of dollars – we are already fighting an exhausting war with a limited arsenal, but we cannot turn on each other. NOT NOW.

We are so very close that they are exercising every play they have to destroy our momentum.

Please, let’s not focus on what makes each group different, but what makes us all the same. That passion we all feel deep in our souls is our greatest weapon. It demands that we continue to speak the truth and to fight for justice for the animals. There are millions of wagging tails and desperate eyes counting on us.

Cancer was a fight I couldn’t win alone and this fight against a massive pet industry with the power and financial backing of Big AG is a fight each rescue group can’t take on independently. We cannot let them turn us against ourselves.

WE NEED EACH OTHER and the ANIMALS NEED US.

For the love of all creatures, we cannot let them down. UNITE!

Tails: Looking from My Side of “The Post”

A few weeks ago, The Washington Post printed a story about dog auctions.  It wasn’t just any story about dog auctions, it was one that insinuated that it is the animal rescuers buying at auctions who are fueling the puppy mill industry.

It has taken me a few weeks to gather my thoughts and tame my emotions.  As many know, puppy mill dogs are nearest and dearest to my heart and saving them from a life of living hell is what I am most passionate about.  To hear that people like me are to blame, well, it takes some time to not just react and say something I might regret.

The thing about dog auctions and puppy mills is that I think it is easy to taint people’s minds into believing they aren’t as bad as they really are.  For one, few people will ever actually step foot into a dog auction or puppy mill and see one for themselves.  Two, far more people want to believe that dogs aren’t suffering in crappy, small cages, with no human attention, bred continuously just so Petland (or insert any pet store) can mass market cute puppies.  The entire idea of puppy mills goes against what most dog loving people want to believe, so if someone is willing to paint the picture prettier, people are sure to buy it.

However, as someone who has been, who has bought and who has lived with numerous mill survivors, I refuse to let anyone try to paint a pretty picture.  Dog auctions are cruel and nasty, exploiting man’s best friend in the absolute most barbaric way.  Anyone, I mean anyone, with a beating heart and a love for animals will leave a dog auction in one of two ways: with a dog they bought or an understanding of why someone would buy a dog.  To be honest, anyone who leaves there differently, isn’t someone I want to know.

Maybe not everyone would go to an auction, buy a dog and then make it her life long mission to educate people and free dogs from puppy mill hell, but I did.  What I saw and the things I continue to see a decade later, fuel my passion to set the record straight.  Maybe the reporter doesn’t see dogs the way I do or maybe she has never been surrounded by crates of dogs just bought at auction, or fostered an emotionally broken mill dog, or woke up in tears knowing how many more there were to save.  Maybe she just doesn’t have the compassion I have for dogs.  I search my soul to understand why anyone would try to blame rescues for saving lives or paint puppy mills as a pretty picture.

They matter, don’t they? (All bought at a dog auction)

I have been surrounded by crates of dogs just bought at auctions.  I remember bringing them to the shelter and watching as first time auction goers held these frightened, shaved, often sick dogs in their arms and cried a thousand tears.  No one able to speak because the idea that such cruelty was legal left everyone speechless.

I have fostered mill dogs so scared of every little thing they shut down completely.  Dogs afraid of stairs, grass, people, toys, even a water bowl.

I have looked into the eyes of over a thousand dogs only to see no soul able to stare back at me.  I have felt the pain and the helplessness.  I have been there and I believe I understand what this is really all about.

This dog was sold at 10 years old with completely rotted teeth, skin infections AND PREGNANT to unknowing buyers.

(Pictures courtesy of The TRUTH About Puppy Mill Auction Rescue)

Let me start right away with the most obvious fact.  The live pet trade is a 2.1 BILLION dollar business annually.  I have reached out to numerous contacts who buy at auctions to get a feel for what they believe is actually spent by rescue in a single year at all dog auctions.  In agreement, the number is around 1 million dollars.

Now, of course, a million dollars associated with rescue might seem shocking.  Rescues always say they have no money, but this number includes rescues all over the country who specifically raise dollars to buy dogs at auction.  Unlike what The Post article stated, the majority of rescues who buy at auctions are very forthcoming with donors about where the money is going.  In fact, most set up fundraising pages specifically for auctions and the medical costs associated with mill dog rescue.

One million dollars is less than .05% of the entire pet trade business!  How on Earth can anyone make a statement that a group who contributes less than .05% to an industry is solely responsible for its success?  It is simple math.  Rescues are not the ones perpetuating the horrifying business of commercial breeding.  They just aren’t.

Instead, they ARE saving thousands of innocent, helpless dogs from a lifetime of hell.  There is a new FB page dedicated to educating the public on the very dogs bought at auctions by rescues.  It is called The TRUTH about Puppy Mill Auction Rescue.  On this page, they post pictures and medical histories of the dogs they have pulled from auction floors.  Interestingly, one will find that the dogs they pull are not puppies but dogs so sick and neglected that they could barely stand, barely function.  Females who were listed as pregnant who still had stitches from the last caesarean.

Stitches still in and sold PREGNANT (pictures courtesy of The TRUTH About Puppy Mill Auction Rescue)

The Post reported that breeders who attend these auctions have lovely kennels.  Yet, with further investigation, these are actual pics of the breeder shown in that article.  A much different reality than previously reported. Over 230 dogs in one place.

