Puppy Auctions

[Lucy & AnnaBelle's Mom]

After reading the story on Roadside selling and poor Smokey, I wanted to start this discussion because it has been troubling me for awhile, and I wanted to see what everyone else's thoughts are.

A while back there was an article in our local Cincinnati paper about a TV reporter that went with a Dayton area rescue organization to a Dog Auction up in Northern Ohio (insert Amish Puppy Mills here).  The rescue purchased several puppies at the auction and the reporter even took one of the puppies.  I am just having trouble wrapping my head around the fact that this would be considered appropriate.  The were saying that they were taking the sick ones or the ones no one else wanted, but still, they were supporting these puppy mills by purchasing puppies from them.  It was a rescue whose puppies I always looked at on Petfinder when I would be searching for Doodles, but now I just skip right over them.  Am I missing something here ..... is this ok?

[Allyson, Peri & Taquito]

Guess I can join it since I am not an Ohio votor?

[Denise & Hunter!!!]

I just requested to join and I am an Ohio voter! I wonder Allyson if TN has something similar.....

[Denise & Hunter!!!]

Jacquie, what is the name of the book? I would love to read it. I will absolutely not buy, use or purchase anything that is advertised as Amish or anything made in Amish country.

[Jacquie Yorke (DRC)]

It's called "Amish Confidential" by Chris Burkholder...Shhhh....No one is supposed to know it was ghostwritten....lol

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

From the article, the living conditions of that pet store puppy's mom:

"According to activists, conditions in many Amish facilities are poor. Advocates say they've witnessed animals exposed to constant isolation, extreme weather, feces, and cramped living spaces.
"The conditions in Holmes, Tuscarawas, and Coshocton are terrible," says Martha Leary, a dog rescuer with extensive experience inside the mills. "They live in tiny wire-bottom cages, normally 18 by 18 inches. Most of them have automatic feeders and water dispensers, which is the same that a hamster would have. It's not the conditions for a companion animal."
Many say the worst victims of the puppy mills are the breeding animals who spend the majority of their lives in these kennels. While puppies are eventually sold, their mothers and fathers are confined in pens and bred again and again, until they are physically exhausted."

[Nancy, Ned, Clancy, and Charlie]

And so many of us who think we got a great dog (especially those tricked by the websites) wonder why our pup has socialization problems.

[2m42srv7vi6sq]

First, let me say that I am totally opposed to buying puppies from puppy mills.

Now, I will confess to being a softie and buying a cat from a "qualified breeder" that turned out to be a cat mill, because the cat was dying from a respiratory infection and not getting vet care.

It took us thousands of dollars and over a year to get Imp healthy. He lived with us until his death at a ripe old age.

Maybe I put $500 in a cat mills pocket, but not buying the kitten would have condemned him to death and I would have not been able to live with myself if I walked away from an obviously sick animal and let it die.

I guess I ask myself, "if I saw a human on, an auction block, and that person was ill, would I spend the money to free him/her?"

That is a really hard moral dilemna
So obviously, I am torn.

[Lucy & AnnaBelle's Mom]

I understand what you are saying Gail ..... it is always hard to walk away. I however for one believe that if there is a sick animal in a Mill of an ytype, they should just be willing to surrender them to anyone willing to get them healthy. It is criminal that they would charge for a sick animal.

[Nancy, Ned, Clancy, and Charlie]

Gail,
And that is where I mean we are human and sometimes there is a hard choice we must make. Whatever one we make is the correct one for ourselves at that time. I can't stand cruelty either. It hurts my heart and is why I try to avoid those situations. I can't even read books where an animal or child is harmed. When I read the Horse Whisperer I felt blind-sided by the end. I was so angry about it and it was fiction.
We also (at least me) have become so much more knowledgeable about mills, website falsification etc. on dk and DRC, that I feel that I am helping by spreading the word to help educate others.
Nancy