Tag Archives: puppies

Tails: Puppy Mills Should Be Illegal Because They Force Animals to Suffer

I have been facing the harsh reality of puppy mills for nine years now.  Nine years of waking up in the middle of the night picturing thousands of dog suffering in silence and feeling helpless to make it stop.

Politicians, lobbyists, breeders, the AKC, Big Ag companies all continue to argue that there is nothing wrong with puppy mills.  They continue to fight every bill that comes along to help the dogs who have no voice.  It sickens me, it hardens me and it makes me question my faith in humanity.

The last two days I spent at my vet clinic.  Penelope, my mill rescue from 2009, is a Shih Tzu who is 12 years old now.  Since October, she has been getting re-occuring corneal ulcers.  They are extremely painful for her.  On Sunday, she looked so bad we really thought she was going to die.  Corneal ulcers are a common health issue for her breed.  We got her the medical treatment and medicine she needs, including pain meds, to help the ulcer heal again.  There is a good chance she will need surgery in the future if the ulcers keep happening.

Yesterday, I was at the clinic with Alice, my mill rescue from September.  She is also a Shih Tzu.  When she was rescued and I took her in, we really thought she was going to have to have her eyes removed.  She has terrible dry eye and since it went UNTREATED in the mill for so long, her eyes were in horrific shape.  I am happy to say that at her check-up yesterday her right eye is testing in normal range now thanks to the meds.  Her left eye shows minor improvement and we will be working on a new medical plan.  The good news is that her right eye is actually healthy and even if she has to lose her left eye at some point, she should always have vision in the right one.

Imagine if she was still in the mill?  Still suffering day in and day out?  No treatment, no medicine… She would go blind and live her life in total darkness and in constant pain.

Imagine if Penelope was still in the mill and her eyes began ulcerating like they are.  No one would take her to the vet to get her pain meds.  No one would get her the drops she needs to heal her eyes.  No one.

Ever scratch your eye or get something in it?  Ever have pink eye?  Remember that pain?  Remember how awful you felt.  What if you had to live your entire life in that kind of pain?

As I sat at the vet clinic the last few days I started to think that maybe the general public doesn’t really comprehend the medical needs going untreated in the puppy mills across the United States.  There are THOUSANDS of dogs not just living in crappy, rusty cages never to see the light of day, but THOUSANDS of dogs living in pain from health issues going completely untreated.

I looked at Penelope in the car on the way to the vet and saw her squinting and hiding her little head in her paws.  It was obvious her pain was excruciating.  There are so many Shih Tzu in mills across this country suffering just like her and NO ONE is getting them the help they need.

I thought about this all day.  And yes, I know that there are dog owners who sometimes fail to get their dogs treatment due to time or money.  They try, but for all kinds of reasons fail to get them the help they need.  Do I approve of such ownership?  No, of course not.  However, there is one drastic difference between a dog owner and puppy miller: profit.

A puppy miller is breeding mass amounts of dogs to make money!  They are making profit off the very dogs they refuse to give proper medical treatment to.  To me, this is when puppy mills not only become the definition of animal cruelty, but when they cross the line and become CRIMINAL and should be ILLEGAL.

How, as a first world country, can we allow these horrifying mass breeding operations to continue when we KNOW that thousands of dogs are SUFFERING.  SUFFERING – not just lonely or scared or unwanted, but in PAIN – horrible, CONSTANT pain.

So many of the popular breeds have medical issues that need monitoring.  As I mentioned, Shih Tzu and many of the flat face breeds have eye issues.  From dry eye to ulcers, to inward eyelids, these breeds often need medical treatment to live pain-free lives.  English Bulldogs have numerous skin issues.  If they are not kept properly cleaned in all of their skin folds, infection can become a huge issue.  King Charles Spaniels have heart issues. Huskies have autoimmune disorders  with sores and skin infections. German Shepherds are prone to hip dysplasia. Beagles often have Epilepsy. Cocker Spaniels get frequent ear infections.  Poodles are prone to glaucoma.  Chihuahuas can have collapsing trachea.  Maltese can get Shaking Syndrome.  Boston Terriers often get cherry eye.

These are just a few of the popular breeds found in puppy mills, all of which are prone to some illness or disease that is treatable with medications and/or surgery, yet NONE of these dogs will get this treatment in puppy mills. Instead, they will suffer – day in and day out.

Thousands of dogs have been rescued from mills demonstrating TIME AND TIME again that their medical conditions have gone untreated.  Some lose eyes, some lose legs, some have only weeks to live once they are pulled from the mill because their health is so compromised.

Why aren’t more puppy millers in jail?  Why isn’t this a CRIME?  What kind of society KNOWINGLY ALLOWS this type of cruel behavior to not only exist, but to THRIVE and to PROFIT?

