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?

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

I think I remember that article, and I remembered it as being the news crew itself that purchased the puppies, but I could be wrong.
I myself am opposed to negotiating with terrorists, and that includes purchasing puppies from puppy mills to "save" them. It's a common practice, though, for some breed rescues to attend the auctions and buy puppies in order to save them from a life as a breeder in a puppy mill. I know Havanese Rescue did this when the breed was relatively rare in this country, I'm not sure if they still do. Part of it was also that once they got AKC recognition, the national breed club wanted to prevent the widespread commercial breeding & selling of Havanese in this country at a time when most people had never heard of them & the only way to get one was through a reputable breeder.They knew that as soon as people started seeing Havanese in dog shows, a demand would be created, and Havanese full of genetic diseases would soon be found in pet stores, etc. I learned this when I asked about the $500 adoption fees the rescue charged; that was the price they had paid for each dog at auction to keep it out of the puppy miller's hands. Of course, they could only save so many, at that price.

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

Here's an in-depth and very informative article about the Ohio Amish puppy mill trade, incuding the Buckeye Auction and it's founder.
Ohio Amish Puppy Mills

[Ricki and Tara (doodle)]

I don't know a lot about these auctions but my understanding is that they are intended for breeders who are looking to add "stock" to their mills and not generally open to the public?? I saw an auction on TV some time ago and the reporter was there undercover. I guess that is what caused me think that not everyone was welcome (especially with cameras I'm sure). If the rescue person/reporter did purchase puppies "no one else wanted" then they may have been puppies who would have been killed otherwise because they were not desirable. In that case I think the end justified the means. In a hypothetical situation it would be no different then you having a neighbor who abused their dog and you offering to buy it from them. In that case you are not really supporting the abuse of the neighbor but rather rescuing the dog. I'm learning that "rescuing" has a lot of different sides to it. In any case the whole auction business is just wrong and nasty and very disturbing!!

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

It's a fine line. There are many, many people who justify having purchased a puppy from a pet store by saying they were rescuing it. That may be, but what they have also done is support the puppy mill industry and ensure that another dog will be bred in conditions too vile to imagine to take it's place. It perpetuates the cruelty.
In the case of the neighbor, he doesn't have a dog abuse business that you would be supporting by taking the puppy from him, although he would likely do the same thing again to another dog. That's why to me, the better thing to do in that case would be to call the SPCA and report it.
Puppy millers often breed sick dogs; in fact, it would be hard to find a breeding dog in a puppy mill who is healthy. If these dogs were too sick to be bred and would be killed if someone didn't take them, I don't think they would have been at auction in the first place. The Amish are shrewd business people. But that's just an educated guess without knowing the exact facts of the situation.

[Ricki and Tara (doodle)]

I agree Karen, it is certainly not a black and white situation. I also agree with your assessment of my analogy. I thought of the same thing myself after I wrote it but didn't get back to the computer in time to change it! I see what you are saying about the main goal needing to be putting these millers out of business. And that the only way that will happen is to end the demand for their product-completely. I can only imagine how a dog lover would feel at one of these auctions-it would be really tough not to want to "save" at least one of them.

[F, Calla & Luca]

I think many, if not most, people who buy dogs from pet stores do it through ignorance. I remember years ago going to pet stores with my kids just to look at the pets. I wasn't looking to buy a dog but I also never thought about their circumstances much although sometimes I still felt sorry for them. I wonder to this day about some of the animals in good zoos, like the Bronx Zoo, which have totally revamped the way they house and exhibit animals to be more humane. Some of the animals would be extinct if not for zoos and it probably is good that a species has been saved. But still, is it better to be alive, well fed, and live long but not free. Don't get me started or I'll be on to global warming next. Of course, puppy mills are not known for being humane or treating animals well so I've gotten off on a tangent.

[Ricki and Tara (doodle)]

I'm with you on the zoo issue...I can't even GO to them anymore-too depressing.

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

We all looked at the puppies in the pet stores and never thought about the circumstances of their being there. But back then, we didn't have the information we have now. We didn't have the internet, and we didn't have the media coverage on the puppy mills. We didn't have popular culture figures like Oprah talking about it on national TV. It was also a much smaller industry, and nowhere near as lucrative. The figures on the numbers of mills, the numbers of dogs produced, and the amount of revenue (untaxed, BTW) have skyrocketed in just the past 10 or 15 years. We can thank the internet for some of that, too. And I don't have proof, but I believe that the conditions were not as horrendous for the dogs in the commercial breeding facilities in the past.
But my point is that back then, we could be excused for not knowing. The information wasn't being dispensed with our morning coffee every day. I truly believe that there is no excuse for not knowing now, if someone wants to know. I understand that people purchase from the pet stores, roadside stands and internet mills out of ignorance. But I'll bet my new shoes they researched their last automobile, computer, or TV purchase. And those are inanimate objects that aren't going to share their homes & lives for the next 12 or 15 years, and don't have mothers languishing in wire cages for their entire lives. I realize that this is as judgmental as it comes, but I've heard one too many tragic stories today about a dog who deserved better than he got at the hands of these greedy, heartless puppy millers. IMO, there is no excuse for anyone who has basic reading skills to be ignorant about the source of these puppies in this day and age. If they don't know, it's because they don't want to know.

[Jacquie Yorke (DRC)]

When you purchase a puppy from a pet store you make think that you are saving a life..In reality what you are doing is condemning that puppies mother to further misey and perpetuating this horrible industry.....

I have been to the Buckeye auction as an observer.....It is not only the Amish who attend and not only the Amish who sell, buy and trade animals.....There was quite an assortment of human garbage there peddling dog flesh for profit.

BTW- Yes, Havanese Rescue attends and Basenji Rescue also frequents the Buckeye auction. I have heard tales of them paying as much as $400 to save a breeder dog from mill life.

There is a website that posts the list of animals scheduled to be put on the block a few weeks prior to the actual auction...I 'll have to find it and post it for you.

[Nancy, Ned, Clancy, and Charlie]

I think we all need to strive every day to live by our standards of right and wrong, but also to realize that sometimes we just can't live up to those standards. Getting a dog from a store or an auction is not what one should do,but going to one of those stores or auctions puts you into making a hard choice. It is wrong to do anything to support puppy mills and inhumane practices, but when faced with a real live sad-eyed puppy, it becomes very difficult to keep that resolve. We just have to work as hard as we can to educate others and drive the mills out of business.
It is easy to do basic internet research, but it is not easy to 'read between the lines' when you aren't expecting you need to. Many of us (me too) don't do much internet research before buying cars, boats or planes (not that I have one). My kids are always pointing me to that website that debunks rumors - I still can't remember the name of it. I can remember my kids names so I just ask them again, and again....

[Jacquie Yorke (DRC)]

Hi Nance.....It's "Snopes"...

[Nancy, Ned, Clancy, and Charlie]

Yea, that is it. I can never remember the name and always have to call one of the children. Must be my senior moment!