Sometimes, when the head of the home is unemployed, he has a lot of extra time to search 'the internets' for free stuff, good deals and lots and lots of dogs looking for their "furver" homes. (If I see that phrase one more time.) This isn't a husband bashing post, I'm just simply laying the foundation for this story. One would think these hours would probably be best spent, I dunno, replacing faulty bath fixtures or maybe purging the garage of our tool hoard or maybe even looking for work. (Again, not a bash, just making suggestions aloud. And this is nothing I haven't said to him personally.) Recently we found ourselves in the home of a puppy foster mother with 6-8 adoptable 8 week old puppies. Fascinating! But where did they come from? How did she acquire them? And more importantly, WHAT THE HECK WERE WE DOING THERE?
Rewind to Christmastime: We had our eyes peeled for a canine companion for my mature parents. After seeing an ad on the Chesco SPCA site, my husband took a road trip the very next day to see the pooch. He arrived two hours before they opened to secure his spot in line. I proudly equipped him with my impressive list of personal and Vet references because I'm acquainted with their rigid (and understandably so) application process. Ha. So much for that. He was the only patron there! After a rather cold welcome, they spent an unusual amount of time cross-examining him about his application; about the cats we had to put down nine years ago and the fact that the kitties we recently rescued from a junkyard weren't spayed or vaccinated yet. (They were only months old!) They went out of their way to try to pin something inhumane on us. It was ridiculous. The next day we called and learned our application was not accepted due to our "questionable pet history". (Yeah. We are cruel, not to be trusted.)
Fast Forward to February: Paul whispered something to me and flashed his phone in front of my face; an advertisement for adorable Pug puppies being fostered in Chester County. I thought the puppy was cute and that was that. He showed me the post on Craigslist and I said, "YOU CANNOT SHOP FOR A PUPPY ON CRAIGSLIST!" (I roared, actually. It helps me get my point across quicker.) He told me to relax and showed me that the Craigslist ad provided a Facebook page owned by the same organization. Well, that made sense as the SPCA and many legitimate rescues have FB pages. Hesitantly, we made an appointment to see the puppies (a Pug/Bulldog has been on our list for so long) after all, if we got there and it didn't feel right, we'd move on. We'd escaped the SPCA empty handed several times previously, so I knew we had the ability to say no. Before making the appointment I spoke to the foster mom on the phone at length. She seemed like a nice gal, probably around my age, and tenderly spoke of these particular Pug puppies being surrendered after 'the death in a family (in Pennsylvania) left a grown man with special needs as an orphan; unable to care for the dog and her five or six puppies'. Aw. That WAS a sad story. I asked about several of the other puppies available on their Facebook page. "Where are all the adoptable ADULT dogs??" They seemed to have unlimited litters of 8 week old puppies! So many more than I had ever seen before! I was told that this rescue was just getting started -- and being new didn't have the funding needed to care for adult dogs that usually come with expensive health issues (arthritis, allergies, etc...) She assured me that they DO adopt out adult dogs, but those dogs were featured on her sister's animal rescue site; an outfit in Media, PA under a different name. They are more established and have the wherewithal to handle older dogs. Oh? Ok.
Seconds after we arrived in Spring City to see the Pug pups, my son immediately fell in love with a male Pug. Together my son and I admired his enormous eyes and funny features. But when I looked across the room I found my youngest boy with 7 puppies sleeping on his lap and he was in love, too. He pointed to one puppy in particular that stopped his heart. My husband (yes, we're still married at this juncture) picked up the sleepy puppy and held him six centimeters from my face. "LOOOOOK how CUUUUUUTE!", he squealed. I quickly snapped, "Get him away!" I wanted nothing to do with helplessly falling in love with more than one puppy that day.
I dragged my husband outside and we had words over this very issue. I guess I lost that debate... His reasons included the size of the puppies - "they really won't eat much, their waste is small, in comparison, and they only have small teeth so they can't really do considerable household damage..." My husband left a deposit and we were to return 4 days later when the pups were old enough to be released.
I worried for four days straight, stared at the ceiling, put the milk in the cupboard, didn't answer my phone. What in the world are we going to do? We cannot get two more puppies and my husband isn't changing his mind.
