18 September 2011 Archives

A poem has been appearing on several puppy rescue and shelter sites and Facebook pages. According to one site, the poem was a “letter to a roadside vendor by Harriet Rankin”.

No, I don’t want to buy that puppy.
I am a rescuer.
I’ll see him later.

After the fool you sold him to realizes how much work a puppy is.

After he digs out of the boring backyard he was banished to, for the heinous crime of being untrained.

After he roams blistering hot streets, hungry and lonely and confused.

After he picks up parasites and loses weight from throwing up garbage that he eats.

After he gets bitten for wandering into the wrong dog’s territory (and it gets infected).

After a car clips him and breaks his leg, adding pain to the thirst, hunger and loneliness.

Then I’ll find him.

I’ll pay five times what you were asking for him to get him cleaned up and vetted.
I’ll spend fifty times the hours you spent with him, teaching him what he needs to know.
I’ll take a hundred times as long as you did to find him a forever home that loves him.

So no, I don’t want to buy your puppy.
I don’t have to.
He’ll be mine soon enough anyway.

I just received the recent inspections for Rabbit Ridge from the Missouri Department of Agriculture. This joins with the recent USDA inspections.

As you can see, the MDA has had to do three inspections since April. The MDA also found problems at Rabbit Ridge—some very significant, such as dog with mats, hair loss, and wounds on his feet.

I still don’t have the August 2nd inspection from the USDA. In fact, the USDA pulled the August 15/16 inspections from the APHIS database, though I have a copy linked in my Sept 3 Rabbit Ridge writing.

One thing I like about the MDA reports: they provide the count of adult dogs and puppies. According to the inspection in June, Schrage has 204 adult dogs, 72 puppies, for a total of 276 dogs.

I also estimate that this one breeder has had to be inspected over 10 times so far this year, and there’s still 3 1/2 months more to go in 2011.

State Senator Munzlinger once responded to someone in his district who questioned him on Rabbit Ridge, “I find it disconcerting that some people are willing to ruin the reputation of a licensed breeder in good standing based on personal agendas and rumors.”

You can’t ruin what’s already crap, Senator.