YorkieTalk.com Forums - Yorkshire Terrier Community - View Single Post - need help shutting down active puppy mill

motoguy205 · 10-28-2010, 10:37 AM

Hello everyone, my name is Rob and I am reaching out to you for any assistance or advice you might have in reference to shutting down a puppy mill. My sister raises Yorkies and I know that the breed brings on some tenacious owners. When I did a search for “shutting down puppy mills” your site and forum came up. So, since I am trying to do what is right, I am gathering as much information as I can.
I hope that I don’t offend anyone by posting here as I don’t actually own a Yorkie myself, but I do own 15 Rhodesian Ridgebacks (my kids). Now, before some of you get upset as to why I have so many… I lived in a puppy mill for 7 months (not by choice) and took as many dogs as I could handle when I left. I couldn’t bare to leave them in the conditions they were in and how they were treated. It was horrible to know I had to leave some of them behind and my wife cried for days. So here is a brief description of my situation….

When the economy went south I found myself laid off. We eventually fell behind on the mortgage, so far that foreclosure was inevitable. We were coworsed to Move to Texas where we were told buy our co-owner that the economy was booming. IT WASN’T! It was just a way for her to control who made number one for the year. At the time we were in a situation where we had few options and we thought we knew them. We had attended many shows and had one of our dogs #1 in the country in the UKC, and a second that was #4 in the country. Anyway, we made the move to this horrific place that she called a home. Even our dogs were depressed! The conditions were unbelievable! We breed and show Ridgebacks because we love them… not for the money. But when I see people that care more for the money than the animal, I have to make an attempt to stop what is going on. I lived there for 7 miserable months… multiple police inspections and AKC inspections… none of which were enough to shut her down. We spent days/weeks/months cleaning and trying our best to better the conditions for the dogs, but she had over 60 dogs on the property and they never lifted a finger to help. When I left I took as many dogs as possible… made deals or whatever I could to get the dogs to be turned over to me. We knew that after we left that there would be dogs that would die within days but my income was stretched to the max as it was with a dog food bill of $130 a week. We were correct… within days of us leaving there were dogs that had died. Not to mention other undiscribable events that take place there.
We have been successful at homing many of the dogs… even our own. We have broken ties with the co-owner as we now know what kind of person she really is… a true puppy mill! I never thought I would find myself in a situation like that, but I am now determined to shut her down regardless. If there is anyone that has advice or would know someone I can talk to, I (and all my kids) would be more than grateful! Thank you for taking the time to read this, and again, I hope that I don’t offend anyone by being a Ridgeback owner… we all have the love for our pets and I am just trying to do right by the ones that I had to leave behind.

10-28-2010, 10:37 AM	#1
motoguy205 Yorkie Yakker Join Date: Oct 2010 Location: FL Posts: 29	need help shutting down active puppy mill Hello everyone, my name is Rob and I am reaching out to you for any assistance or advice you might have in reference to shutting down a puppy mill. My sister raises Yorkies and I know that the breed brings on some tenacious owners. When I did a search for “shutting down puppy mills” your site and forum came up. So, since I am trying to do what is right, I am gathering as much information as I can. I hope that I don’t offend anyone by posting here as I don’t actually own a Yorkie myself, but I do own 15 Rhodesian Ridgebacks (my kids). Now, before some of you get upset as to why I have so many… I lived in a puppy mill for 7 months (not by choice) and took as many dogs as I could handle when I left. I couldn’t bare to leave them in the conditions they were in and how they were treated. It was horrible to know I had to leave some of them behind and my wife cried for days. So here is a brief description of my situation…. When the economy went south I found myself laid off. We eventually fell behind on the mortgage, so far that foreclosure was inevitable. We were coworsed to Move to Texas where we were told buy our co-owner that the economy was booming. IT WASN’T! It was just a way for her to control who made number one for the year. At the time we were in a situation where we had few options and we thought we knew them. We had attended many shows and had one of our dogs #1 in the country in the UKC, and a second that was #4 in the country. Anyway, we made the move to this horrific place that she called a home. Even our dogs were depressed! The conditions were unbelievable! We breed and show Ridgebacks because we love them… not for the money. But when I see people that care more for the money than the animal, I have to make an attempt to stop what is going on. I lived there for 7 miserable months… multiple police inspections and AKC inspections… none of which were enough to shut her down. We spent days/weeks/months cleaning and trying our best to better the conditions for the dogs, but she had over 60 dogs on the property and they never lifted a finger to help. When I left I took as many dogs as possible… made deals or whatever I could to get the dogs to be turned over to me. We knew that after we left that there would be dogs that would die within days but my income was stretched to the max as it was with a dog food bill of $130 a week. We were correct… within days of us leaving there were dogs that had died. Not to mention other undiscribable events that take place there. We have been successful at homing many of the dogs… even our own. We have broken ties with the co-owner as we now know what kind of person she really is… a true puppy mill! I never thought I would find myself in a situation like that, but I am now determined to shut her down regardless. If there is anyone that has advice or would know someone I can talk to, I (and all my kids) would be more than grateful! Thank you for taking the time to read this, and again, I hope that I don’t offend anyone by being a Ridgeback owner… we all have the love for our pets and I am just trying to do right by the ones that I had to leave behind.