From a friend;
Had my first taste of ugly dog trafficking today. This trailer packed full of dogs and puppies stopped at our hotel in Allentown PA this evening.
I took this picture and wandered down closer. Crates stacked floor to ceiling, most had multiple dogs in them. Dozens of people walked dogs ohhing and awwing. The transport owner stepped in front of me and asked what I wanted. I looked in the trailer and said really? If a breeder ever had that many dogs packed into crates like like they’d be crucified. Someone said “he’s not a breeder, he’s a rescuer!” I said how much to transport? He said I only charge $185 a dog. I said no you’re not a dog breeder, you’re a dog trafficker.
I started to walk away and he stepped in front of me and wouldn’t let me pass. I said please get out of my face. He screamed at me “I’M IN YOUR FACE”, with a lovely spray of spit. I probably should have called the police right then but I must tell you crowd was getting rabid. One woman screamed at me I was an asshole and I should get my head out of my ass. If they had rocks, I think I would have been pelted.
Boy, people are losing their heads and brains when it comes to this nonsense. My educated guess on his take for this transport? At least 150 dogs in this trailer. A neat $27,750. It’s just a damned shame people don’t get this concerned about hungry, poor children in this country than they do about this supposed load of these poor Texas dogs heading to the Northeast for adoption.
The ultimate virtue signalling accessory, so-called “rescues” are being farmed, imported, and sometimes stolen to supply the insatiable demand. Don’t fall for this scam.
An update — the original writer of this account has now withdrawn her Facebook post from public view, due to threats and abuse from purported dog rescuers, (some of which you can read for yourself in the comments here). Nice people, these.
Sept.20th Update: A look inside the tax returns and more.
I wonder what kind of dog you would get from something like that. One time we bought a dog from the SPCA and it was an exercise in futility. Before a neighbor ran over the dog I fed it every day for 2 years and not once could I get close enough to pet the animal. Apparently it had been abused.
Pious one-upmanship don’t come cheap.
I guess this is what happens when the world of PETA intersects with the world of poverty pimps.
I have noticed the SPCA and other “rescue” organizations rarely use the term “adopt” anymore. Why don’t they experiment with some truth in advertising and start calling themselves what they really are? Used Pet Dealers. They no longer act strictly as guardians of strays and the lost, they are in it for the profit.
Yet more evidence that our “betters” no longer work to solve societal problems, instead they invent new multi-billion dollar industries to manage and sustain them.
They’re not always “used pets”. Puppy mills in Asia and Turkey, for example, are breeding them for the market. There are actually SPCA’s out there advertising for puppies, and openly pondering whether they should breed dogs to supply the demand.
Kate, good for you for standing up against this.
The entire dog industry could use an overhaul. The conceit of the ‘purebred’ dog community has led to all kinds of problems.
In 1800 there were approximately 15 breeds of dogs. Today over 300. Vanity breeds that can hardly function. Inherent medical issues are rampant in some of these breeds. The puppy mill and rescue crowd are just part of the problem.
This was interesting:
https://www.facebook.com/RescueRoadTrips/videos/10155111976399068/
Conceit isn’t the reason behind purebreds. It’s to maintain the purity of a breed’s genetic line. In that respect, it’s not much different than what plant breeders do.
Unfortunately, that can have consequences. For example, my parents owned several dachshunds over the years, all purebreds. Most of them developed back problems during the canine equivalent of middle age, a weakness that the breed has.
This sort of thing may have become apparently only in recent times because of advances made in veterinary medicine, allowing the dogs to live longer than they may have done when those breeds were originally established.
I’ve owned purebred hunting dogs for decades and been involved with the purebred livestock industry. I fully understand the genetic argument.
Mant bloodlines would benefit greatly from an out cross. The ‘faults’ of linebreeding/inbreeding are so concentrate d in some breeds that the breed is almost not viable.
Like the Hapsburgs?
The term “rescue” is a JOKE. As if it can inoculate these creeps from the SHAME of what they are doing. “Rescuing” our LANGUAGE from this kind of CRAP is equally important
In some breeds, adding genes from other lines would definitely be beneficial.
In the case of dachshunds, the back problems could simply be a structural weakness. They have long bodies supported by short legs, much like a simply supported beam, but which makes them long and flexible. They needed to be that way in order to get down into badger burrows, which was what they were originally used for.
