All God's creatures great and small....

I'm sitting here working on a quilt and watching Oprah. Yeah...I know Kate....I told you yesterday that I almost never watch it....and I don't. BUT...when I WAS watching it yesterday I saw that they were doing a show today on puppy mills and I just had to watch again today.

Now....I have known about puppy mills since I was a child. And I am sure that most of YOU know about puppy mills....but if you don't let me just explain a few things.

According to the man on Oprah, who is dedicating his life to rescuing as many as 40 dogs a day from puppy mills, up to 99% of the puppies in pet shops...and many you find on line.... come from puppy mills. Now that is HIS statistic in PA, but I am sure that it is fairly accurate as far as the rest of the country too.

Even if you AREN'T a dog lover the footage shown on Oprah today would have broken your heart. Female dogs crammed into crates or cages so small they couldn't stand up while they were stepping all over their puppies. Animals whose feet had NEVER touched the ground although they were being bred on farms. Animals with open wounds and chains around their necks that had grown into their hair. Females with tumors in their breasts from nursing so many puppies. Dead dogs lying out in the open. And MOST of the dogs they showed rescued in this particular footage were either females to old to breed anymore or males that are not needed. If they are not rescued they are shot...or killed in some other way.

How do I know about puppy mills? Well, when I was a child my family showed dogs, my mother worked for a vet AND my mother owned her own grooming shop and boarding kennel.

SO, I learned from a very young age several things. One, if you want a full blooded dog, with papers or not, buy them ONLY from a reputable breeder...NEVER from a pet shop. I learned that female dogs are bred over and over until they can't be bred anymore. I learned that MOST puppies that come out of a puppy mill are sick, inbred or not properly socialized.

If you want FIRST hand experience. I personally have never been to a pet shop where at least HALF of the puppies didn't have diarrhea. Also, a few years ago the girls wanted to go to the mall with their friends. While there they wanted to go see the puppies. I of course was just following them around taking pictures of them as they laughed and window shopped. While we were standing in the pet shop the girls were cooing over the puppies and it was such a cute picture I moved in to take the shot. A young woman almost pounced on me and then very rudely kicked me out of the shop. It took me a couple of seconds to realized why she had done that...and then I remember that there had just been an expose about pet shops/puppy mills on the local news.

Okay....so I have said my piece. I have not even said anything about spaying and neutering your animals...or how you should save a dog from a shelter or rescue league instead of buying a puppy. You guys know all about that.

I do want to say two more things though.

1. The best pets we have EVER had have been mutts. Some rescued, some found or given to us. The only exception was Duke who was a retired greyhound from the track in Co. Springs. See, retired greyhounds, unless rescued are put to death. When we adopted Duke he had never ridden in a car, had never been bathed, had never eaten kibble,had never gone up and down the stairs and he was TERRIFIED of thunder because he had been raised in a cinder block kennel with a tin roof. We have NEVER owned a more loving dog though. He just CRAVED love.

AND....

2. If you live here in Castle Rock you might now that we have a new pet shop here. I won't say the name but I am sure that you have probably seen the sign spinners standing up and down Founders Pkwy. If you are reading this I hope that you don't know these people....because I am afraid I am about to say something to make you mad.

PLEASE DO NOT FREQUENT THIS PLACE....and tell everyone you know not to buy a puppy there. This place is a user of puppy mills if I have ever seen one. The puppies are VERY cute...but while I was in there with my mother we spotted several things. Puppies with diarrhea, uneducated staff and if NOTHING else, HORRIBLE over-pricing!!! You could adopt anywhere from 5 to 15 animals from a shelter for the same price as one of the puppies they were selling. What kills me is the lady running the counter said that the puppies were selling so fast she was going to have to contact her breeders for more puppies.

YOU CAN NOT JUST CALL YOUR BREEDER FOR MORE PUPPIES UNLESS YOU ARE CALLING A PUPPY MILL!

And IF you know these people...and you can prove me wrong...PLEASE DO!

(After posting this I got this response from a friend in regards to this VERY pet store......

I have a friend that bought a puppy from there. NEVER AGAIN she said. The minute she got it home, she took it to the vet and was told it had some bacterial infection. They tell you that the first shots have already been given, but they couldn't come up w/ the records. This girl has spent hundreds on a BRAND NEW PUPPY.
We went there and the people are less than customer service oriented. And some guy was coming in as we were leaving with his own dog. Some girl, I'm sure not much over 16 or 17 said "you can't bring that dog in here", and the guy just stood there. (I"m not sure if he didn't hear or what) But she said it again very rudely. And he says "I though it said Pet Paradise" and walks out. She said "Yeah, for our pets not yours". NICE!!!!!!
Our dog came from the Denver Dumb Friends league. He is a very good dog. I would do it all over again.)

K....I'm stepping off of my soap box now. Those of you who know me know that I TOTALLY believe that PEOPLE come first but I also believe that we are to care and be responsible for the world around us.

Oh...our dog Benji....he's a mutt....and he was a stray...and he's running a very close second to Duke as the best dog we have ever owned. And as you can see from the photo above...he almost NEVER leaves Kaitlyn's side. She has said in the past if he was a human she would marry him. Why...because he is loyal and he loves her unconditionally.