Rescue’s Role in the Fight Against Puppy Mills

Groups answer the question: how does your work help fight the bigger battle against puppy mills?

Across the country, rescue groups and animal welfare organizations are getting dogs out of puppy mills--one way or another. It brings up a well-known dilemma: On one hand, each dog removed from a wretched mill is another life saved and another opportunity to educate the public. But on the other hand, nobody likes putting money in millers’ pockets. The issue comes down to this: just what is rescue’s role in the fight against puppy mills?

Some rescuers have found a sliver of room between the two schools of thought.

“It’s a double-edged sword,” says Jenny Gerritse, of Hearts United for Animals, based in Auburn, Nebraska. “We felt very strongly from the beginning that we didn’t want to give them money and help them stay in business."

“The only time we have purchased from a mill – and the only time we will – is when there’s a close-out, when the mill is going out of business.”


Once in a while, Theresa Strader, founder of the Mill Dog Rescue Network (MDRN) near Colorado Springs, is a bit more willing to pay to extricate puppies from their houses of horror. “Occasionally, there will be a handful of surplus puppies that wind up in the rescue mix. The breeders will almost always require a fee (usually $50) to send the puppies onto us. They openly state that if we don’t pay the fee, that puppy will either be held back for breeding or destroyed. It is my belief that if we can save a puppy from becoming a breeding dog or from being destroyed, that’s the best $50 I’ve ever spent and $50 once in a great while is not what’s keeping these people in business."

“Regardless, the vast majority (90%) of dogs that we rescue are retired breeding stock and are turned over by the breeders for free.” Pictured above: Hermione, rescued by MDRN. Click the picture for her story.

A dog’s life for less than a cup of coffee
Theresa also occasionally picks up dogs at auctions, sometimes for as little as 50 cents. “When we attend an auction, we are only there to watch over the dogs that no one else wants – usually old breeding dogs or unpopular breeds that don’t sell well in pet stores. It is not uncommon for these dogs to sell for less than $5. These are dogs that are not going ‘home,’ dogs that are often destroyed that very night if not purchased at the auction. Again, no one is staying in business on us when we pay such a minimal amount for the dog. This is the only chance these dogs ever have of living life outside the cage.”

Most of the time, she, as well as Jenny, get dogs through third-party individuals who deal with the millers.

“They tell them, ‘You don’t have to kill the old breeder dogs, we can get them out and place them,' ” Theresa says. “[When working with breeders] we don’t use words like ‘puppy mill’ or ‘rescue.’ It’s a very subtle relationship.”

It’s necessary to use intermediaries, Jenny explains, because mills don’t like people coming on their property, especially animal welfare advocates. They are afraid of hidden cameras and bad press.

And bad press to the millers is good press for animal welfare.

Although Theresa doesn’t often go to auctions, when she does, she uses the occasion to help bolster perhaps the most important weapon in the fight against puppy mills – education.

When rescue equals education
“After I returned from my first auction a year and a half ago, I knew that I needed to spread the word about what I had just seen and learned. I called our local news stations and all three ran excellent stories about the dogs I had brought home,” she says. “Six months later a news station from Denver contacted me. They were very excited to do a story and sent a reporter and a cameraman with a hidden camera to Missouri with us on our next rescue. Alliances such as these are critical in helping to get the word out.”

“You’ve got to get to the masses, and without the media behind you, it’s very difficult to do. More and more media outlets are starting to pick up on puppy mills; it’s a hot issue.”

Meanwhile, Mill Dog Rescue is developing a program to be used in schools to teach children about puppy mills. “They’re the next generation,” Theresa says, “and they’ll also take the message home to their parents.”

According to Jenny, the dogs themselves offer an object lesson to the public.

“Through adoptions they’re all ambassadors,” she says. “We tell their stories on our website. People see them in person and we tell them about puppy mills. We have mill dogs at home and when people ask me about them, I tell them the whole story.” Pictured left: Horton, rescued by HUA. Click the picture for Horton’s story.

Some animal welfare proponents, however, favor a harder line, relying more on investigations and legislation to combat the issue.

The fight for tougher laws
Mary O’Connor-Shaver, of Ban Ohio Dog Auctions, says that “Many mill rescuers who attend the auction and participate in purchasing dogs directly from breeders have no desire to assist inspectors and investigators in exposing and shutting down bad breeding operations. At times, it can be very frustrating. Just like the family member who gives money to an addict so they won't go to the streets and engage in criminal activity to support their habit, many rescues enable these type of breeders by guaranteeing they can be trusted, and that their relationship will never be revealed to those who they think don't have a need to know—the USDA inspectors, humane investigators, dog warden, etcetera.”

She feels strongly that rescuers who go to auctions and buy directly from puppy mill breeders should cooperate with local, state and federal authorities to expose and help shut down bad breeders.

“Many of my rescue peers feel the auction is their main way to have access to getting some of the dogs out of the mills. ... They feel that closing the auction would not affect the mills in any way, but it would limit rescues from being able to save any. For a great many (and a growing number) of us, taking steps to ban the auctions is one way to take away the demand, and we strongly believe introducing legislation similar to that of PA's statute 459-603 will impact the mills.” In Mary’s opinion, “as long as you have a buyer, there will always be a need for a seller.” Pictured right: Sasha, rescued and fostered by Mary O’Connor-Shaver. Click the picture to read her story.

“BanOhioDogAuctions will continue working with several national animal advocacy groups, as well as the media, to help fund more undercover investigations of both puppy mills and dog auctions. And of course, we'll continue pressuring our elected state officials, as well as the [local county] commissioners... to also support a ban on dog auctions.”

All three women acknowledge that the commercial breeding industry is here to stay.

Marathon, not a sprint
“A problem that took 60 years to grow is not going away in six months or a year,” Theresa says. “People will always want puppies and reputable breeders can never provide people with the number of puppies they want.”

With that in mind, Mary and some rescuers met with a commercial breeder last year – prior to a protest at an auction – to see if there was any common ground.

”It was the first time that anybody from the breeding community had a chance to sit down with ‘extremists,’” she said in an article in Newsday, a Long Island, New York newspaper.

Among the ideas they discussed were monthly “adoption days” for breeding dogs nearing retirement age, and the possibility of representatives from the rescue community visiting Amish breeding farms to meet and talk.

“Granted, this is not going to get rid of puppy mills, but the idea of protest is to get everybody to the table,” she said, adding that she plans to continue with a larger circle of commercial breeders.

The millers may be more likely to come to the table because of the pressure being brought to bear by animal welfare advocates.

“I talk to these people; I know they’re nervous in their industry,” Theresa says. “What didn’t seem to bother them a year ago; bothers them a great deal now. The heat is on.”

Not long ago, she got some mill dogs from a breeder. Afterward, he remarked, “I don’t want to hear about this on Oprah next week.”

Visit these groups on the Web

Ban Ohio Dog Auctions (Ohio)

Hearts United for Animals (Nebraska)

Mill Dog Rescue Network (Colorado)

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Click here to download “Eight Things You can do to Help Stop Puppy Mills"

By Michael Rinker: Best Friends Animal Society
Main Photo by Jennifer Hayes

Best Friends thanks the groups interviewed in this article for their honesty, tenacity, and above all, tireless efforts in the fight against puppy mills. Are you a rescue group that works with puppy mill dogs? What’s your opinion? Post a comment—share your experiences here.