I don’t know if anyone ever attempted cross-breeding dachshunds to get around that problem.
What you should have done was take a picture of the tractor’s (the part up front people commonly call the “truck”) door. This should have the name of the carrier and its MC number. Every single interstate transporter of common/contract goods in the US has a unique MC number and a wealth of information is available through it.
Second option: call the local police (or state highway patrol, as you mentioned you thought this truck was from TX) and see if you can get them to check his bill of lading. This should have the origin point, the destination point, and a description of what he’s hauling. At the very least, he should have a manifest.
Some breeds are favorites, like basset hounds, because the breed has significant benefits, like the basset hound social behavior. Still, owners like me pay attention to the weakness that comes from inbreeding. It’s not just the appearance that is important to us but the behavior which is pretty much the attraction of the breed. Mongrels live longer. We all know that. Trafficking and puppy mills are abuses that should be condemned and rooted out.
There are still animal shelters in many counties where you can actually get a rescue dog, cat, or here in Kentucky at least, a horse or a pony.
Yeah exactly like the Hapsburgs. Haha
My wife and I have adopted two dogs over the years, both from local pounds.
The first dog was great. Friendly, intelligent, mostly obedient, house trained from day one. Pretty much zero hassles except he had fleas and heartworm when we first got him. Besides those initial medical expenses he’s cost very little and he’s great to have around.
The second dog is also friendly but far less trainable than the first one. After about half a year we finally have her trained to not pee/poop in the house about 95 percent of the time, we can get her to sit, etc.
We did not pick these dogs at random. In fact, we spent weeks revisiting the pounds before we found a dog we liked. On any given day, there’s a low likelihood you’ll find a decent dog that isn’t already taken by an earlier visitor. You’ll eventually get a good dog but it might take a dozen or more trips. Out here in Tampa, like 90 percent of the dogs are pitbull mixes and a lot of them have behavioral issues (not from being pitbulls, but from being owned by scumbags). You just shouldn’t go by expecting to find a purebred golden retriever with a great personality on your first day. And you shouldn’t expect it to stay more than a few hours before someone signs the adoption papers. If you find a great dog and don’t immediately snatch it up, there will typically be a huge waiting list after the first day.
I tried to adopt a dog from the Pound once. It was like a police interrogation and the questions they asked were outrageous. I told them to Fuck Off. They would rather kill the dog than give it away.
The tractor looks like overkill for the trailer. Mind you, it is single axle. Every thing around here is triple axle. The only singles axle tractor you usually see is on the potato chip truck.
What is the difference between stacking humans and stacking animals in such a fashion?
I guess no life has any value if one is a virtue-hunter.
There was a reason why they used to take ”old Shep’ to the stonepile and give him his last rites before they did him in with the .22. Just like they used to drown kittens and pups in the river using a gunny sack with a stone for added weight. And that was a very painful experience, especially when your Dad said, ”Do it or else I will.”
City people buy dogs, cats etc., after a month they get tired of urine and poop on the carpet, so they drive to the outskirts of the city and dump the animal on some empty lot or lonely trail. Cats do quite well on their own, if they still have their claws and other parts that help them hide up in a tree or old building. Many however end up as supper for a pack of hungry coyotes, as do dogs.
The solution is not to let idiots have pets. But then our society allows idiots to have children, which in turn go out and buy pets when they can’t take care of themselves..
I’m quite surprised to see that going on in Allentown, PA. A city filled with lawyers, doctors and many professionals. My niece lives there, she’s a chiropractor, her husband is an airline pilot with Delta. Hope somebody looks into this.
This guy is famous in the dog world. He drives dogs from rescues and shelters to confirmed homes in the north where they don’t have enough dogs for people to adopt. He does a good service. Who cares if he makes a good living. Those dogs are packed in crates for maybe two-three days. Then he always posts pictures of them with their new owners. What the author doesn’t realize is that the alternative is euthanasia not a happy ending. Especially in the south where the euthanasia rates are usually 90%. The author has no business writing about what they dont understand. Come watch euthanasia of puppies and sweet dogs in our shelters then you can comment on whether two or three days in a truck is a good idea.
http://bit.ly/Friendofhill
Canine Rabies (there are other kinds) was absent from the USA from 2007 until in 2015 dogooders imported a dog from Egypt with fake papers and rabies.