There was talk of how much is too much to spend at an auction saving lives.  Sadly, this has become a great divide in the animal welfare world.  As someone who has spent $25 – $450 on a single dog at auction, I ask what price is right?  Some say not more than one would spend on lunch.  I say, “Lunch where?  A deli, a sit-down cafe, or on the 16th floor in Trump Tower?”  Who decided what is lunch money?  Who decides what number is okay?

Is it okay to buy a 10 year old Chihuahua for $40 but not okay to buy a 6 year old Shih Tzu for $800 whose eyes are crusted shut and still has rusted metal wire in her infected belly from a half-ass caesarean?  Would someone in rescue actually believe it makes sense to leave her to suffer?

Some say they disapprove of one rescue spending $25,000 at an auction.  So, if 25 rescues attend and each spend $1000 that would be acceptable?  Others find disapproval in breed specific rescues attending saying it is unfair to only buy their breed.  Hmmm?  Do they feel that way when Great Dane rescue pulls a Dane from a county shelter?

Lastly, there are those who say, “I know I would buy if I went to a dog auction, so I don’t go.” And, they go on to criticize those who do for spending so much money.  Well, here is a newsflash, just because you choose not to go, does not mean there aren’t thousands of dogs still suffering and in need of rescue.  Just because you choose to look the other way, put your head in the sand, does not mean that this hellacious industry doesn’t exist.

From day one, I have said I would never be a hypocrite.  I have bought dogs at auctions for all kinds of prices, all kinds of reasons, and all kinds of breeds.  From prices of $25 to over $400. For reasons such as the oldest there to the one who looks sickest.  From breeds like Chinese Crested Powder Puff, Goldendoodle, Dachshund, Puggle, Shih Tzu, to mixes, etc… It is easy to sit outside the auction house and make random statements about who is acceptable to rescue and for how much. Try walking in…

I beg ALL rescues to walk in just once and look into the cages and see the hundreds of eyes looking back at them and then tell me who doesn’t deserve to be saved that day.

I don’t think they can and that is why I continue to support those brave enough to walk into an auction and face the lifeless dogs and do whatever it is they can to save them.  To me, all dogs matter and these dogs deserve a second chance just as much as dogs in the meat trade, the strays in 3rd world countries and the homeless dogs on death row in our own city shelters.  And, when one realizes that less than .05% of the money in the pet trade is coming in due to rescue, can’t we deem their lives, “priceless” and move on?

Much of this dog’s jaw was rotted off at the auction. Yet, AKC checked her “good.” (Pictures courtesy of The TRUTH About Puppy Mill Auction Rescue)

That is what we need to do: move on from an article that places blame on the very groups doing everything in their power to make things better, from physically saving mill dogs to standing before their legislators begging for change.  The number one thing The Post article failed terribly at was actually describing mass breeding operations.

Rescues wouldn’t spend money or time buying mill dogs if they didn’t feel it was the dogs’ only hope.  Rescues go to auctions because they know damn well where these dogs are coming from and it is NOT the pretty kennels The Post described or pictured.

Most of the breeders who attend the auctions are large scale, USDA licensed, puppy factories.  They aren’t hobby breeders.  These places have hundreds of dogs on-site and few people to care for them  Thanks to Bailing Out Benji we can take a look at the sheer number of puppy mills in just the state of Missouri, where the auctions take place.  There are over 800 mills and some of the HSUS 100 worst!

Rescues don’t go to auction to contribute to the industry.  They go to save dogs from suffering.

For maps of puppy mills in other states, visit this page at Bailing Out Benji.

To get an in-depth look into the world of USDA licensed kennels, I strongly urge you to buy a copy of The Doggie in the Window, by Rory Kress and sit down and read her description of the numerous USDA approved kennels across America.  Kress is the ultimate journalist using all of her impeccable skills to demonstrate the failed USDA’s attempts to regulate the commercial breeding industry.  She shows throughout her amazing book how these facilities are stricken with dead puppies, sick dogs, rats, feces covered floors yet pass inspection again and again.  Dogs with no food or potable water, no medical care, left to suffer because the USDA is NOT doing their job.

The Post never mentioned that “USDA licensed” means jack shit in the USA.

If you love dogs, and I think you do because you read my blog, please make sure you do your research before buying into the crap The Post is selling.  I have been in the trenches, I have held the head of a sick mill dog, I have carried numerous crates full of mill dogs just rescued from auction, I KNOW, I REALLY KNOW the truth.

I wrote Bark Until Heard detailing the heartbreaking things I witnessed at auction, just so people would know the truth.  I am passionate about only this.   Do not be fooled by the agenda of others.  The truth is the truth and it is that millions of dogs are being held prisoners of greed in the hands of people who only care about money – not animals.  

The success of puppy mills has NOTHING to do with the rescuers and everything to do with the bad breeders, the worthless USDA inspections and the lackadaisical legislators failing us everyday to make the changes needed.

Please, before you judge the passionate work of rescuers literally SAVING the lives of innocent dogs, go to an auction, foster a mill survivor, or, at the very least, talk one-on-one with someone whose heart breaks a million times when they painfully recall the mill dog they couldn’t save – those are the people who KNOW the real truth, the gut-wrenching, heartbreaking reality of mass-breeding and dog auctions.

My soul knows the truth, my heart feels the truth and my eyes have seen the truth behind mass breeding and dog auctions and because of that I have zero regrets about buying a dog’s freedom.

What price would you pay to save them?