NATIONAL PUPPY MILL AWARENESS MONTH

September is National Puppy Mill Awareness Month.   Penny was one of the Bristol 18 rescue.  That was in 2010 and we took in 18 Pekes from a back yard breeder.   It wasn't the scale of a puppy mill, but it was still a horrible breeding place.   All but one could be saved.   Penny is one of two that are still alive.  

Colby is the other.  He was one of the two puppies in the group.  He's 14 this year, a senior now, but still loved and spoiled.  

Everyone knows Tuk Tuk.  He was purchased from a pet store by a college student.   She tried to hide him in the dorm, and that didn't work.   She turned him into rescue because her parents wanted to make sure he had a good life.  We are pretty sure he was exposed to marijuana.   I was very concerned when we got him and took him straight to the vet.  He must have been a puppy mill dog.  We think he must have a little something in him that gives him his crazy energy.   The thing about puppy mills and unethical breeders-- they may say a dog is pure bred, but it's not always true.  (Any name can be put on their papers.)

We know Olivia came from a breeder in Texas.  So why was she in Virginia?   Pet store or transported for sale?   At seven months old, she was so young to be a stray.  But, she was.  People in rescue become sleuths and sometimes we are able to find information on a dog.   After years of rescue, I knew some things to check on her.   That's how I tracked her beginning.  She's safe and happy now.  We were asked to help even though she wasn't a Peke.   So, as I pick up toys ALL OVER THE HOUSE, separate her some to give my dogs a puppy break, she is a super sweet girl.  I'm glad our rescue could help. 

Other dogs we have rescued from shelters, like Henni were in great need.   The shelter thought she had a broken leg, but the vets think she was born that way.   She's a precious girl.

We don't usually get any information from shelters, but we know Princess was in need.  She has serious heart issues, so we kept her as a forever foster.   Was she a puppy mill or back yard breeder dog?   We wish we knew.  

Lady and Louie are PVPC alumni.   We don't know their origins.  Were they sold in a pet store?  Directly from a breeder who wouldn't let the parents be seen?  That usually means they don't want you to see where the dogs live.  

Zoey my heart.   We just know her owner died and she was put in a shelter.   I wish we could sort out where each of our foster dogs was born.  I think we would not be surprised to know many were bred just to be sold.  Sold without determining if they were getting a good home.   A lot of these places will "deliver" the dog to you.  It's a breeder who doesn't care.   Good breeders want to know where their dogs are going and if that home can provide for their needs.    

Our rescue helps the ones we can.    We wish puppy mills all over would be outlawed.   

 

"We find beauty in the most incomprehensible places and the otherwise homely faces. It is our gift to see beyond the dirt, terror, sadness and defeat and find the true soul that lies within. We are Rescue."