I had the pleasure of visiting the Puppy Haven Kennel on at
least three occasions over the past two decades. I only wish
my late wife, Sheila, and I had been able to purchase our two
black Miniature Schnauzer puppies, Heidi Doody and Rowdy Yates
from as clean a facility as Puppy Haven. They had no black
Miniature Schnauzer puppies when we were ready to give two a
home.
At the home grown puppy mills, each where we shopped having
two or more breeding females, the doggies did not have near
the exercise area as those at Puppy Haven. Nor did they have a
vet available when needed. Nor did they have the year around
heated sleeping areas as were provided at Puppy Haven.
I was very impressed with the facilities at Puppy Haven, and
with the attention the breeding doggies received. The
facilities were very clean, and very spacious (per doggie).
One writer mentioned the one square foot area per dog. At
Puppy Haven, it appeared to me that each team, usually 3
females and one male, had at least 96 square feet of outside
exercise area, available 24/7.
I am very proud of the Wisconsin Humane Society for purchasing
these breeding dogs. These dogs deserve a good home, and
personal attention, as do all dogs. It really irritates me
when I visit someone who has a dog in a house, and
occasionally even in an apartment, with no doggie door, and no
restricted outdoors exercise area. So many "alleged"
or "self claimed" dog lovers adopt dogs and take
them to a home where the only time the dog gets to go out and
play is when the "master" is home, and willing to
take the doggie outside. I would NEVER support anyone having a
dog in the house without having a doggie door and an outside
confined play/exercise area!
Someone also suggested that nobody should purchase a dog from
a breeder as long as there are dogs available for adoption at
a shelter. That person has obviously lead a very sheltered
life. Each time I go to a pound, I totally fall in love with
numerous dogs. But, I am also very realistic, and I fully
understand that many of my friends have allergies. They must
have a "designer dog", or they cannot have a dog.
Some of the hybrid dogs we observed at Puppy Haven were bred
specifically for people who had allergies, but wanted a
specific characteristic in a dog, and it needed to be a house
dog.
I hope Wisconsin Humane Society will find these dogs good
homes, and will pursue locating special breeds of dogs that
meet specific needs for our citizens with special needs, as
Puppy Haven did.
Incidentally, one person mentioned doggies costing $1000.00 at
Puppy Haven. In our visits, the extreme highest priced puppy
we seen was priced at $300.00, and most were considerably
less. And, I observed one very nice puppy that was
specifically picked out to give to a lady in her 90's, at no
charge whatsoever. The owner of Puppy Haven was very
compassionate, almost to a fault I would say.