My ex and I adopted a racing greyhound from an organization that places surplus dogs from the racing industry, houndsofgrace.org. On their website you can check out the pedigree and racing history of your dog.
The whole “rescue” thing has gotten out of hand. I can understand rescue groups for aggressive breeds or for racing dogs, but the other day I saw a truck with pictures of pugs and a domain name like pugrescue.org. Do pugs really need “rescue”?
When I’d take Annie out for a walk, sometimes people would ask “Did you rescue her?” and I’d say, “No, I’m fattening her up for a Vietnamese restaurant.”
Yes, purebreeds have known medical issues, in part due to what the breed was designed to do and in part due to inbreeding. For example, racing greyhounds (it’s a different genetic line than AKC greyhounds) have huge ribcages for their lungs and heart and tiny abdomens leading to something called gastric torsion, their stomachs get twisted. At the same time, as with thoroughbred horses, the dog racing industry keeps track of bloodlines and inbreeding. As a matter of fact, at greyhound-data.com, they list inbreeding info before you get to track success.
What the author doesn’t realize is that the alternative is euthanasia not a happy ending.
Come watch euthanasia of puppies and sweet dogs…
They’re animals, get over it, the real world isn’t Disneyworld.
And, it’s not euthanasia, it’s killing them. Happens with other livestock in the hundreds of thousands every day.
Can’t imagine how hot that trailer would have been on a 90 degree day…no legitimate livestock transporter would haul 150 dogs in a closed trailer of that size.
I agree with the “rescue” business getting out of hand. Many people get dogs that way as a way of, to use a phrase that’s unfortunately become commonplace nowadays, “virtue signalling”.
On the other hand, lots of dogs like that find their way into homes where they are wanted and cared for and have a life that they might have been deprived of otherwise.
My father got his current dachshund from a breeder. The dog was the runt of the litter, but my father took a chance and bought him anyway. Several years later, the critter’s quite a lively, but often impish, handful. (He absolutely loves playing fetch!)
They’re inseparable, especially after my mother died. The dog’s adopted me as well so I’m guaranteed of a canine welcome whenever I visit my father.
Some runt….
Can’t imagine how hot that trailer would have been on a 90 degree day
Are those 3 air conditioning units on the trailer
yup, that’s a specialized unit, and that is why the single axle tractor, we see them on horse haulers around here. You are correct, 3 ACs and 2 draft vents on the trailer
They’d all be buried in a dump somewhere if this guy didn’t bring them north. Who gives shit if he gets paid for his time, fuel and trucks. Best dog I ever had was a SPCA Bouvier mix. Worst I had was my $1500 English Bull Terrier that nearly killed my neighbours dog and was put down last month as it was 3rd strike. Broke my heart. There are bound to be some good dogs on those trucks that need a break. Trafficking? I don’t think so.
Ah, okay, a reefer hauling dogs…
He also says someone rides in the trailer with the dogs…illegal most places, and poor judgement everywhere. Especially in a commercial vehicle.
I was walking in the English countryside a few decades ago and came across a pack of hounds out for a hunt, and I did not recognize them at all. I got talking to the hunt master and it turned out that they were basset hounds. I think they might have been the only hunting pack of bassets in England. To me, they looked like a cross between a basset and a beagle. They still had short legs, but they were taller and lighter than the “normal” basset hounds you see.
Our local Humane Society shelter in Tacoma, WA is great. It’s a non-kill shelter (except where the animal has an incurable disease or has a severe and dangerous behavioral problem). We got our cutie pie dog there back in 2009, and he’s doing just fine. He looks like a Yorkie, although he’s big for the breed (14 pounds); he could be a Silky. We don’t know for sure, and we don’t care enough to do a genetic test. He’s got “dry eye”(an autoimmune disease which destroys a dog’s tear glands), which we control with medication, and he’s otherwise very healthy.
