It’s hard to resist a cute puppy, but there can be negative consequences when purchasing an animal from a street corner or a Safeway parking lot. Not to mention the negative aspects of supporting the cruelty inflicted on many dogs used for backyard breeding.Aubrey Eastman, assistant executive director of Dreampower Animal Rescue, an animal rescue group in Colorado Springs, said buying a puppy from a stranger is a huge financial and emotional risk.”When you buy from a backyard breeder, you don’t know the history of the animal and you don’t know its health issues,” Eastman said. “You’re getting an animal that is probably going to cost quite a bit in health problems in the future if not right when you get him.”American Kennel Club registration is no guarantee, Eastman said. “Anybody can get an animal registered. The dog can be a complete mutt, and it can still be registered,” she said. “AKC registration means absolutely nothing.””A lot of people breed their animals to make money, but they don’t understand how expensive it is.”Backyard breeders either break even or make money by depriving the mother dogs and pups of a healthy diet and health care, such as vaccinations, de-worming and testing for parvovirus, Eastman said. “They skimp on these things to make a profit,” she added.”It’s sad when people spend lots of money thinking they are getting a nice purebred puppy when in reality the dog is going to have a lot of problems – health or behavior issues – depending on the way it was treated.”Ann Davenport, spokeswoman for the Humane Society of the Pikes Peak Region, attributed parking lot puppy sales in El Paso County to backyard and licensed breeders.”If there was a puppy mill going on, we would be aware of it and take appropriate measures,” Davenport said. However, the HSPPR does not cover the Falcon area.Theresa Strader, founder of Mill Dog Rescue Network in Black Forest, makes regular trips to the Midwest where she purchases puppy mill cast-offs at auctions. Strader said she is concerned about Colorado breeders as well.Like one breeder in the Calhan area.The dogs are confined in pens made from plywood and wire fencing,” Strader said. There is no roof, so the dirt floor turns to mud when it rains or the snow melts. The only shelter is a plastic dog igloo in each pen.”It was so impossibly filthy,” Strader said. “I was standing right there talking to an officer (from the El Paso County Sheriff’s office) on the phone, and I asked him ‘do you think that’s OK?’ And he said ‘those conditions are substandard, but they have food, water and shelter.'”Strader rescued a female German shepherd from the Calhan breeder and took her to a vet. “She had round worms, hook worms and whip worms,” she said. “She weighed 51 pounds. She was practically dead when I got her out. She would have died there.” Strader said she called the officer again. She talked to the officer about the danger of parasites. “I told him ‘you do realize that, in time, the parasites win,’ and then he hung up on me,” she said.Government responsibilitySince 1994, the Pet Animal Care Facility Act has governed the operations of breeding facilities in Colorado.According to the Colorado Department of Agriculture Web site, “PACFA sets facility standards for sanitation, ventilation, heating, cooling, humidity, space and enclosure requirements, nutrition, humane care, medical treatment, methods of operation, maintenance of records, euthanasia and transactions. The program’s goal is to ensure facilities are meeting or exceeding these standards.”Although the Web site claims that PACFA sets standards for medical treatment, there is no mention of any required medical treatment in the copy of the rules and regulations for dog breeders.”I have concerns about puppy mills that are not properly regulated and the atrocities that are occurring on a daily basis,” said Marsha Looper, state representative for the Calhan area.PACFA regulations state that licensed breeding facilities are inspected every six months, every 18 months or every three years, depending on the department’s assessment of risk.According to a report posted Feb.8 at www.thedenverchannel.com, there are 1,750 licensed pet facilities in the state and only three PACFA inspectors, with a complaint response time ranging from 14 to 76 days. In that report, Kate Anderson, PACFA program administrator, said “We feel that three inspectors are enough.”Anderson also said PACFA is well funded through license fees. “We are currently well funded. We have actually decreased license fees for the 2008 year,” she said.Under PACFA, puppies cannot be sold until they are eight weeks old. Anyone selling puppies – regardless of location – must have a PACFA license if they sell more than two litters a year or more than 24 puppies a year, said Christi Lightcap, spokeswoman for the PACFA program office. In addition, the seller must have a PACFA license to sell any number of puppies they did not breed themselves, Lightcap said.She said anyone concerned about people selling puppies in parking lots needs to get the seller’s vehicle license plate number and call the office (number listed below). We have a limited number of employees, so we rely on the public to be watchful,” Lightcap said.Puppy mill practicesBuying a puppy from a parking-lot seller could support an industry that mistreats dogs.”When the dogs get too old or sick to breed, they take them out east and shoot them,” Eastman said. “In a lot of puppy mill cases, they have found piles and piles of bodies in the backyard, where they have shot or drowned them. It’s really common to drown kittens in a bucket.”You can tell if puppies are from a puppy mill because they hate to go in a small enclosure because that’s where they’ve lived their entire lives. They are scared of men because they’ve been beaten, aren’t well socialized and are often lethargic.”Some female dogs are bred to the point of calcium deficiency, and they are still forced to nurse their babies,” Eastman said, adding that she has seen a mother dog with a missing jaw as a result of the dog’s body reabsorbing the calcium from the bone in her jaw.”We currently have two female dachshunds rescued from out of state that had incredibly painful teeth when they came to us in January,” said Helen Freeman, a volunteer for Mill Dog Rescue Network. “During dental surgery on one dachshund, they found exposed nerves and when they pulled teeth, they found dirt and straw imbedded in her gums. The mandible of the other rescued dog was broken in five places.””People need to know animals are living this way, all over the place,” Strader said.”I don’t think we’ll ever put an end to commercial dog breeding because too many people don’t give a damn.”But most people do care. If we can get to them, we can make the average riffraff go away immediately and really work on improving the standards these [puppy mill] dogs have to live under. It’s going to take years and lots of awareness.”Adopt smartPeople looking for a purebred puppy should seek breeders who love the breed, Eastman said. Good breeders “know the family history for at least three if not six or more generations,” she said. “They know the blood type and all the diseases in that family, if any. They only consider breeding if the animal meets standards.”Eastman also recommended breeders who have invested money in proper care for the mother and the pups – something that can’t be verified from a parking lot seller.Dreampower charges an average of $140 to adopt a dog. The fee includes spaying or neutering, vaccinations, a microchip and free training on socialization or behavior issues, if needed.If at any time during the animal’s life the adopter of a Dreampower dog needs to find the dog a new home, the dog can be returned to Dreampower.”When we do an adoption, we match the personality of the dog to the family,” Eastman said. “We try to get the best adoption that we can. If you get a puppy from the side of the road, you don’t know what its personality is. You don’t know if it’s going to work or not, and if you’re going to pay that much money, maybe you should know.”Mill Dog Rescue Network adopts out breeder dogs and puppies rescued from puppy mills.Their adoption fee includes spay or neuter, all shots including rabies, dental treatment if necessary and a microchip. The adoption fee depends on the dog’s age and ranges from $100 to $200.They offer a full refund up to 30 days after the adoption. They also have trainers who work with their adoptive families to help make the transition successful.Like Dreampower Animal Rescue, Mill Dog Rescue Network requires the return of the animal if the match doesn’t work out.Eastman said breeder dogs that have been rescued from puppy mills crave love and attention. Although they are scared at first, she said they “bond quickly.””One thing mill dogs need more than anything else is time,” Strader said. “Barring any major problems, we ask adopters to give the dog a reasonable amount of time to adjust to its new home. Most of our dogs do remarkably well and bring lots of joy and a great sense of satisfaction to their new owners.”For more information, visit www.dreampower.org and www.milldogrescue.org. To contact the state about people selling dogs in parking lots, get the vehicle license plate number and call 303-239-4161.
