Dog Auctions
Buckle your seatbelts as I’m about to tell you about a dog auction I witnessed. It left me speechless.
Here’s what I witnessed. Within the auction house was a large room filled with cages packed with dogs whose sole purpose in life was to produce as many puppies as possible. A plastic auction tag number hung from every collar.
There were purebreds of multiple varieties and plenty of the designer hybrids that have become all the rage. One would think a room filled with so many dogs would be chaotic and noisy. At the auction I attended, it was just the opposite. The silence felt eerie. I sensed these were dogs with broken spirits—too scared to protest and too disassociated from their miserable existences to invite human attention.
Most of the people at the auction were puppy mill proprietors, there to buy and sell, socialize, and discuss the “dog trade.” Representatives of a few breed rescue organizations were also there, hoping to place some winning bids to alter the dismal fate for as many dogs as possible.
The people I was with warned me not to take photos or videos lest management confiscate my phone. You see, dog auctions are rather covert affairs—journalists and photographers are not allowed.
The auction program detailed each dog’s breeding history and litter sizes. Information about basic temperament or breed-specific inherited diseases within the family tree wasn’t provided.
The dogs that generated the highest bids were those with proven fertility records, especially those already pregnant. Dogs with unusual coloring (such as a pug with blue eyes or a dachshund with merle markings) received more bids. The highest winning bid I heard over the course of 200 dogs was $9,000, for a pregnant French bulldog.
This experience closely resembled every livestock auction I’ve witnessed. This makes sense given that, in the world of puppy millers, dogs are treated as livestock.
Pretty horrific sounding, isn’t it? What are you willing to do to stop this madness?
The greatness of a nation and its moral progress can be judged by the way its animals are treated. -Mahatma Gandhi
Best wishes to you and your four-legged family members abundant good health,
Dr. Nancy
It's also not ok for the animals labeled as 'livestock.' We know that pigs are smarter than dogs, but while people wouldn't consider eating their dog or their cat, they have no issues eating pigs, goats, lamb (those darlings that are oohed and awed over because they're so cute when little and then eaten later in life). Gandhi was talking about ALL animals, not just our house pets.
It took me a moment to steel my will to read this IMPORTANT story. Please, people, stop buying companion animals from pet stores and breeders you have never met. Pet stores are fronts for puppy mills that breed companion animals as if they were chickens in a cage. If you must buy a pet, visit the breeder and the breeding pair at their site. Run fast if your intuition tells you something is not right.