Angela [Dog in the Back room]

Dear Angela:

This is Tasha here….

I am now on the outside, but I can hear you and I pray that your wishes come true like mine have. I, too, spent long years in a cage having puppies that they always took away. I was named Natasha because I was rescued by an angel on Christmas Eve exactly three years ago, but my forever family calls me Tasha.

I was let go because I didn’t have puppies the last time. It turns out that I had a tumor that prevented this from happening. But I also had multiple breast tumors from having so many puppies, which are very common when dogs are bred too much. My lumps turned out to be breast cancer and I ended up having extensive operations to remove these and the surrounding skin. I lost so much skin on my tummy that it made it hard for me to walk. They said that I had congenital problems with my knees, which I almost certainly passed on to my puppies. My right back leg was almost lame, from arthritis, muscle and nerve damage. They later determined that I had rickets from poor nutrition and suffered a traumatic tendon rupture of my right knee, which was painful and required another operation.

My Mama says that all of these problems are the direct result of inappropriate breeding practices and lack of responsible care. It has taken me a long time to recover physically and to trust again, and sometimes I still have bad nightmares about the way it used to be. But I now have a family and home, where I am loved and safe. I do so hope you will find this too. Mama says that lots more people need to know about the problems of puppy mills and become involved in the solution. I sure hope that anyone reading this will join us at the 2nd annual Bark Heard Around The World www.barkaroundtheworld.com.

Love,

Tasha

30796 - the dog in the back room

Hello, is anyone there? I thought I heard someone, I guess not. I am so lonely. There are other dogs here but I am in a cage all by myself in a back room in this building. There are no windows so I cannot see very much. I do not know if it is day or night but it is dark and cold. There are cracks in the walls and the snow and wind are blowing. I'm so cold I cannot stop shivering.

I'm hungry and thirsty, it has been a long time since The Man came in here. He put water in my dish but it froze before I could get enough to drink. He threw some hard, dry food in my bowl and his hand hurt me when I went to get a drink of water. I don't like hands - they hurt. After The Man left, I ate some food. It hurt my mouth. I heard someone say that my teeth are abscessed, I'm not sure what that is, but I know when I put something in my mouth it hurts.

Everything hurts me. My eyes are so sore and my hair sticks to the corners when the runny stuff comes out. My ears ache and smelly stuff oozes from them and mats the hair together. It hurts. When I try to move to get comfortable, the hair on my belly and neck and legs is all one big, huge mat and it pulls and hurts really bad. I am so cold and hungry and thirsty and I hurt.

I heard the children talking the other day. They were playing in the snow and talking about something called Christmas. They are very excited about Santa Claus. Apparently, this Santa Claus person checks to see if the children were naughty or nice and then he brings them many presents. They make a wish list and if they were nice, Santa fills it.

Later, I heard The Man and The Woman talking and they said that my puppies all sold at the pet store so Santa would be very good to the children this year. Is that you Santa? Can you hear me? Do you care about dogs? Just in case you do, I'm going to send you my wish list:

1. I wish for a home, a real one, where I can live inside and have food to eat every day and where there is always fresh water (the kind that is not frozen please.)
2. I wish for a human with a soft voice and a soft touch to love me. Just me. I wish for them to talk to me softly, to love me gently and to protect me from The Man and The Woman.
3. I wish for a bath and I wish for my hair to be brushed so that it flows pretty like the dogs in the pictures. I wish to be clean and mat free.
4. I wish to go to the veterinarian and get my teeth fixed. I wish that my mouth would stop hurting, my eyes would stop seeping, and my ears would no longer cause me pain.
5. I wish to be warm in the winter and cool in the summer with no fleas or ticks or parasites or heart worms to bother me.
6. I have a lifetime of love I've been saving to give a human, so yes please, I wish for my very own human. I want to give them nose licks and kisses, I want to protect them from strangers and alert them if a leaf falls in the yard. I want to welcome them when they come home every day. I want to share their life in good times and bad and I want to show them how special they are and make sure they know they are the best person in the whole wide world.
   
7. I wish for my own name, I think I would like to be called Angela.
8. Please Santa; take me away from this cold, dark place. I'm a good lilttle dog and I have so much to give, please help me. I'm so very, very cold.

Thank you for considering my wish list,
30796 - the dog in the back room

No Merry in Christmas

On a beautiful cold crisp winter night ........there is no MERRY in Christmas


The "barn" is dark and cold. Wounds that have bled during the night have frozen on the sick pups cold skin.

Yesterday number 32567 had 4 paws but this morning she starts her new day of misery with only three. You see she is not strong anymore and during the night one of her feet slipped through the wires and a dog in the lower cage ripped it off.

Another little dog gave birth during the night and a pup was stuck in the birth canal and both mother and pup died a miserable death along with the 5 other pups waiting to be born.

The food is meager and the water often filthy and frozen. The cages are dirty and the hands are cruel. Legs are bent and crippled from years of cage living. Bodies and spirits are broken.The Vets few and far between ,also at times turn a blind eye on the suffering within these "barns".

This is a cash crop being grown in our barns and on our farms in America. This is also a cash crop that cries and suffers for the greed of man. And it is allowed.

Please ask your elected officials to do the right thing. To allow and to support bills that can put a stop to this legal torture onto the floors for a vote. Then vote YES to stop this.

Make this your News Year resolution. Put pressure on your elected officials. You can do this from the warmth of your home. A phone call or brief letter will do. 

Please, please, please, do something. In the time it took me to write this note, more dogs have sadly taken their last ragged breath and passed on, waiting for help and a bit of kindness that never came.  Because we are not doing enough to help them.

Ohio has just failed the dogs again. Why?? Why is it so hard to pass humane laws?? What are we becoming in this county?? I shudder to think about the answer to that question:((

Some make it out and for those that do and find their forever home, Christmas is indeed Merry. Be part of the solution........

2nd Annual Bark Heard Around the World

The 2nd annual Bark Heard Around the World will be held on Saturday May 30, 2009 from 10 am - 4 pm at the Pepsi Arena at the New York State Fairgrounds, Syracuse NY. Sponsors, vendors and rescue groups are being sought.

Join the Bark Team for a fun filled, informative day and meet Puppy Mill survivors!

Education, Awareness, Advocacy, because silence equals consent.
www.barkaroundtheworld.com

Welcome

Welcome to The Bark Heard Around the World blog.

"Bark" is an annual educational event dedicated to share information about puppy mills and the abuse these dogs suffer in them, as well as ways to put a stop to this barbaric practice.

This group is here to educate, advocate and raise awareness for change because silence equals consent.

What is a Puppy Mill?
A puppy mill is a person or business that breeds dogs for commercial sale without regard to the dogs’ breeding line, health or well-being.

A puppy mill generally “produces” many different breeds of dogs including the new “designer” breeds.

A puppy miller, the person who runs the mill, will often ship puppy or dog to a new owner without the owner ever meeting the pup or seeing the pups parents.

A puppy miller may take an application, just like a reputable breeder and may say they are involved in rescue.

A puppy mill breeds a female dog every time the dog comes into heat. Dogs can come into heat as young as 6 months of age—they are still a baby themselves when they have their first litter.

The female dogs are often kept in solitary confinement and bred over and over until they die of physical exhaustion; or are killed because they no longer produce and are useless to the miller.