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Where did your puppy come from? Pt 2

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Yesterday, I wrote about CAPS (Companion Animal Protection Society) fight against Kathy Bauck, of Pick of the Litter Puppies aka Puppies on Wheels. If you haven’t yet, please watch the CAPS documentary.

Today, I’m going to write about the fall out from the Kathy Bauck investigation, and how it applies to all of us. Next week, I’ll write about the implications of this case for Canadian Breeders, and for Agriculture Canada.

Let me put it to you bluntly – consider this my declaration of war.

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Meet Holmes

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Holmes then and now

I wrote about Mojo the other day, but there was so much more to his story that we couldn’t talk about right away.

The photo above, on the left, shows the dog that we were expecting to take into rescue. The dog on the right is the actual dog we picked up. The dog on the left is a small, young, apparently healthy male. The dog on the right is approximately three to five years old, has a tumor on his head, can’t see because his vision is blocked by bilateral cherry eye, and is a 1 out of 5 on the body mass scale.

How long do you have to neglect a dog, before he gets from ‘a’ to ‘b’?

The rest (it’s long) after the cut.

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CFBR Puppy Mill Rescue – Live Blogging

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I’ll be updating this post throughout the day, as news comes in from Mary and her team. When we get photos, I’ll add them after the cut, so that the front page will load faster.

Chicago French Bulldog Rescue’s French Bulldog Puppy Mill Updates:

Donate to help cover the veterinary expenses of the rescued dogs and their unborn puppies – click here for the PayPal link. CFBR is a 501(c)3 Charity.

 

6:24 EST

Just spoke to Mary. She asked me to clarify that four of the ten Frenchies rescued by CFBR were paid for by an anonymous east coast donor, who will also be taking responsibility for their veterinary care and expenses. CFBR won’t be fostering them, as they’re heading for a veterinary facility on the east coast.

(English) Bulldog Rescue update: Mary said that Bulldog rescue, with the help of CFBR, got out: 3 10 day old puppies and their mother; one bitch who had just miscarried; several other puppies; several other Bulldogs which had gone unsold at a nearby puppy mill auction. CFBR is trasporting them to the Bulldog rescue staging area.

Mary says that they are enroute to their own staging area, and that they are fine for supplies. They have loads of towels and blankets, but trust me – anyone bringing coffee, donuts or snacks will be greeted with open arms 🙂

I was pleasantly surprised to hear that these dogs are in much better shape than we had feared. They are friendly and well fed, and seem to be refreshingly free of any immediately apparent health issues. They’ll be screened as soon as possible for heartworm or other parasites, and will be given whatever meds and parasite controls possibly (considering that half of them are pregnant).

I will post more updates in the morning as they come in. Mary tells me that they’ll probably be on the road until 1 am or so, after which she still has to get dogs settled, fed and exercised, and then check her mail and messages. So, if you’ve contacted her, be patient waiting for a response!

If you’ve contacted her offering to foster, she’ll attempt to reach you sometime in the morning.

 

4:14 PM EST

OK, facebook and blogosphere – I’m taking a break for an hour to play w my own puppies and to feed my dogs. I’ll check back in later w any news and updates. Happy Frenchie Freedom Friday! I vote that the girl who has her birthday today is named “Freedom” – how about you?

 

12:45 EST

Phone update from Mary.

For anyone who has been asking, this farm is DEFINITELY out of business. Everything is being sold today, including the farm property itself.  The owners are out of money, and stated that there was enough food left for the dogs for one more day.

Here are the totals of what Mary and her team were able to get, with your help:

They were able to purchase ten of the fifteen French Bulldogs for sale, four of which were paid for by an anonymous donor from the east coast, who will be looking after their vet care and other expenses.

Descriptions:

Pregnant Female 1 – Fawn

Born 9/8/09, Due 04/17

Pregnant Female 2 – fawn and white

Born 11/2/06, Due 05/01

Pregnant Female 3 – brindle and white

Born 08/06/07, bred, not sure of due date

Pregnant Female 4 – NINE year old Cream

Born 09/23/02, due 04/26 (touted as having ‘lots of litters left in her’)

Pregnant Female 5 – EIGHT year old Cream

Born 07/03/03, Due March 15

Pregnant Female 6 – Fawn, barely one year old

One year old today, and due 03/08

Female 7 – fawn and white

Female 8 – white and fawn

Female 9 – brindle and white

Male – brindle and white

 

They aren’t sure yet how many Bulldogs made it out, as the sale was still going on as Mary and I were speaking. Mary says that the other buyers were Amish, and that they are PISSED that Mary’s team got the pregnant girls out.

