Diary of a puppy mill dog Night 1

Last Updated on Monday, 17 August 2009 01:09 Written by Sarah Osborne Thursday, 30 July 2009 18:49

This blog is written by Oliver's foster mom, Janet, and will be updated regularly.  The blog is to give you an idea about the amount of work that goes into rehabilitating a puppy mill dog.  Donations can be made by clicking the link below.  You may mail checks to RBR, PO Box 14754, Richmond VA 23221 or to PAL (one of our vet hospitals) - www.preventalitter.org.

Oliver, the puppy mill stud.

July 29, 2009

Oliver came late at night.  He had quite an adventure and was very upset.  Many very generous, kind people helped him get to me that night.  His owner, the puppy mill breeder turned him over to one of our volunteers because he was no longer good enough to breed.  He volunteered to have him groomed as he was filthy and matted.  During the grooming process with mattes to his skin he was nicked in several places, one place had to have stitches.  After that scary process, another volunteer met him up with him at a rest stop to further transport him.  She was also transporting two other dogs, a boxer, Riley and toy poodle, Amber.  Poor Oliver didn't even have a name as he only had one purpose....breeding.  But I guess lucky for Oliver, he was too big for a Yorkie at 10lbs. He is one of the lucky ones to get out of the puppy mill and have a family that loves him, he left 23 other dogs behind to stay outside in the heat and cold without a nice person to love him. Most of those dogs probably also have heartworms and will die prematurely because they are untreated.

At Richmond Boxer Rescue (RBR) headquarters he received the first of his distemper shots.  Then blood was drawn to see if he was heartworm positive.  It is like a pregnancy test, if a line shows up it is positive.  Cheryl was watching and broke the bad news, it was positive.  We drew blood again to double check and again it was positive.  Through all of this poking, Oliver never ever cried out or snapped at all. We all were devastated as RBR doesn't have the financial resources to have Oliver go thru heartworm treatment.  Heartworms are very easily prevented with a monthly treatment, however can cost almost a $1000 and the treatment can lead to death. Sarah said we can find another rescue for him that can help him.  I really didn't want to take him then, as it was going to break my heart to send him to another foster parent as he was so upset.

When we got back to Cheryl's, he wouldn't even stand upright.  I placed him on the ground to see if he needed to go to the bathroom and he wouldn't even stand and walk outside.  I placed him inside a crate and worried even if with all the stress he would be alive in the morning and what would happen.

When purchasing a dog from a pet store or puppy mill you are not rescuing the puppy but enabling the mother to spend her entire life in a cage without touching the grass or having a loving pet. These are the true victims of puppy mills and often these dogs are never given an opportunity.