Our latest foster dog arrived directly from a puppy mill that was being shutdown. She's a Golden Retriever who's about 5 years old. She's had multiple litters. Today is her first time out of a cage and feeling grass. She's terrified of everything.
Puppy mill operators can eat a bag of dicks.
One of our Irish Wolfhounds had lived a similar life prior to us acquiring her as part of a rescue. We called her "Franny" for "Frantic."
She never got to the point where furniture out of place wouldn't disturb her.
we've done mill dog rescue for years now. Its painful. Some of them never really learn to "dog" I have a GSD here that still needs to have a crate in every room because she only feels safe in a box.
About 10 years back I worked with a group, we raised money and went to a mill auction and bought every breeder we could afford just to get them out of the system. No it wont stop them, but those dogs we got have a better life.
For anyone who cares, if you are getting a dog from anything but the pound or directly from the breeder, it's likely come from a mill. You dont "rescue" a dog from a pet store.
I see puppies that are bought from someone purporting to be the breeder, when they're actually just selling puppy mill puppies out of their home.
That's why I mutt. No one sells mutts. No one makes money off of mutts. I refuse to support those rotten berks.
Appleseed said:That's why I mutt. No one sells mutts. No one makes money off of mutts. I refuse to support those rotten berks.
Plenty of people make money off of mutts, they just give them cute names like goldendoodle.
Once you give a mutt a "factory" name like doodle, it's no longer a mutt in my book.
Every animal in my house either came from the shelter, or we helped keep it out of the shelter. I spoil all of them, and give out too many treats, and I'm happy about that.
Appleseed said:Once you give a mutt a "factory" name like doodle, it's no longer a mutt in my book.
+1
My mom used to live in a town that did a local "mixed breed dog show." Her little dog took first place in the "mystery mutt" category.
In reply to matthewmcl :
Hell yeah.
Our last two dogs came from breed rescues. Prior to that, everything came from local shelters. Unfortunately, the kind of dogs I prefer (herding breeds, or mixes thereof) are no longer found in our local shelters. Unless you want a pit bull type dog, Chihuahua, or a GSD with mental problems there isn't anything to choose from.
The breed rescues, more often than not, are a PITA to deal with. They are far too restrictive and want to pigeonhole adopters into narrow criteria, such as MUST HAVE A FENCED YARD. I've got decades of experience with herders and do not let them roam free in my rural backyard, but the rescue groups don't care. They won't give me a dog as soon as I check the box about the fence.
And, I live in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, which is a hotbed for puppy mills. If you buy a dog from a 'kennel' around here and it's 'farm raised' you can be assured it came from a mill situation, frequently Amish run.
If you are in the mid-atlantic area, this rescue takes the unwanted puppy mill dogs and finds them homes. I've had dealings with them and they are a good organization.
JThw8 said:You dont "rescue" a dog from a pet store.
That's going to depend on the store. Many of the pet stores local to me only carry dogs and cats from the local SPCA. It's worth a phone call because frequently the better-looking mutts and cats end up at the stores.
I agree 100% that puppy mills are bad.
On the other hand, some dog people are bonkers. We have an acquaintance that is a breeder, but only pure bred AKC XYZ ABC only type. She absolutely berated us for paying money for a Boston/Frenchy mix. "You're paying money for a mutt????!"
Scotty Con Queso said:On the other hand, some dog people are bonkers. We have an acquaintance that is a breeder, but only pure bred AKC XYZ ABC only type.
And those types are the reasons that Alsatians and English Sheepdogs all have hip dysplasia and other congenital issues. And why anything with a noticeable amount of Chihuahua in it is psychotic. Inbreeding is bad.
We adopted this fur goblin from an outfit called "Purebreeds Plus Rescue". Clearly, he is the "plus".
25 years in Husky Rescue. We have busted a few puppy mills. Cherokee, who just died last year, was from a puppy mill bust. I had him for 15 years after that puppy mill bust and he was a great dog. Here he is on his last day.
In reply to Snowdoggie (Forum Supporter) :
Good dog.
I've always had a hankering to adopt a former racing greyhound or two, but it sounds like dog racing is gradually fading away. I can't afford dogs, regardless.
