Tiller- (Skansen's- Ira in the M
I DO Exist...To- Drive You Batty | 
 | | Barked: Tue Feb 5, '13 12:15pm PST |  | |  | | I have two views here. One is that for those who do feel they are rescuing, you cannot change their mind. I admit, I am one of those people. Even while I am looking at those pictures, I really want those puppies. I don't go into puppy stores for all the obvious reasons, but the dominant one is that the puppies would haunt me. Someone put a video up of an auction, with a Beagle female (adult) who sold for $10  That's how little value she had, with others selling for $300 or $400. How much trash would she be viewed at, for that price? If I were a spy at that auction, I know I would have bid on her. There is no doubt in my mind.
On one hand a weakness I suppose, but it's the same impulse that draws me to shelter dogs, or certainly a dog in an abusive situation. I am just being honest. I don't have that willpower. Not to say that I DO this....I just avoid the exposure. I understand the "big" picture, but when it comes down to the individual, the concept of "ignore the victims while we work on getting rid of their abusers" is just overwhelmed by that individual life.
Of course, I do the responsible thing and don't expose myself to something where I know I would have such wanting willpower. Bottom line is that I do consider it a rescue....getting a dog out of a bad situation. It fits every parameter save for the significant conflict that it is a rescue that supports and fuels the very abuse suffered in the first place. So an ironic hypocrisy. I get the logic. I accommodate it by avoiding the source. It's all I can do. I remain very upset by that Beagle. I will always be very upset by that Beagle, and no amount of "it's the right thing!," meaning to just let her meet her sad fate for the greater good, will make it not seem twisted to me. But for the fate of being born where she was. Rather than a mill raid and now at a shelter, she was at a mill auction. And so now we tell her she needs to be a martyr for a battle we can't seem to win.
I am sorry to be a drag But I speak for her to you. Because that's all I can do for her. She's barely a commodity to them....ten bucks....and to you a forbidden fruit you must turn away from because of a battle you continue to wage and can't seem to win. For every puppy store that gets shut down, a bunch o' new internet sites form, with better profit margins for their breeders, forms. For those who both oppose mills AND breeder licensing, we will never see eye to eye. The only POSSIBLE platform I see is breeder licensing. The only defense for turning away. If there's not that goal, I think there is more than enough evidence that education alone is not enough. Some people know this stuff, bleed for this stuff, and still "rescue" mill dogs with cash. Some people want what's easiest. Some people don't care if they are ignorant. Various makes and models that all lead tgo these inevitable outcomes. So these great moral stands we take, IMO, come up a little short if breeder licensing is not believed in. At the end of the day, that's really all she has got, for there to be substance in our turning away from her.
I suppose part of my funk is that I am very tied into the breeding community and know full well the life so many of those dogs have and how much they mean to their breeders. The level of care, how treasured they are. The differences in fates to me is absurd and tragic. That's a huge difference, I find. Those who can take these hardlines without sense of conflict tend to be shelter people who have funk with breeders generally. Whereas when you love good breeders generally, when you know how those lives are valued and what meticulous care they receive and are romantic about it, this sort of stuff hits you deeper, IMO.
Now onto point two, I argued this a few years ago on Dogster where I said I felt the internet would soon become a boon for millers, offering them even more enhancement to their bottom line via direct sales, and that the same "I want it now" mentality, or simply ignorance, would be easily catered to by inviting websites. So let's just call that prophetic. It's also a lot more dangerous. It's very easy to say "don't go to puppy stores....those are milled puppies and a support to the system itself," but less easy in an industry where responsible breeders advertise on the internet also. It seems like simple math to Dogsters here...we know what to look for (but even then, a lot of dog savvy people still post "does this breeder look good to you?"). It can be hard for a novice to discern, easy for a website to make everything seem in proper order.
Something like this site, though....linked so specifically to some of the most infamous millers out there, with many arrests and abuse cases out there. Frustratingly, I did individual research on some breeders, who have previous arrests, or one case of one of these guys seeking special permission to keep 500 dogs on three acres at an old chicken farm  Edited by author Tue Feb 5, '13 12:21pm PST
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