Tibi, Goose and Shetland Sheepdog "X": Survivors of a Puppy Mill

A Letter from Cindi Jenkins to Senator Bill Harris and State Representative Jon Husted

October 4, 2006 - I am writing to ask that you vote for Senate Bill 342, regarding puppy mill legislation. The people who run these facilities need to held accountable for the horrific conditions that these animals are forced to live in. There needs to be at least a minimum standard for dog care...daily feeding, clean living quarters, adequate water supply and human contact. These are just the bare minimum that these dogs deserve, and they deserve so much more than just that minimum.

I have been with a collie rescue group for a little over 2 years now and I have seen the condition first hand that some of these dogs are in. I also have personally witnessed the phenomenal recovery of a puppy mill breeder dog and I was able to give her a second chance at life. This is her story...

Tibi came to my son and I a little over a year ago. She could barely stand because she was so weak in the hind quarters. I carried this 65# girl up and down the stairs for 3 weeks until she was strong enough to make it on her own. Her tail looked like a rat's tail from the lack of hair. You could see her skin though the raggedy, mangy,brittle, dull coat that she had. She had a large mammary tumor approximately the size of a large grapefruit that fortunately turned out to be non-malignant. She had no functioning thyroid. Honestly, she was the ugliest collie I had ever seen. But she had these eyes that when I could finally get her to actually look at me said, "Just love me a little...Please?"

Now one year later, after getting her the medical care she needed, proper nutrition, and giving her lots of love, she is absolutely beautiful and is has one of the best collie personalities I have ever seen.

This is the article I wrote last October, three months after Tibi came to live with us, for our rescue group newsletter:

Boy has this girl come a long way! Earlier this evening I was outside with the dogs. Blaze, Ladybug and Cassie were all playing with each other. Tibi has wanted to play so bad with them, but she has always held back. Usually she just stands there and barks at them.

Well tonight she finally got up the guts to join them. She put herself right in the middle and tumbled Blaze. Her ears were perked straight up, her tail was up high and wagging faster that I have ever seen it wag. She was bouncing and playing. She was even bouncing and head butting me to get me to play. I just stood there and cried. It was overwhelming to watch this beautiful dog playing with others for probably the first time in her life! She was so excited. Ever since she has started feeling better, she has wanted to join in. I just don't think she really knew how. Then Collin (my son) comes running out with socks dangling in his hand. Tibi grabbed one and started playing tug!!! Even when I heard the fateful rip, I couldn't tell them to stop. Some things are worth more sacrificed.

It was absolutely amazing to see the changes this dog has gone through since she was rescued. From not being able to stand at the shelter, to running and playing. From not being able to go up steps and having to be carried, to having to baby gate off the steps to keep her from going up and down them too much. From being shy and withdrawn to shoving herself right in there for her lovin's, pats,and kisses. From a raggedy, mangy, sparse,dull, brittle coat, to a soft as silk, shiny,full ,beautiful butterscotch colored coat. From being an 11yo acting 7yo dog, to a 4 or 5 yo acting dog. From having no clue what to do with a toy, to pushing one in your lap or at Blaze to get you to tug back.

She was a diamond in the rough that with a little bit of polishing and a lot of love, is brilliantly shining.

To sum it up...This is what rescue is all about!!!

Thank you for taking the time to hear my (and Tibi's) story. These are dogs that should be treated as pets that live in these puppy mills. They are NOT livestock. They deserve a better life. You have the power to help them live a better life. Again, please vote for Senate Bill 342.

Sincerely,
Cindi Jenkins
Hilliard, Ohio 43026


A Letter from Martha Leary to State Representative Jon Husted

October 5, 2006 - I am writing to ask you to please pass the Ohio Puppy Mill bills in 2006. I am co founder of a dog rescue in Wayne County and have rescued many puppy mills dogs and left over puppies from excessive breeding, often sick, unsocialized and sometimes not salvageable. the puppy mill situation is a black cloud over this beautiful state. I have been in the puppy mills, rescued directly from the millers, purchased dogs at farm auctions and at dump prices at the Buckeye Dog Auction. I am not in any way against dog breeding. I am against breeding with no respect for breed standards and keeping dogs often in very substandard condition, dogs that never know the joy of human companionship, are bred every heat cycle, are merely considered a cash crop and sold at auctions like cattle.