A year ago, during a visit to Lancaster County, we accidentally ended up at the home of an Amish breeder. He was our buggy driver during a tour of the back roads of Lancaster and I immediately made him my close, personal friend (whether he liked it or not) and within a matter of minutes learned that he and his wife bread English Bulldogs. (Our favorite.) Mr. Esh needed a ride home after his shift and I immediately offered to take him home!! WHY NOT!!?!? When we dropped him off, he graciously invited us to see his dogs, his home, walk his property. We were in love. Later that day, we came back to meet his wife who handles all the dog biz. She seated us at her kitchen table. It was warm, dimly lit and comfortable. She had dinner simmering on the stove. (Oh, the irony! Earlier that day we had paid "Plain & Fancy" for a tour of a mock-up Amish home. This was way more authentic.) After our visit, we left our number for her to notify us when the next litter of pups arrived.
During our Lancaster vacation and back at the hotel, I started doing some research and came up with some very concerning facts about breeders in the 717 area code. I shared some photos and my friends suggested I was most likely at a puppy mill. I was in denial. But they had very few dogs. It was clean. Not a lot of barking. My husband thought I was nuts.
I contacted a very well known rescue in the Greater Philadelphia area by email. I wanted to learn more about how to I.D. a puppy mill. She said it was pretty easy. If the breeders are Amish, it's most likely a mill. They breed for money. (But don't all breeders?) They don't name the dogs, they are left in rabbit hutches, they are unheated and they produce litter after litter until they are unprofitable. The owner of this local rescue (Finding Shelter) was so helpful and begged me not to get a puppy from the Esh's. I had made my mind up that she was right and I wanted nothing to do with Amish dog breeders any more. (My husband still thought I was nuts - "Not everybody's out to get you, Sheryl.")
Back to the present-day situation. My stomach churned for days and we set up a meeting to pick up the puppies in Spring City. But before then, I made a call to the owner of this rescue. I had lots of questions. Why did they have so many puppies? Where did they come from? When you adopt from the SPCA, the animals come spayed and neutered to prevent more unwanted puppies! Why didn't this rescue take the same precautions? "I'm sorry to grill you, but I'm just trying to make sure you're a bonafide rescue." I asked and she answered. She had ALL the right answers. "We're just a bunch of moms who rescue puppies." Awwww. Isn't that special? I forced myself to trust her.
When it was time to fetch our puppies, the foster mother offered to drop off the puppies since she was coming "to the mall" that night. Oh. That was nice. Saves us a trip. Little did we know she wouldn't be coming to our home, but meeting us at 7pm, in the dark, in the cold, in a remote area of the PARKING LOT of the mall. She handed us the puppies, said they hadn't eaten yet (it was 7pm!!)because she was at work all day, gave us the vaccine report and that was it. She had two other puppies in the car being picked up at the same time. Oh, and the check? Was made payable to her. Not the shelter. I KNEW IT.
Welp. Here we were. The owners of two new puppies from a dealer. Not a shelter. I was going to be the shame of the dog park. Tarred and feathered, no doubt.
Please use caution and do your homework before getting a dog from a dealer (posing as a rescue.) Clues that I suspected but ignored: 1) The foster mom was a single mom with 3 children, working as a waitress, trying to keep her home. Surely she wasn't fostering because she had lots of extra time??? Needed more responsiblities?? 2) The Facebook page they ran didn't have the option for patrons to grade them with a review. 3) The payment was made directly to the foster, not a shelter with a 501c3. 4) The application they made me complete was too abbreviated and they never checked my Vet or personal references. 5) Days after the adoption, I texted the foster with questions about coccidia. She answered me by saying she was in North Carolina. (Picking up more puppies?????)
6) My spirit of discernment (womens' intution) was on amber alert. I should have stopped there.
My plans are to report this shelter and foster to PA Dog Law and share my story so others don't end up ensnared in the same mess. Here's where to go...
http://www.agriculture.pa.gov/Protect/DogLaw/Pages/default.aspx#.VuqdlOaH_hA
*DEALERS MASQUERADING AS RESCUES:
Hinde's Animal Safe-haven
STAR Wags & Whiskers
*EXCELLENT RESCUES I RECOMMEND
Delco SPCA
Finding Shelter Animal Rescue
Francisvale Home for Smaller Animals
S.N.O.R.T. Short Noses Only Rescue Team
among others...
