this is what happens at puppy mills

please don't get a dog at a pet store. i'd even go so far as to say don't get a dog ANYWHERE but a shelter. there are purebreds a plenty there too you know. perhaps you don't get the papers, but why the hell would you need them? you're NOT going to breed those dogs of course, you're going to have them spayed or neutered (if they aren't already). this is dedicated to nancy who just last week lost her dog of 17 years. it's also dedicated to my but (big ugly thaing. sometimes that's what i called him. i did it because we both knew he really WASN'T ugly at all), my ranger danger (my little niece named him. well at the time she was little). we found ranger roaming around (my parents house). he was healthy and fed but FILTHY. my mom brought him in and he never left. he had to be part shepherd and part rottie. he was about 2 years old when we found him, give or take (according to the vet). my mom called all of the local vets in the area, the local shelters and put ads in the local paper. no one ever claimed him. he knew his basic sit and stay and paw type requests. he was loving and smart and funny. well loving to ONLY family members. when ANYONE and i mean ANYONE came over, we'd have to put ranger out on the porch or outside or even tie him up in the kitchen. he HATED ALL strangers. funny, he was so gentle with all of my sisters (at the time VERY YOUNG) children yet so vicious with outsiders. he never bit anyone when he was in our care. he WOULD have though. we just made sure he never had the chance. he was hand shy. someone must have beaten him badly. i don't know how people can do such things.

one day when he was outside (on a heavy chain. he only stayed out when he wanted to go out and he was immediately brought in at his FIRST bark) i happened to look out the kitchen window. i saw my parent's neighbor cross over into our yard. he was VERY ill at the time, terminal. i quickly dashed to the back door thinking i'd never stop the impending tragedy. by the time i had opened it, i saw ranger on his back on the ground letting the neighbor rub his belly. i never went outside. i just let ranger and my parent's neighbor bond. it was something they both needed i guess.

i guess i'll also dedicate this to my moms too (she has passed as well). ranger got very ill a couple of years after he adopted us. of course he was under a vet's care but when he was home, every evening at 10:00 my mother would peel him an apple and feed it to him along with a little vanilla ice cream. when i asked her why she gave him a peeled apple and vanilla ice cream every night at 10:00 she said, 'a rose is a rose, i do it because that's what HE LIKES'. looking at me as if i was an alien for not knowing that tidbit of info...........

anyway, i LOVE DOGS (i like all animals but i LOVE dogs). please adopt one (or a cat or a bird or a hampster or whatever) from a shelter in your area. they'll love you like you need to be loved

Dogs' Best Friends to the Rescue
Volunteers Rush to the Aid of Animals Seized at Suspected Va. Puppy Mill

By Annie Gowen and Donna St. George Washington Post Staff Writers
Some of the adult dogs arriving at the Montgomery County animal shelter Thursday acted like newborn pups with splayed legs, wobbly as they tried to walk. They had never been on solid ground.
At first, they didn't know how to eat from a bowl, so accustomed were they to the troughs at the puppy mill in southwestern Virginia from which they had just been rescued. Several had matted hair around their eyes and couldn't see. The pads of their feet were sore or cut from being confined to wire cages.
When word of the dogs' plight surfaced this week on the Web site of the Humane Society of the United States -- that officials in Carroll County, Va., had seized nearly 1,000 dogs from a suspected puppy mill -- reaction from animal lovers was immediate and intense.
Volunteers from the Washington region joined others from Florida and New York who streamed to the rural town of Hillsville near the North Carolina border. Families began calling to ask when they could adopt the dogs. Donations rolled in; PetSmart sent a trailer full of kibble and other supplies. .............