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To many people, puppy mills are something that they have not become aware of until recently. They were a secret to the general public. Because you have found this site and may be anticipating adopting a puppy mill Boston Terrier, we felt that explaining the process would be beneficial.
What is different about a Boston Terrier from the puppy mill? Basically nothing. They are beautiful little dogs physically. But that is where the differences begin. These dogs are kept in cages with little human contact. The wire cages they live in is their home. They are not socialized and have very little human contact that everyone knows a Boston Terrier thrives on each day. When we get the dogs, because they have walked on wire all of their lives, they sometimes have trouble at first walking on carpet, floors or even outside. Their little feet are swollen and it takes about a month for them to get back to their normal size. Many are afraid of humans to begin with because they have never had positive interaction with humans. Some are sick and need immediate vet care. We offer this to the dogs. And we also offer them a lot of love, good food and a warm bed.
We attend the auctions as buyers. We never advertise who we are or that we are in rescue. We are merely participants at the auction. Each dog is brought into the ring and has a number tied around their neck. Sometimes there is a program that tells you where the dog came from.....sometimes not. There are many people at the auctions and it is very loud. The dogs look terrified of all that is going on around them........the bidding begins. The auctioneer touts the virtues of the dog and there is a bid here and a bid there. The bid rises and rises......the dog becomes more terrified and we bid and we pray that we will be able to buy this dog out of the mill life. Recently we paid $500.00 for a female that was getting ready to come into heat......we could not let her go back to the mills........she needed her own people and her own home. Finally the bidding is over on the Boston Terriers......this particular day we were able to successfully buy 8 of 11 Boston Terriers. The final cost???? $2600.00......but 8 Boston Terriers would be going home with us today. We took 11 little collars and 11 leads but we left with only 8 dogs. We spent all we had to spend. We pay our monies, go to the back to get our dogs, and try not to grab each one of them and give them a hug and tell them that from this day forward.........life will get better and better.. We have our dogs, we head home........now the work begins. The dogs are all taken to our personal vet where they are immediately spayed/neutered, given a complete physical, checked for heartworms/intestinal worms and given all their shots. Once we know the dogs are healthy and adoptable, we begin the process of finding good homes for them.
All potential adopters must submit an online or fax application, adhere to a vet and personal reference check and a homevisit before they are considered as adopters. These dogs have been through so much, we want the best for them. And we find the best!
Because we attend auctions from February - November, we ask an adoption donation of $375.00 for each dog. We also are able to continue going to the auctions because of generous donations from wonderful folks who feel, as we do, that these dogs need out of the mills. The more money we have, the more dogs we can buy. The more dogs we can buy, the happier we are. We cannot save them all, but we can sure try. If you would like to adopt a puppy mill dog, please fill out our online application and we will give you every consideration. Please do not feel that if you do not hear from us immediately that you are not acceptable. We are all volunteers with real jobs and families. We have NO paid employees. All the monies we receive go to the dogs. And thank you for wanting to give a very deserving Boston Terrier a chance at the life they deserve. By doing so, you will get back so much more than you give.
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