The beginning of a real life in Colorado
Last weekend, rescue groups from Colorado and Utah traveled to Missouri to attend a dog auction, and to pick up dogs that breeders were giving away. Click here to read the original story about the recent Missouri dog auction.Click here to read Part Two, beginning a real life in Utah
“I would say that by a landslide, this bunch of dogs is the healthiest we have ever gotten,” said Theresa Strader of
Mill Dog Rescue Network (MDRN) in Colorado Springs. She’s made several trips to Missouri to pick up “breeder dump” dogs. Her theory as to why so many of the dogs are young and relatively healthy this time? “I have a feeling that many of these were Christmas puppies that didn’t sell.” Maybe that’s why breeders gave away cute Cockapoo and salt and pepper Schnauzer puppies. They didn’t sell and all they were doing is sitting around, costing money to feed.
“I say this is the healthiest bunch, and it is, but we’ve got two Shelties in the ICU at the vet right now that I worry aren’t going to make it,” Theresa said. She knows that the Shelties in the group had been living in rabbit hutches—some for nearly a decade. One has an open pyometra; her uterus is infected and filled with pus, a life-threatening condition that unspayed dogs are prone to. The second Sheltie is in liver failure.
Theresa has made one little Chihuahua her personal “project” dog for the time being. “She’s a tiny little thing, looks like she’s full of puppies, and she’s a fear biter.” The rest of the dogs are simply exhibiting behavior common to dogs that have been kept in cages with little or no socialization or handling. “When a 12-week old puppy won’t look you in the eye, that says a lot about how they’ve been raised,” Theresa said.
Why Go to Auctions?Theresa explained, “We go to the auctions because a lot of those dogs go for next to nothing, and we want to watch out for those guys. I have a great affinity for older dogs, and those are usually the ones that go for next to nothing.” But unfortunately, the older dogs are the ones with the most medical needs. Most have rotten mouths from years of drinking from rabbit-style water bottles, some have skin conditions and a few have serious eye problems. Dogs suffer these preventable or treatable conditions in the breeding facilities, but there, they go untreated. The majority of the 250+ dogs that have been through MDRN are not from auctions, but were given away by breeders who didn’t want them anymore. If rescue wasn’t there and willing to take dogs, they’d be disposed of by other means.
MDRN has space on the property to house thirty dogs, and Theresa stays firm about not bringing in more dogs than the space can comfortably hold. So it was a good thing that she had pre-arranged help from other Colorado groups who were there to meet the van and pick up dogs that they would foster and find suitable homes for. To contact other participating groups to help or adopt a Missouri dog, click on the links below:
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Pueblo Collie/Sheltie Rescue-
Teller County Regional Animal Shelter-
Every Creature Counts
Good Guys, Bad Guys and Getting the Word OutAuctions are attended by hundreds of breeders who see no problem with their chosen occupation; the name of the game is money, and the industry is legal and accepted by state and federal governments. Meanwhile, sitting right beside them to raise her bid card when the most pathetic animals are brought out, is Theresa. People know she’s there to rescue dogs, and while that is tolerated, the breeders, brokers and the people who put on the auction do NOT like “animal rights activists” and they’re not wild about dog rescue groups either. In the same way that a room filled with 200 rescuers find the idea of commercial dog breeding and pet stores sickening, a room filled with breeders dislikes the idea of rescuers.
“What’s crazy about this is that rescuers spend sleepless nights and money we don’t have to save these dogs, and we’re the bad guys. Everyone is looking down on us in that environment.”
But when the rescue group leaves that environment, their reception is very different. The other goal of MDRN, in addition to being a safety net for unwanted dogs from the pet industry, is to educate. Two days after they arrived home from the Missouri trip, Theresa and volunteer Helen Freeman gave a presentation to high school seniors at a school for the deaf and blind. They talked about the commercial dog breeding industry, and how the dogs bred in it are the same ones that you find in pet stores around the country.
It’s no surprise that the young people in the audience asked the most important question in this fight against the problems with the pet trade. Theresa said, “There was one kid who asked again and again, ‘how is this legal?’
Click here to watch the story on FOX 21 newsHow you can help:-To learn more about dog auctions and what can be done about them, see the
“what you can do” section of this news piece.-Mill Dog Rescue Network is a 501c3 nonprofit organization that relies on donations to pay for dogs’ medical care. Theresa said no donation is too small, and every dollar counts. “If ten people donate five dollars, that’s a spay.” For more information about donating to MDRN, visit their website at
www.milldogrescue.org.They always need supplies to help care for and clean up after the dogs, including:
Towels
Paper towels
Bleach
For information on how to adopt a dog from MDRN, visit their
Adoptions page.Photos of the dogs were taken and kindly donated by Nanette Martin, professional photographer and animal welfare advocate. To learn more about her award-winning work, visit her website: www.nanettemartin.com