How much is that doggie worth?

[judaspriestess]

The truth about the pet trade



February 20, 2008 : 6:11 PM ET

For the nine-year-old sheltie, the breeders’ auction marked the end of a long and difficult road. She had lived her whole life in a dirty rabbit hutch, where she was forced to have litter after litter so the people who barely did more than keep her alive could make money from her offspring.
Someone who attended the auction said the sheltie just stood there in her cage, her face vacant. She showed no emotion at all. Maybe that’s how she survived those horrible years – by simply shutting down.

Dr. Frank McMillan, a veterinarian with Best Friends Animal Society, has seen that vacant look before in dogs from commercial breeding facilities. He likened it to the dissociation people sometimes experience after suffering major trauma.

“Some of them are horribly damaged emotionally,” he says.

The sheltie would never make it to the bidding block in the Missouri auction house. She had outlived her money-making capabilities and, for the breeders in the audience, she had no worth at all. To them, she was just a “dump dog.” Chances are she would have simply been taken out and disposed of at the end of the auction. But she got lucky.


more..........
http://news.bestfriends.org/index.cfm?page=news&mode=entry&entry=3921FBFE-19B9-B9D5-9DC5C26447C8757F

I have to admit I got my sheltie and my bulldog from pet stores but that was the first time in my life I ever did. And IMO they are rescue dogs. Thor, my bulldog, only had one testicle drop. No one would have wanted him as he cannot breed. We had NO intentions of breeding him anyway. He cost us a grip but hey he is my baby. Crystal, my sheltie, well she was just a little runt at the pet store. No one wanted her. She is a blue merle and she just looked strange and scraggly. I loved her the moment I laid eyes on her. So I bought her. She is a complete dork. The pet store shut down about a month later. I can only imagine what would have happened to her if I had not picked her up. Needless to say we will NEVER get another dog from the pet store. Our cats on the other hand are from shelters and my latest lil pumpkin kitten, we got from a young lady who rescues animals. He just got neutered yesterday.

I hope we can eventually end this madness with these puppy mills. Its so sad. Best Friends is the BEST organization out there. They do so much for the animals of the world.

[BrklynLiberal]

1. Puppy Mills and Stores that sell the output of them should all be prosecuted to the full extent of

law!!!
Rescue organizations, shelters and breeders should be the sources for pets..