Meet Billy: A Touching Puppy Mill Rescue Video
http://www.care2.com/greenliving/meet-billy-a-touching-puppy-mill-rescue-video.html
Michael, selected from Ecorazzi January 7, 2013 11:45 am
The Humane Society of the United States has put together an absolutely touching and wonderful video documenting the rescue of a breeding dog named “Billy” from a puppy mill in North Carolina.
“He had been locked in that cage for so long, the bars had rusted shut—but his life changed when his rescuer, Adam, pried the bars open and gave him a second chance,” the organization says.
Bill’s story is part of the HSUS’s “Be a Hero” holiday campaign, with a goal of raising $1.5M to help other animals like Billy escape the horrors of puppy mills. Check out his video below – and jump here to contribute!
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I'd love to find a rescued Pom...Shrimpy needs a sister or brother.
Don't know how she'd feel about sharing the attention, though. 
Is that NOT the cutest little thing you ever seen? Just another example of what happens when capitalism falls into the wrong hands. This is how "Puppy Mills" got their name. They start out with good intentions, but somewhere along the way it just all becomes too much work. The one thing that is missing, as in vulture capitalism, is love and compassion. My niece used to breed Yorkshire Terriers. They lived in her home and were all her babies. She loved, groomed, nurtured and took each pup in the litter (along with mamma yorkey) to the vet just as if they were her children. That's the difference. Love and compassion. What a doll Billy is... I'm so glad he finally got a good home...
I can't even think of what I'd do to the person who injured her in such a way. Absolutely horrible the way people treat their animals.
I had 5 rescued dogs and 5 cats at my zaniest. Got a divorce, he bought a house and I moved into an apartment so I took the kitties and he got the dogs. Though 2 of our dogs have passed on, I'm still very much their mom and am still involved in their lives. But still, I had to back away from my rescue activities in the past few years, mostly because I'm just as sucky at it as you are. Andi get emotional about all of them.
And, I'm sure you know this, but the media is as much to blame for the bad reputation of the pits as the dickheads who encourage aggressive behavior in them. Here is a short but informative article from the SPCA: http://www.aspca.org/fight-animal-cruelty/advocacy-center/animal-laws-about-the-issues/pit-bull-bias-in-the-media.aspx
If you haven't yet read it, the Canine Research Council has a good (not so short) read "The Pit Bull Placebo: http://nationalcanineresearchcouncil.com/uploaded_files/publications/230603563_Pit%20Bull%20Placebo.pdf. I spend half my time educating people about pits and these are always great to refer to.
Again, Dog Bless You!
Edited to say: The second link seems to be broken, but you'll get the CRCs website, just click on "publications" and it's the first link that pops up.
I saw that ASPCA one just a few weeks ago, coincidentally. I will check out that 2nd one when I get home from work. THANK YOU!
The only way I can ever get involved with rescue activity again is if I hit the lottery and buy a mcmansion so that it can accommodate all the dogs I can't turn down!
And bless you for taking him in. I'm so sorry about what happened to him. Some people would balk at spending $3000, but there isn't an amount in the world I wouldn't spend to save one of my babies if I had it. Rescues are the best; they know the fate you saved them from, they sense it somehow, and are so grateful.
I do remember the pet food scare - I'm so sorry Louis got sick, that was an awful time. It changed how I feed my girls because of it. Once I started doing research on dog nutrition, I found out that I had been feeding them the most godawful dog food possible - absolute garbage, ZERO nutritional value. It never occurred to me to wonder what was in the food, I assumed it was regulated and safe. OMG, the stuff I learned - it would make your hair stand on end (google "rendering plants" if you want to throw up). So I started feeding them chicken, rice, oatmeal, apples, yams or pumpkin, sardines and veggies until I found a brand I thought good enough for them. To this day, I have a nagging feeling that two of my girls that I lost in ’97 and 2003 would’ve lived longer than 9 years if I’d fed them better food. And I’m convinced that better food is the reason Chloe and my other Dal, Snoopy, lived to be 15 and 16 years old.
To this day, I still add rice, veggies (carrots and/or green beans), oatmeal, and cranberries or blueberries to their food (cranberries staves off UTIs). My oldest, Sandy, is 14, and she gets, in addition, 200mg of Co-enzyme-10 with her food. Co-z-10 is good for their hearts and immune systems. I started doing that a year ago, and the improvement in her behavior is AMAZING. She jumps around now like she hadn’t done in years. She’s alert and curious again… I just can’t believe what a difference it’s made. Hell, they eat better than I do.
Sorry, went off on a tangent!
No better than a hen in a hen house; just another way to make a living.
How they can even look at themselves in the mirror is beyond me.
I've spent some time working with people trying to break up these things and also, they have auctions where they sell them off. Often, they cannot sell sick/dying dogs/puppies and they shoot them afterwards as it is cheaper than feeding them and keeping them alive! 
Sick sick sick.
Last edited Wed Jan 9, 2013, 04:20 AM - Edit history (1)
I'm hoping the person that I got this poor dog from is no longer in business. It was from a part of the USA where puppy mills are all over the place (Ohio/Pennsylvania/Missouri/Louisiana/North Carolina ... many others too). I did not know what a "puppy mill" was at that time but I sure do now.
It was a horrible what was done to this poor dog, a very sick and abused animal and man was not this dog's best friend.
It had been de-barked, tattooed, had bites all over it, various types of parasites living both inside and outside of it, and a myriad of severe congenital defects from inbreeding.
Said dog is no longer living its miserable life of sadness. 
The people that do these things to animals deserve to rot in jail and die in a very hot hot hell IMO; sad sick SOBs the lot of them.
Why this country allows this to go on almost unchecked is beyond me, absolutely beyond me.
It was so damn sad. They way they do it "on the cheap" is to shove a hot rod down the throat; no anesthetic. Period. 
That poor dog is better of no longer among the living, believe me.
As for the person doing this, not sure as I stated whether or not still in business.
I've noted that people don't want to buy a debarked dog much anymore since this happened. However, it is still being done in those same states I have listed.
Last edited Thu Jan 10, 2013, 10:17 PM - Edit history (2)
and I'm with you. Why the HELL DO THEY ALLOW THIS TO GO ON?
My god, that poor poor dog, you should have seen him try to eat/swallow.
I know the dog suffered immensely and it did me no good at all either. 
Last edited Fri Jan 11, 2013, 07:00 PM - Edit history (1)
that he did not die in vain!
I told the poor little guy that I would do everything in my power to stop this crap!
Certain groups of people in a place called Lancaster, PA make their livings doing this!
It is the sickest and saddest damned thing I have ever seen in my whole 57 years on this planet!
tears streaming down my face right now......
