Rescuing a puppy mill dog: one adopter's story

My Chihuahua, Blackie, came from puppy mill type conditions. I
know the people we took her from really well. When we first saw Blackie, she was in a pen with five other Chihuahuas that wouldn't let her eat or drink and attacked her for being the low dog on the totem pole. When I picked her up,. I knew she had to come home with me or she would die. My husband and I brought her home. Little did we know what we were about to face. I made an appointment with our ver right away. Besides being underweight and afraid of everything, Blackie had whipworm and was pregnant. The vet gave her her shots and said to wait a couple of months to see if she really was pregnant. Two months later, Blackie delivered four healthy puppies. She was a very good mother and would only allow my husband and myself near the puppies. One of the pups died a couple days later when Blackie laid on her. The kicker of the whole situation was the people we took from wanted a black female pup from the litter. Guess which one died?
Blackie had an issue with biting anyone who came to our house. We didn't know how to stop it. One day a friend stopped by, and Blackie went for her ankle. My friend bent down and gave her a little ping on the nose and she hasn't done it again. Blackie's a good little dog. She loves attention. I'm glad we saved her from the bullet that had her name on it. As a matter of fact, we may be taking another puppy fron the same place.

I am all about pet adoption, but here is a question for you... Why is it so difficult to adopt a pet? We have two miniature schnauzers. One we purchased off a reputable breeder, and the other is a rescue. We are very responsible parents and animal lovers and have had our dogs for 6 years. I have been trying to adopt a schnauzer through different rescues, and because I have children and an unfenced yard , they are under the assumption that my home is not a place for a dog. I stay at home with my 8 and 4 year old sons, and my two dogs. I have all the time in the world to work with my animals. I find it reprehensible that my family is considered inappropriate because of these reasons. Also, the dogs that I have applied for are STILL up for adoption. I understand that not all dogs are good with children, but we weren't even given a chance.
So, I returned to the same reputable breeder that we bought our 5 year old schnauzer from and bought a puppy. SORRY. We tried to do the right thing, but apparently we weren't good enough to adopt. I personally think that it would be easier to adopt a newborn child than to adopt an animal from the rescues we dealt with. It is reall a shame.
I have been an animal lover my whole life. I have also in the past few years have taken in abused and neglected dogs and found them good homes. I commend everyone who stands up for the rights of these animals who have been treated so horribly. I just wish that rescues would realize that people who are wanting to go through the process of adopting an animal ( and it is a long process from my experience) are doing it because they want to help these animals. If they wanted to make money from breeding, they would buy puppies. Personally, my dogs are spayed and neutered. I have never bred them.
Sorry for the rant, but I just wanted to raise awareness. Some people really want to help, but no one will give them a chance. It is ridiculous.

We tried,

Cindy L

Thank you all for the encouragement to adopt a puppy mill dog. I went to the Phila. SPCA a couple of days ago and adopted a female cocker spaniel "Amber". She is 8 years old and so cute. She ran from me in the "meet and greet room" and hid under a table. I went to pet her while she was under the table and she trembled with fear. At that moment my heart just broke and I decided that I was going to adopt her and make a difference in her life. She is being neuterd right now and I will be picking her up in a few days. Please pray that me and my family will have what it takes to make a difference in Amber's life.

Hi,

I need some advice from those of you who have adopted a puppy mill breeding dog. We saved a beautiful golden retriever about 4 weeks ago. Sophie was used as a breeding female having puppy litter after litter and never seeing the outside of a cage. She had never been loved or inside a home. Her last litter of puppies came c-section so the miller didn't want her anymore and sold her to a rescue group. My problem is that she ran off 2 weeks ago (we had only had her for 2 weeks). She has stayed in our town and has been spotted near a creek/revine about 2 miles away from our home. She will not let anyone help her!! She won't come near a human. Any time someone tries to get her to come to her or tries to come near her, she runs the other way. I have the entire town looking for her. I even have the animal control officer in our town helping me set a humane dog trap to catch her using food. I am so worried about her and do not know enough about these animals to really know what to do. Any advice would be helpful. I have of course made flyers, contacted all local humane society's, shelters, pounds, etc. Thanks for any advice.

The Amish come across as they believe in God and worship him. The only thing the Amish cares about is how to make money! They don't care if it comes at the expense of an animals live. These are Gods creatures and I feel that down the road any one who hurts an animal will be punished by God! I took a dog from a puppy mill a long time ago and after I got her housebroke and used to finally learning how to play she was such a joy!! We had her for about 5 years until she died. She was a beautiful golden retriever and I miss her ever day. How these heartless Amish think of these beautiful dogs as just live stock makes me sick!!! I wish the Amish had to sit in a fifthy cage and have their water and food threw at them, I wonder how they would like it??? I just wish it would all STOP!!! Sincerely, Rebecca Moeller

I also rescued a puppymill dog. She was 2.4 lbs at 4years old, had NO hair, split and bleeding feet, painful tooth and gum rotting, and had lived her entire life in a 2ft square cage stacked, no love whatsoever.