Let me be clear… Puppy mills aren’t just cruel because thousands of dogs live in cages with no human contact.  THOUSANDS of dogs live every single day in pain – never to be treated by a veterinarian.  Never to get those eye drops, or pain meds, or anti-seizure medications.

Please BE THE VOICE for these animals who literally SUFFER in SILENCE day after day.

We MUST do better for them.

 

Tails: Before You Buy that Christmas Puppy…

Before you buy that puppy in the window at Petland or Furry Babies or whatever pet store is in your town, let me tell you about Alice.

Alice is a 5-year-old pure bred Shih Tzu.  The Rescue Warriors Corp. got her at a breeders auction at the end of September.  For 5 years Alice sat in a crappy cage churning out puppies for stores like Petland or Furry Babies or that pet store in your town.

When I got Alice she was skin and bones.  Her teeth were so rotted and infected that most of them had to be removed.  Her tongue hangs to the outside of her mouth.  My vet believes she was hit in the head with a bat or something hard and left her whole jaw off-center and her face partially paralyzed.  Her eyes were crusted with infection and she suffers chronic dry eye that was never treated until the day Rescue Warriors took her to the vet.  For the rest of her life she will get eye meds to, hopefully, prevent her from going totally blind.

The breeder who had her likely made $400-$500 off each of her puppies.  She was probably bred every heat cycle for at least 4 – 4 1/2 years.  On average let’s say she had 4 puppies in a litter – her breeder made at least $15,000-$20,000 off her babies and yet never once treated her eyes or got her medical attention for her head trauma.  He never spent money getting her teeth cleaned.  He pocketed ALL that cash and left her to rot in a rusty cage with no blankets or toys or decent food.

The pet store that sells her puppies sells them for $1000-$2000 each!  In the end, Alice’s puppies brought in over $70,000 and yet, poor Alice suffered in silence never seeing the light of day.

When you buy on-line or at a pet store that is what you are supporting: total greed, complete cruelty.

Alice’s medical needs are great, but it is her emotional well-being that is worse.  We have had Alice for about 2 1/2 months and while each day she generally makes progress, she is unlike a normal dog.  She flees each time someone coughs or sneezes or drops a pen on the floor.  For the first few weeks, she hid behind the wash machine, she pancaked between bookshelves.  She did everything she could to not exist.

Dogs raised in healthy environments do NOT react to families or homes like Alice does.  She didn’t know stairs.  She didn’t understand a leash.  She hadn’t a clue what to do with a toy.

When you buy a puppy at a pet store or on-line – you are supporting this cruelty.  You are saying it is OKAY to treat the parents of those puppies like Alice was treated.

I have spent hundreds of hours simply saying to Alice in my softest of voices, “It is okay.”  Those 3 words, again and again to re-assure her that not all humans are mean and neglectful.  Those 3 words to remind her she has a new future filled with love and compassion.

I am unsure what it takes to make people understand the connection between the pet store window and the puppy mill cage.  But let me say this with 100% certainty: there is a DIRECT connection.  You can’t wish it weren’t true or put your head in the sand and ignore it!  When you buy a puppy at pet store or on-line, YOU, let me repeat, YOU are contributing to the cruelty.  YOU are perpetuating the entire system.  YOU are saying that breeding dogs left behind are products and don’t matter.  YOU are part of the problem.

Over a million GOOD dogs will be killed this year simply because there isn’t enough shelter space for them.  Instead of contributing to the hell of puppy mills, YOU could adopt a dog from a shelter and YOU could SAVE A LIFE.

There are no excuses… there are plenty of purebreds in shelters. In fact, there are rescues for nearly every purebred breed there is.  Try looking on petfinder or adoptapet.  I guarantee you can find practically any dog you are looking for.  There are puppies in shelters and rescues, too… so again, NO EXCUSES.

And there is always the argument, and it is a good one, that mixed breeds are healthier dogs anyway.

My favorite dog to adopt is the senior dog.  They rarely need much training and want nothing more than a nice walk and comfy couch to hang out with you on.

Please do not be one of the ignorant people who thinks the only way to get a “good dog” is to buy one from the pet stores who propagate puppy mill cruelty.  I have worked in a county shelter where AWESOME dogs could be adopted for a mere $80.  Don’t fall for the crap that only dogs with baggage end up in shelters and rescues.  People give up their dogs for so many heartbreaking reasons like divorce, moving, bankruptcy, allergies, etc… Most, I repeat, MOST of the dogs in shelters are incredible dogs who could not only be great family dogs, but go on to be therapy dogs and service animals.

In my heart it is far more commendable and rewarding to be the person who saves a life than the one who buys a dog in a pet store and forces breeding dogs like Alice to live a life of neglect forever.

Please as you or a friend or colleague considers a Christmas pup this season, let Alice be your reminder to ADOPT never buy at a pet store or on-line.

If you want to learn more about puppy mills and breeders auctions, consider my book, Bark Until Heard.  It is my personal journey into the awful world of breeding, too few people know about.