What's cool is up here in CT, I've only seen dogs & cats from local shelters in any of the chain stores at least, like Petco or Petsmart like Toyman! said. They don't have dogs onsite, but they do keep cats. The dogs show up from local organizations and have adoption days. Like everywhere else, all of our shelter dogs come from the south. We only adopt from shelters/organizations.
I don't know if the show dog crowd is much better. My current Yorkie, Spike, was "crate trained" when I got him. It's not what you think, he lived in a crate like a bird, pooped and peed in his crate. Still does some times. He is seven now and never really showed many signs of being a dog. He is very strange, had his bark removed so he just squeaks and growls, has the temperament of a stoned bulldog. Spike and Lolly our Maltese were rescued from a good breeder that got dementia and started making bad decisions so her friends took all of her dogs away. Lolly was bred before she was a year old.
They are both great dogs.
Thanks for this thread, it reminds me not to buy boutique dogs. There are plenty of good pups that need homes without creating demand for puppy farming.
Try living around Lancaster Pennsylvania where the Amish run mills all the time.
Appleseed said:That's why I mutt. No one sells mutts. No one makes money off of mutts. I refuse to support those rotten berks.
Plus the dog is way less likely to have a ton of hereditary health problems!
My sister rescued a dog who spent his life chained up in a dog house, at first glance you can tell he isn't a normal dog, he's more like a very nervous human trapped in a dog's body who unconvincingly tries to act like a dog at times.
Just to provide something fun in an otherwise depressing topic...I've made 50+ business trips to Minnesota over the years and a frequent commercial I'd hear on the radio was for "Ruff Start Rescue".
Frenchyd, have you heard their commercials???
WonkoTheSane said:What's cool is up here in CT, I've only seen dogs & cats from local shelters in any of the chain stores at least, like Petco or Petsmart like Toyman! said. They don't have dogs onsite, but they do keep cats. The dogs show up from local organizations and have adoption days. Like everywhere else, all of our shelter dogs come from the south. We only adopt from shelters/organizations.
Yup. That's how it is here as well.
We (my wife and I) work with a 501C3 rescue that does cats and dogs and they (PetCo) host us at their various stores a few times a month, in weekends and sometimes like a Fri-Monday thing on holiday weekends.
The adoption fees more often than not dont even begin to cover the money that gets laid out for each animal. Which is why the donations that do come in, from places like PetCo are so appreciated. the rescue charges $100 / cat and dogs are $300. But that's fully vetted. Spayed or neutered, up on all shots, micro chipped, whatever medical treatments are needed, having been administered and rehabbed, etc. Anyways, neither here nor there... but the most common thing I hear people commenting on at rescue events is the cost, and wondering why they're not freaking free. It's like c'mon, use your heads people... we legit already loose money on every animal that comes thru, the fosters are working for free, we pay for all the vetting, granted our awesome local vet gives us a discount, but its still money out of pocket, the fosters are spending their money out of pocket on food, etc..
Our new puppy (affectionately known as Baby Bat) was adopted from a breed-specific rescue which got her when animal control a few counties over picked her up out of a ditch at the beginning of the year and decided she needed medical attention beyond what they could get her quickly enough. The rescue organization had a pretty insane application to fill out to even bring her over to meet her much less adopt her (though in the end they dispensed with some of the formality and just brought her over to being our trial period... apparently we got some of the most emphatically glowing recommendations from everyone we listed as a reference including our vet), though it seems kind of funny how rigid things sounded vs. how they ended up being. They however have like 3 litters of puppies now that they're trying to find foster homes for... I'm assuming that they got the dogs when they were already pregnant, but they're very overwhelmed trying to find foster homes for like 30 puppies (one litter was 13 puppies!). We wish we could help out- but our Bat isn't completely house trained yet and the last thing we need is a couple of puppies peeing and pooping all over the place and her deciding she's allowed to as well instead of the (much younger) puppies learning from her how to go outside properly.
When we started to consider that we were close to ready to adopt another dog after losing Marley at the beginning of this year, I quickly decided that I was just not able to look online at the pages for the different rescues and shelters because it was breaking my heart seeing so many dogs that needed homes and knowing that we at best could adopt 2 (we couldn't have another since Marley just was too possessive of The Dancer, but Baby Bat is looking to be both much smaller than he was and does extremely well with other dogs). Heck, just thinking about it has me tearing up...
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