The "breeders" were going to throw her in a huge tub of water to drown her because they DIDN'T WANT TO WASTE A BULLET or have a mess upon shooting her. (this is how the Amish operate their backyard puppymills)

You see, she failed to get pregnant after being tied down and "bred" God knows how many times. She could not produce another litter, but she could be sold to a shelter for $100 they agreed.

The day this poor dog stopped "producing" was the last day she was fed. She lived on excrement for almost a month before the owner dialed up the shelter for one last cash-out.

One year later, she was 7.6lbs, had grown hair on her face and legs, and was the sweetest most loving, shy little girl in the world. This dogs joints cracked when she walked for months! She had never walked, never run. I will NEVER forget the first time Sugar finally discovered running. She was in heaven. TO THIS DAY, with all my love and care almost TWO years later, EVERY MUSCLE IN HER BODY TIGHTENS UP EVERY TIME I TOUCH HER. It makes me physically ill.

I cry when I think of how many more Sugar's are in the backyards of almost EVERY SINGLE AMISH HOUSE in Holmes, Wayne, and surrounding counties. I hate the Amish. I see them at the mall with their traditional garb and hat, and these days they are all carrying COACH PURSES. I know where they are making their money. I"ve been there. I've seen it. I have addresses. I have nightmares. What I have seen in those backyards I cannot put words to.

We have a beautiful full blooded cocker spaniel that we rescued from a pupy mill in East Texas. She is still extremely skittish, and does not like to be petted, although she will allow us to hold her and even gives a few kisses. We are an animal shelter with more than 100 animals, so we have limited time and energy to give our little Hannah all she deserves. We desperately want her to have a home and family, but know her pshycological state is less than appealing. Because she is so scared of the outdoors and will not tolerate a leash, we allow her to use a training pad and she never misses! We have her in what we call our "adoption house" with other animals that are the "neediest" of our rescues. If anyone is willing to take Hannah , I trully believe some day she will come out of her shell and will give back all the love she has been given. Find us on Petfinder, AKC Services, Quinlan,TX 75474

Hey, we are a rescue right in the middle of puppy mills and Meth Labs. Needless to say it is a poor community that has very little compassion for their animals.

We work very hard to educate the young on responsible pet ownership and that the committment for a companion is for life. Not until you are bored with the animal or more interested in sports or girls or boys.

The unfortunate animals in our rescue are ususally large dogs and because of homes lost and floods the bigger dogs are having a hard time getting adopted.

And we are very selective on who gets these wonderful companions. They all have tragic beginnings and we want them to finish their time in a loving caring place. We are so thankful that petfinders has been such a big help to our efforts to save lives. We thank our wonderful adopters, we just need more since the economy has slowed our adoptions. Thanks Petfinder.

I am interested in rescuing a puppy. Will you please send me more information. Thank You

I too have adopted a puppy mill dog. Two years ago I lost one of my sweet Tibetan Terrier boys (14 year old litter mates) to cancer. When Ozzy passed his brother Andy was desperately forlorn and through a friend I adopted an amazing, small, badly abused mixed breed who we named Georgie. I live in New York City and Georgie had spent 7 years tied out in an alley and was malnourished and badly beaten. Georgie is great and smart and fun. Through the friend who saved Georgie from the shelter here, I was introduced to a rescue group who had a puppy mill dog - 1 year old Ziggy. Ziggy is a Havanese and was caged in a cage too small to lie down in for that first year as they kept him for breeding. He was rescued and given to us because of the other two dogs.

When I brought Ziggy home, he was terrified, unused to walking, not really able to walk and frightened of humans. But as soon as he saw the other two dogs, hearts flew out of the top of his head and he bonded with them almost immediately. Through that bond, he became housebroken after only a few weeks. But for many months he was still terrified of humans and ran from being petted. But as he saw the other two being so affectionate and bonded with us human companions, he has started to see we're not so bad. I have had him for a year now and he sits next to me and allows me to rub under his chin and his back. He's still skittish but less so everyday and has opened up to training and playing and being with the other two dogs.

I encourage everyone to RESCUE whether a puppy mill dog or a shelter dog (cat too for that matter). Yes there are challenges, but the rewards are enormous.

Thanks
Arthur

Thank you for helping a dog in need:)

That story was amazing!! He is a great writer and I hope that all puppy mills will be closed. I am going try to volunteer at shelters and do all I can to help animals. I am glad that Bailey was saved even though others still are in puppy mills.