URGENT – this is WAY more pregnant females than was expected. Experienced breeder foster homes willing to whelp and rear litters are desperately needed. Please contact Mary at tushay2mm@msn.com if you can help. C Section and vetting costs are going to be astronomical, so please donate if you can.

 

9:42 AM (20 minutes ago)

Mary just checked in and the caravan is approx 20 minutes from the auction site. Cell phones are spotty at best down there in the mountains! Everyone, please keep them in your thoughts and prayers that they get all of the Frenchies OUT and they themselves are safe!

 

Update: 3:06 pm

First photos – after the cut.

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French Bulldog Puppy Mill Rescue – Live Blogging Friday

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Ginger, a French Bulldog helped through rescue

This is Ginger - another puppy mill rescue. Her full story is coming on Monday. This is Ginger AFTER gaining weight, by the way.

 

Just a quick update that, thanks to some dedicated Chicago French Bulldog Rescue volunteers, I’m going to be live blogging as much of Friday’s puppy mill rescue efforts as possible.

No updates will be possible from the auction itself (and there are police on hand to make sure of that, which is pretty much the height of irony), but as soon as the auction is done, and from the staging areas onwards, we’ll be getting you news just as soon as we possibly can.

Check in through out the day on Friday, for news as soon as we have it, including photos and video.

These Frenchies are going to need a LOT of veterinary attention, so please – continue spreading the word and encouraging people to give. Once they’re out of the puppy mill, the real job of ‘rescuing’ them will just be starting!

 

USDA Licensed and Inspected Dog Kennel

USDA Inspected Kennel Kills 1,000+ Dogs

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As some you might remember, I wrote a while back about the CFIA’s requirement that any puppies under eight months of age which are imported into Canada for “commercial purposes” must come from a USDA Licensed breeder.

Here’s a link to the original article:

https://www.bullmarketfrogs.com/blog/2010/01/cfia-partners-canadian-breeders-with-usda/

CFIA defines ‘commercial purposes’ as a dog imported by anyone who has ever bred a litter, shown a dog, judged a dog, trained a dog or trialed a dog – in other words, any dog OTHER than one imported by an individual as ‘just a pet’ (By the way, if you are wondering how the CFIA determines if the person you are importing a dog from is “USDA approved”, they use this on line USDA Search tool, which can be accessed by anyone – http://acissearch.aphis.usda.gov/LPASearch/faces/LPASearch.jspx )

CFIA seems to believe that forcing Canadians to import only USDA inspected dogs will somehow ensure that the dogs being imported into are healthier than just ‘random’ bred dogs. The rationale might be sound – after all, CFIA likely feels that, if we only allow meat and poultry that has passed USDA inspections into Canada, why not apply the same restrictions to puppies?

The problem is that almost any kennel can pass a USDA inspection – or, if they fail one, they’ll be given almost unlimited chances to get their facility up to par.

In this most recent incident, as reported on Pet Connection, a mass distemper outbreak illustrates just how much of a fallacy the USDA “stamp of approval” really is:

More than 1000 dogs were euthanized as a last resort to thwart a canine distemper virus (CDV) outbreak at a USDA-licensed Kansas kennel, reports Dr. Bill Brown, Kansas’ Livestock Commissioner.

Am I supposed to feel better because the U.S. Department of Agriculture was “riding shotgun”? No, in fact their involvement makes the situation all the more deplorable. Canine distemper is completely preventable. How did the lethal combination of overcrowded, unclean conditions and inadequate vaccinations — the only way canine distemper can run rampant –  manage to slip under the USDA radar?

Are Canadian breeders supposed to feel better knowing that the CFIA has now limited us to importing dogs which have come from conditions like these? It’s clear to all of us that a “USDA Inspected” label means nothing more than a verification of the fact that this breeder just has too many Goddamned dogs. You don’t see a lot of three or four dog hobby kennels rushing out to get USDA certified – that’s reserved for the forty, fifty, one hundred dog or more breeders, the ones who raise their dogs, as the Pet Connection article says, like livestock. And USDA inspections might work just fine for livestock, but they are failing for puppies over and over and over again.

The CBSA border guard who confronted my friend when she didn’t have the appropriate paperwork for her Scottish bred, expensively imported puppy said that they are paying close attention to breeder imports, because “Breeders lie”. Given a choice between being limited to my future breeding stock coming from a USDA Kennel that churns out puppies like widgets from a factory, or being a big old liar, I know what I choose.

The better question is, what does CFIA choose – and what do we, as Canadians, allow them to get away with choosing for us?