I get the pros and cons of purebreds vs. “mutts”. My first dog was a purebred Airedale Terrier who was an utter delight – intelligent, sweet-tempered and very healthy (he lived to the age of 14.5, which is very old for an Airedale). The advantage of getting a purebred is that responsible breeders care very much about breeding healthy dogs by avoiding inbreeding and breed for temperament as well as for physical characteristics. You know a lot more about what you’re getting. On the other hand, many purebred types have been ruined by not having enough genetic diversity and by breeding for unhealthy characteristics. Bulldogs can’t breathe properly, German shepherds are extremely prone to hip dysplasia, dachshunds have back issues, Yorkies have bad teeth and frequent patellar luxation, and so on. I think that the AKC should take a lot of the blame for not stopping practices such as tail docking and for allowing breed standard characteristics which are unhealthy for the animals.
Frankly, the only “rescue” organizations I’d ever heard of before this were organized to save various kinds of purebred dogs from shelters.
Anonymous 2:45
“What the author doesn’t realize is that the alternative is euthanasia not a happy ending. Especially in the south where the euthanasia rates are usually 90%. The author has no business writing about what they dont understand. Come watch euthanasia of puppies and sweet dogs in our shelters then you can comment on whether two or three days in a truck is a good idea.”
God in His Heaven, preserve us. What utter rot. None of the people who are outraged about animals are outraged about aborted babies. None of them go on blogs and cry at the babies being ripped out of their mothers’ wombs and tossed into garbage bags. None of them have been outraged at the news, backed up by video interviews, that baby parts are being sold. None of that appalls them! But if it’s a cat or a dog, out come the tears.
And do these fanatical animal lovers give a damn that while they’re providing food for these animals that children are starving? NO.
On Border Security I watched a truckload of these dogs being brought in from someplace like Texas to northern Saskatchewan. Why are they allowed to cross the border?
A brick house in my home town that once was the OPP police station, and would make a beautiful home for a family, is now a home for stray cats, feral cats. It is run by volunteers and they have to raise at least $200,000. a year. Now it that makes any kind of sense to you (the town has a population of around 5000 people) then the world is mad indeed. More and more people are asking for donations to it when they die than ask for donations to the Salvation Army.
I would only buy a dog from a reputable breeder. Good breeders check for inheritable diseases in their lines and make sure that they do not breed their dogs to others who are too closely related.
So, the new equation:
Rescue operation = puppy mill.
That was pretty much what my parents thought when they got their dachshunds. For most of them, they also got the pedigree as well but, for the last one, my father didn’t bother. He just wanted the dog and knowing the critter was purebred was enough.
The dachshund, however, doesn’t seem particularly concerned that my father doesn’t have a record of his pedigree. He’s quite content to play fetch all day if he could.
I don’t suppose it ever occurred to you to get the dog trained, you miserable scrunt? That’s your responsibility, and likewise to provide an escape proof yard and only take the dog out on a leash, especially when you KNOW it has a socialization problem with other dogs.
You are a prime example of the bad owner.
Kate, your friend is full of shit and so are you.
If you’d bothered to check out this organization’s web site or faceb**k page, you’d have discovered it provides transport for already-adopted dogs from locations in the South to their new owners in the Northeast. The new owners book passage and pay the organization directly.ds
Asia, Turkey, and Massachusetts.
“yup, that’s a specialized unit, and that is why the single axle tractor, we see them on horse haulers around here. You are correct, 3 ACs and 2 draft vents on the trailer”
Yes, yes NIMMY! That’s all well and good!
But what about the kristans, NIMMY? The kristans!
“If you’d bothered to check out this organization’s web site or faceb**k page,..”
Yup. There you have it, folks. The new breed. If it’s on a website or faceb**k page…
Holy f**k!
Today’s Sesame Street has been brought to you by the letter B:
This is irresponsible “reporting’ posting a blog based on a “friends” experience. Here’s a video of the Allentown stop, where they were met by Allentown Angels who walked and loved on the dogs. All rescue employees were recorded and I.D.’d on the vid, as was the inside of the truck. Way to drink the kookaide.
https://www.facebook.com/RescueRoadTrips/videos/10155111976399068/?autoplay_reason=gatekeeper&video_container_type=4&video_creator_product_type=0&app_id=165907476854626
And who’s the “friend” that was there for all of this?
The same people crying over those poor abused animals will be among the first to shutdown our host’s show dog operation if she callously transported her dogs in such an unsafe and stressful way. The “rescue” folks contain a lot of big hearted people, but also a lot of uncaring mercenary people out to make money.
