Volunteers for National Mill Dog Rescue, a local nonprofit group that rescues dogs from puppy mills, are hopeful the First Family will choose one of their puppies to become the White House First Dog.”Or maybe even two puppies!” said Kim Lehmann, volunteer for NMDR.When President Obama said his daughters could have a hypoallergenic shelter puppy, they were overwhelmed by offers from shelters across the country, Lehmann said.”The Obamas contacted Best Friends Animal Sanctuary, and Best Friends recommended two of our puppies,” she said.The two 4-month-old Goldendoodle puppies are sisters, now named Stella and Susie. Both of them had pneumonia when they were rescued in December from a puppy mill in Missouri, Lehmann said. The puppies currently live with a foster family.The Goldendoodle, also known as Labradoodle, is a mix of a yellow Labrador retriever and a Poodle.According to www.informationallergy.com, the Poodle is one of several hypoallergenic dogs. At www.about.com, Jenna Stregowski, registered veterinary technician, stated, “Dogs such as Labradoodles and Goldendoodles are crossed with Poodles and tend to take on the (Poodle’s) hypoallergenic qualities.””They are unbelievably adorable,” Lehmann said. “Their pictures don’t do them justice. When you see them in person, they’ll melt your heart.”The puppies could have been the wrong color or leftover Christmas puppies that, if not rescued, would have been shot or drowned, she said.In December, NMDR volunteers drove 15 hours to Missouri to get the puppies and other dogs, including an adult female Boxer, she said. NMDR usually works through an intermediary, whom puppy mill owners contact when they have animals they want to discard. The intermediary then calls NMDR.”Theresa Strader, founder of NMDR, receives calls like that every day,” Lehmann said.On their December run, there wasn’t enough room to rescue all the adult Boxers found chained in rabbit huts. Although NMDR planned to return to Missouri to rescue the remaining Boxers, they received discouraging news. “The mill won’t release the Boxers,” Lehmann said. “We are extremely saddened by this … Theresa will keep trying to get them until the bitter end.”The group plans to travel to Missouri in February to rescue 60 to 80 new dogs. “We get as many as we can take care of,” Lehmann said.NMDR used to be located in Black Forest but rented a bigger shelter near Falcon in September. “We want to purchase the kennel, but it will cost $450,000,” she said.A recent fundraising event generated enough money to purchase a platform bed for each animal. The facility is heated at a cost of $500 to $800 a week, Lehmann said.The shelter draws volunteers from as far away as Monument. “Puppy mill dogs haven’t had much contact with people, and the contact they’ve had has been negative. We need people to just sit with the dogs and socialize them,” she said. The facility has couches and sofas – all donated – for just that purpose.To adopt a dog or volunteer, contact NMDR at 495-7679 or visit their Web site at www.milldogrescue.org.