This little dog's name is Goose. She was purchased this summer at an Amish farm auction held to benefit a school where puppy millers decided they could dump there old breeding stock and left over pups. We purchased Goose for $10. The Amish miller that brought her told me several things about her; that she was 7 years old and he had her since birth, that "she's a good mother. I get two litters of pups a year from her", That his kennels are "wire cages off the ground", that he was "cleaning out his kennel and thought it was better to bring her here and get a couple of dollars than shoot her," and that "she doesn't have a name."

When I placed Goose in the grass it was the first time in her entire life. Every time she goes outside she lies down and scoots through the grass on her belly; rain or shine. Goose had never been in a car, a house, never been held, given treats, played with a toy or allowed to run free. I probably don't have to tell you that she is an extremely damaged little dog, yet, after having her for 6 weeks she passed her AKC Canine Good Citizen Test and her International Therapy Dog Test and is now a registered therapy dog.

Goose is one of the very, very lucky few. With her freedom and her courage she is healing. Goose will never be whole, will never overcome her past and she and I will have to live with her emotional scars for the rest of her life.

Dogs are companion animals. I know not every dog will lay at the end of someone's bed, but neither should they spend day after day in a wire cage hanging off the side of a building or lying on a cold, damp concrete floor only to produce litter after litter.

This little dog that lived her entire life in a wire cage off the ground, had a litter of puppies every time she could, made the miller thousands of dollars, never even warranted a name. This little dogs name is GOOSE, as in Mother Goose. Remember her name and all the nameless dogs languishing in Ohio puppy mills when you vote. Thanking you in advance!

Martha Leary
Star-Mar Rescue, 
Wooster, Oh.


A Letter from California (author requested name to be withheld) to Senator Bill Harris and State Representative Jon Husted

October 23, 2006 - I wanted to take time to write to you to let you know I strongly support the bills (OH HB 613 & OH HB 606) for your state of Ohio.

I bought a Shetland Sheepdog from a woman located in Ohio and she has at least 60+ dogs of different breeds I found out afterwards (she has a reference she provided which was not credible I found out later). She also lied to me about the dog I got from her (she had moderate/severe hip dysplasia and required $350++ in veterinarian services a few days after I got her). I contacted the local humane society closest to where she lives. Sadly, they only have two people working there as volunteers three days a week for three hours a day. They couldn't (or did not) do anything to this woman from what I know even though I was told she had an expired kennel license.

In the meantime, this woman continues to breed and sell sick dogs to people like myself. I had to have the dog I got from her euthanized recently as she was very sick not only from the severe hip dysplasia, but also a few other congenital defects and it had also been debarked, a practice I do not approve of on any level whatsoever. The dog was also scared to death and you could not even touch it and my veterinarian told me that he believed that the dog had been abused by this woman I got the dog from. This woman not only sold me this dog but had bred this dog as well! It gave birth to six puppies it could not, and would not care for, one was a stillborn and two others died not long after they were born. The reason for this is because the dog was a congenital nightmare and came from a line of Shelties that had been inbred into the same lines over and over again. No one seems to care about this situation. I contacted the AKC and they do nothing! I've contacted the Ohio Attorney General's Office and they would not do anything either nor would the Department of Agriculture.

I live in the state of California. If this woman was running an operation like this in California, she'd be in JAIL and her picture would be on the television and in the newspapers, as we do not tolerate this sort of thing around here!

For the reasons I state above, I strongly support you and this bill and I hope it goes through. I found out that the state of Ohio sadly has the worst animal welfare rights in the whole of the United States, a fact that the people of Ohio should be ashamed of! If this bill passes, it will quickly eliminate people like this woman from being a backyard/puppy mill sort of breeder. She has not a clue as to what she is doing by breeding dogs in my opinion; she is in it for the money is my belief. In the meantime, here I sit, heart broken and devastated by this experience and also I am out about $2,000 on this whole fiasco.

Feel free to share this letter with your constituents so they will be well aware of what sort of things are going on with dog "breeders" in Ohio. They must be shut down and they deserve absolutely nothing but a place called JAIL.