The easiest way to make money is to cut a few corners. The marginal cost of transporting an extra fifty dogs is negligible, and the fee is almost all pure profit. If a few dogs die, well the other forty are still profit. Just the cost of doing business… And with the fees and charitable donations guilted out of people, BUSINESS IS GOOD!
Anyone that doesn’t believe our host loves her dogs should go back and read her first few posts, and where this blog’s name came from. Small Dead Animals. The post still brings me to tears.
I believe that this emphasis on “pets” (dogs & cats especially) is telling us something about society in the U.S. and Canada (Mexico has quite a different attitude about dogs).
First, my impression (show me I’m wrong) is that most of the adopters are empty nesters (older couples) or never had children or are divorced. Also, mostly women. If I’m correct, what does this say to you?
Second, most of the people I have observed with dogs (real dogs, not those tiny whatevers) should not have them. (Cats are a different story). They overfeed them (generally out of guilt), do not excercise them (no, a walk around the block once a day is not enough), condemn them to life in a tiny yard and generally do not let them be dogs.
Do gooders…. lonely people without human friends….. women without children or (when older) without grandchildren.
It’s a comment on the state of our society.
Thank you Kate!
The money is simply payment for all the Retail Rescue drama that gets passed down the chain for these brokers.
so deep and yet so ridiculous. The comment of a person who has no empathy for any other living things except humans. Not real humans, just those superior acting whatevers.
Obviously you’ve never had a dog.
My father doesn’t get around as easily like he used to when he was younger. As a result, he can’t walk his dachshund, not that it matters. The dog loves playing fetch and can do that until he drops from exhaustion, only to sleep it off and later wake up ready and raring to go at it again.
No exercise worries with him.
SDN replied to comment from Sandra | September 17, 2016 5:29 PM | Reply
I don’t suppose it ever occurred to you to get the dog trained, you miserable scrunt? That’s your responsibility, and likewise to provide an escape proof yard and only take the dog out on a leash, especially when you KNOW it has a socialization problem with other dogs.
You are a prime example of the bad owner.”
SDN-
$500 for a consultation with best dog behaviorist on Vancouver Island. Series of obedience training from two professional trainers. Daily leash training walks and runs, attempts to desensitize her and distract her with food, praise Twice weekly socialization days with Dog Day Care with trainer on site. Also socialization with two large breed dogs of friends. 4.5 foot fence which she jumped over somehow when she saw small dog running by. Was in the yard 5 years before she figured out how to get over. Bought shock collar but never used it because the attack happened before new trainer was brought into picture. This dog had had a prey drive that was so hardwired there was no changing her. Large dogs fine, but any small dog within sight fixated her. We tried our best but there was no changing her. Raised and trained many dogs but this one couldn’t be fixed. And she was so beautiful.
Canadian Observer of Deplorables wrote:
“Yet more evidence that our “betters” no longer work to solve societal problems, instead they invent new multi-billion dollar industries to manage and sustain them”
Bingo! Give the man (or woman) a prize.
Exactly what I said to my wife this morning as the local radio bemoaned that the “food bank” was having difficulties stocking their shelves. They are not unlike our ‘safe-injection sites’ or other mechanisms developed to maintain people in non-working, non-productive misery. Dependence equals job security for these purveyors of sanctimonious do-gooderism.
Individuals are not responsible for their addiction after all, so if we provide them with food, shelter, faux dignity and excuses we can own them, trot them out as victims when necessary and gull the masses into guilt payments.
One ‘In-Site’ in Vancouver becomes a nation wide ‘service’ without having to actually prove they’ve reduced the problem of addiction one iota.
Back to the food bank though. I grew up in a family of six kids with a father sometimes out of work. My parents would NEVER have considered a food hamper from our church, let alone ‘supplementing’ their income via a food bank as many do today. I recall as a young teenager, cleaning the parking lot of a local shopping center at night with my father and brother, each with a broom and dustpan in hand. We never went hungry and we never lost our sense of self-worth. Wasn’t fun, but it was necessary and as I look back on a fairly successful life, I still maintain the pride of being independent, self-reliant and most importantly, honest.
Today it’s the bigotry of low expectations and excusing others of their own life choices to enable them to maintain destructive and sometimes anti-social lifestyles. Perhaps you saw today’s story in the NP, showing the new monument to prostitution put up in Vancouver’s west end?