What to do about local puppy mill? - Page 2

A puppy mill was up and running in the next town over. I had heard the scoop on multiple breeds, sick dogs, and shady business practices after many complaints let to the town getting involved. It was even in the paper. Eventually, they had to keep a sign infront of their house that stated if any puppies were seen on the proprety or being sold it was prohibited and to contact the town. The sign is down now but maybe it slowed them down a bit in the mean time and got the word out to pet homes that may fall victim to this situation.

Puppymills are deplorable but yet they seem very difficult to stop.  You could contact the town and get the BBB involved this way maybe potential buyers will think twice once informed. If the money slows down, it's likely less breedings will follow. 

I know the guy near me had a business name & store in a different town. He wouldn't let buyers meet the parents or see the litter he would go get it out back  and bring it to the front or have you meet him at another location. The pups were many times sick and dirty.

Good Luck!

~Coll

This is a free country and unless you can report him to the authorities for abusing the dogs and the other mentioned is to report him to the AKZC,CKC and UKC and see what they find.

Otherwise it will be difficult to do anything because running a puppy mill is not illegal.

Good luck

Thanks for the ideas guys.  Myself and a few other locals have been working against this guy for several years.  He continues to move around but stay in this area.  There have been several judgements against him and last I heard he was promising to mail the "health guarentee" along with the dogs papers and you never get either of them....he's sold many pups who were sick with Parvo and this has lost him a few cases in court.  One problem here is we have no ACO.  Alabama just sucks when it comes to protecting animals.  I have friends who have moved here from other states and they are just amazed.  Meanwhile, this guy preys on people who don't know much about dogs but want a higher quality dog and he will rarely let single women come to his house and see how bad the dogs are living so they will feel sorry for the dog and buy it just to get it out of the situation.  Otherwise, he meets you somewhere with the puppy.

When I was younger and didn't know anything about puppy mills and all, he got me.  He had me come to his house.  Of course, I bought the gorgeous German Shepherd puppy to get him out of there.  He grew up be dysplasic and ultimately died at just over two years old, I spent several thousand in vet bills on him.  His parents were supposedly Champion dogs.  I only got CKC papers on the dog but it had the sire and dam's AKC numbers listed.  I called the AKC and had the numbers checked and the puppy mill guy did not own the dogs.  I got in touch with the owner of the listed dogs and they had both died before my male was even born.  I finally found out that my male was a "free to a good home" pup who this guy had got and claimed to breed.  SEVERAL other people have fallen into the same trap and usually the dogs die young.  The dogs this guy actually breeds are too young, not healthy, often sisters bred to brothers and such.  All the dogs are kept on chains and you never see water out for them.  I do not know how they are even alive.  It's about 100 degrees here today, and most of the dogs have no shade, no water, and it's just horrible.

Since we have no ACO, do I need to take pictures and post them where this guy is advertising?  I will look up info on the state vet.  I didn't know about that avenue so I will try it.  Thanks so much all

Shouldn't admit this, but when I started doing rescue, I drove up to a chained dog unhooked him and took him with me.  Local authorities would do nothing for the poor dog so I took matters into my own hands.  I would never do this now nor do I recommend it, but I'm not sure whatever else one might do? 

Whatever the man has going on with puppy sales and paperwork is not the immediate issue.  Dogs in the hot sun without shelter and water is!!!  Call the police and get those dogs something IMMEDIATELY!  Hopefully police will escort you to get them some water at the very least.  HOW AWFUL!

The big problem is he puts agressive dogs chained all around the outside of his yard.  I would go take the dogs some water and risk trespassing violations, but I don't want to get attacked.  This also makes getting the dogs out of there a problem.  The police will do nothing.  They say we need an ACO.  The police say they want to do something but can't.  And to make things better, the police are scared of him and his dogs...he has a reputation with the police  *sighs*

Can you call the police now and ask them to go with you to give the dogs water?  This situation cannot be ignored.  If getting close enough to give bowls of water is not an option, what about providing frozen blocks of water?  Something is better than nothing.  At least with a frozen block you could toss it within the dogs' reach.

NWilz,I Totally agree about the lack of animal protection in Alabama.I live in lower AL.There was a case where horses were buried..just underneath the ground.Manes stuck above the ground.The person got away with it but couldnt own horses anymore.I am talking ten plus horses!!! In a town near Montgomery..Horses were starved in stalls.The person that got away with that one had been sleeping with the state vet and involved with a money family.Do you live close to this individual that you are talking about?If so you have to be careful..as I am guessing the pup sales are his paycheck.Not to put the police down at all..but if he has a friend on the police..that may be the reason he is getting away with this...or perhaps they are investigating him for other reasons or he is providing info to them to aid somewhere else.Do NOT risk your life in unchaining the guard dogs!!!! I am real tired right now.Can someone post whom is the state vet of Alabama and number??What county do you live in NWilz? How are your dogs? regards, Candace

NWilz,I Totally agree about the lack of animal protection in Alabama.I live in lower AL.There was a case where horses were buried..just underneath the ground.Manes stuck above the ground.The person got away with it but couldnt own horses anymore.I am talking ten plus horses!!! In a town near Montgomery..Horses were starved in stalls.The person that got away with that one had been sleeping with the state vet and involved with a money family.Do you live close to this individual that you are talking about?If so you have to be careful..as I am guessing the pup sales are his paycheck.Not to put the police down at all..but if he has a friend on the police..that may be the reason he is getting away with this...or perhaps they are investigating him for other reasons or he is providing info to them to aid somewhere else.Do NOT risk your life in unchaining the guard dogs!!!! I am real tired right now.Can someone post whom is the state vet of Alabama and number??What county do you live in NWilz? How are your dogs? regards, Candace

Each state has a state veterinarian and at least minimal standards *(and in a piss poor state like AL they are probably minimal) for animal care requirements. The information for Alabama is here:

Department of Agriculture 
and Industries
P.O. Box 3336
Montgomery, Alabama 
36109-0336
Telephone: (334) 240-7253 ext. 1
Facsimile (334) 240-7198
Email:stvet@agi.state.al.us

Call the office and find out what they suggest you do. Each country probably has an ACO, and the state must also have some enforcement authority. But you better have proof. So take photos before the idiot gets the idea that you are going to do this. Otherwise, next thing you know, he will be building a fence to make sure no one sees the deplorable conditions dogs are left in, like our buddy Ray Jeffers in North Carolina.....who starved dogs, left them in their own feces and urine and killed a dog and "lost" another. Probably no one cares except all of us lame people here however, so be prepared for that.