About 8 years ago my little girl came into my life. From an add in the newspaper advertising golden retriever black lab mixes... So I drove out to the place in the country where they told me I could have my pick of the litter. I showed up to a beautiful house on a huge piece of property. The owners took me to the back of the house where they said the kept the dogs. I walked in to the this little shack about the size of my bedroom and in there must have been about 25 dogs in tiny little cages, sick, underfed, abused and neglected. It took everything I had not to beat the shit out of the woman who was showing me around then and there. Really.
In this tiny tiny cage made for a house cat, I saw two little black dogs, a boy and a girl. The girl looked the sickest, she had fleas and her belly was swollen, she was quiet and minuscule (about 4 weeks old)... I took the dog and if I could have I would have taken them all. At the time I told myself that one dog was all I could do, I lived in a small apartment where pets weren't allowed and I felt okay about it. I reported the puppy mill to my vet and my vet reported it to the authorities.
But every now and again I ask myself what happened to my little girl's brother and I regret not having taken him...
The video above was sent by a good friend of mine who works with a puppy mills rescue team with the Montreal SPCA, in fact she has taken in one of the dogs that she helped rescue. These dogs have all sorts of physical and emotional problems that will most likely plaque them their whole lives and they need a special kind of love from their caretakers.
I would like also, to take the time to express my opinion that this country needs tougher laws on people who abuse and mistreat animals. Puppy mill owners should be doing jail time, paying heavy fines and have criminal records.
Please help shut down puppy mills by not purchasing dogs in pet stores because they most likely get their dogs from these mills or contacting you local SPCA to see what else you can do. Please feel free to repost the above video and help raise awareness about the mistreatment of animals.
