Maggie

Maggie rescued from the "Heartland" ?

Maggie "free" and enjoying the snow,

This is Maggie’s Story.

Maggie and her brother were born in July of 2002. How they ended up at the Hartville Missouri Auction the following May is anyone’s guess. Maybe the “commercial breeder” was getting out of the Sheltie business. Maybe the “commercial breeder” wanted to start breeding more profitable breeds. Maybe the “commercial breeder” was just interested in getting rid of a few dogs, or needed room for a few more. No matter what the reason, Maggie’s life changed that day from one of terror and pain to one of love and care.

When Maggie was being held up and “displayed” at the auction, she screamed in pain. Her back leg dangled at an odd angle. That didn’t matter. She didn’t need a “good leg” to be a good breeder. Thankfully some very special angels where attending the Hartville auction that day. And Maggie was saved by PuppymillRescue.

Inside Dog Auctions,

Puppymillrescue has attended this auction undercover and purchased dogs from it, one Maggie with a broken leg. View the horrendous conditions and watch the breeders! laugh at the USDA inspector!

Maggie weighed only 14 pounds when she went to the vet immediately after she was rescued. Her femur had been shattered and had not been set. The vets estimated that her leg had been broken for at least a month as the bones had begun to rebuild themselves. Her broken leg was twisted and had begun to heal itself at a 90 degree angle. She was so frightened and in so much pain. She refused to eat when she first arrived at her foster home, and we spent many weeks force-feeding her.

Maggie’s leg was so badly shattered that it should have been surgically repaired at the time of the break. What Maggie had needed was immediate surgery to rebuild her leg with plates and screws. Of course, when you are a mill dog, getting minimal vet care is rare, let alone getting the extensive surgery she would have needed to repair the fracture. By the time she was rescued, her bone had begun to re-build itself around the shattered fragments. By the time she was rescued, the muscles had begun to contract around the break site from lack of use and from pain. The surgeons and doctors that now saw Maggie felt that to try and repair the leg, after this long, would risk more damage. They would have had to re-break her leg, and try bone grafts and pins and plates to try and re-build. There was an increased risk of infection, and a risk of damage to the circulation and nerves in her leg. Now after at least 4 weeks of agonizing pain, living on a wire bottomed cage with a broken and twisted leg at the hands of the breeders and auctioneers, Maggie was finally free to get the help she needed and to be put on pain medications. We started a course of physical therapy and massage. Just the pain medication seemed to help her tremendously.

It took many months, and a lot of care and attention, but Maggie is now a beautiful and happy girl. She will always have a limp, and will more than likely have arthritis and joint problems later in life due to her deformed leg, but she can run and play and enjoy her freedom.

Maggie now weighs 25 pounds. She has a full and beautiful Sheltie coat. She loves all the little new fosters that come into the house, and, true to her Sheltie heritage, she loves to try and herd all the kids together.

I am amazed every day at how well this little girl has done out here in the real world – she is now away from the horrendous heat, bitter cold, and the horrors of the mills and auction houses. Our quiet, frightened, little PuppymillRescue girl has found her voice, and a boundless energy! I see joy in her face every day – a joy and excitement that would have slowly died had she been left alone and lonely in the wire cages of the mills. Someday Maggie may lose her leg, thanks to an uncaring and cruel “commercial breeder”. But Maggie has now found her freedom and a new and terrific life. She will not be forced to fight for her food or to live in her own urine and feces. She will not be bred, and bred, and bred, producing puppy after puppy until there is nothing left of her. She will run and play and love life in her own special magnificent way!

Unfortunately that fateful day in May, at the Hartville Missouri auction, Maggie’s brother was not so lucky. He remained in the hands of those creatures who call themselves “commercial breeders”, who try and tell the world that they really do care for the dogs. If you attend one of these auctions you would see for yourself how much they care for the dogs. These “human” beings want you to know that their dogs are treated just fine, that they follow all the rules set down by the USDA and the Animal Welfare Act. They are more than happy to tell you all about how their place is run, how their dogs are kept clean and fed and are seen by the vet. Listen to what they tell you. But don’t ask them to show you, because they won’t. They will scream about their rights as an American. Their right to privacy. Their right to make a living. That those “crazy animal lovers” from back east, or out west, are just that, crazy. That those “radicals” are trying to take away their livelihood, to destroy the good ol’ fashioned American way of life. Listen, because they won’t show you. You don’t need to see. They’re the good ol’ boys (and gals) that make up the backbone and the heartland of our country. They would not lie to you. Would they?

You don’t need to listen to the dogs, the ones that make it out, the ones that are lucky enough to fall into the hands of those “crazy animal rescuers”. All you need to do is look. They want to show you. They want you to see. Look at Maggie. Maggie wants you to look at where she came from., and to look at all the others dogs on these pages. Think about what their lives would be like if they had remained in the hands of those good ol’ folks that represent the heartland of America, and the good old fashioned American way of life. Think about Maggie’s brother – the one we couldn’t get out. I wonder what his life is like now. I wonder if he would want you to see.

I was born and raised in the Midwest, the heartland of America, and I am ashamed and saddened at a way of life that can allow for such cruelty to any animal. The Heartland of America?? When it comes to the “commercial dog breeding business” and the auctions, there is no heart in the Heartland.