A Visit to a WI Puppy Mill:

       We pulled into the driveway of what I thought was a rabbit farm. There were rows and rows of small cages with wooden "houses" attached like I'd seen for rabbits. I saw a few pens with bigger dogs, mostly hunting dogs, like labs. I thought, where's all the dogs?

       Getting out of the car and walking closer I realized the rabbit cages were filled with dogs. Upon closer inspection I saw that not only were they filled with dogs, they were FILLED WITH DOGS. By that I mean 3 to 6 or more per cage. My heart sank. How could this be? They were tripping over each other in their desperation to get out. Their eyes filled with sadness and pain. Cage after cage, row after row, hundreds and hundreds of dogs.

       I was surprised to see that the place was quite clean. There was not an excessive amount of feces under the cages. At least by the puppy cages there weren't. Out back by the breeder cages was another story. There we saw a considerable amount of manure buildup. Several cages had fecal matter dried on and stuck to the wire.

       In one cage with a Dalmatian mother, the door to her house, where the puppies were, was too small for her to get through. This required that she stoop down, dragging her milk-laden breasts across this fecal encrusted doorway. Several mammary glands looked as if they had mastitis as they were red, inflammed and engorged. This dog growled at us, of course under extreme stress at having strangers parade past her babies all day long. It's a miracle she had any milk for her puppies. She did not look well. She walked stiffly, as if in pain, and had a glazed look about her eyes. Her abdomen was distended. She wasn't the only one in this condition.

       When we were shown the puppies, which are located by the house, [the miller's wife] showed us newborn puppies, less than 3 weeks old, as the eyes were not yet opened and let us hold these tiny puppies. The chance of disease transmittion during this process is great. She did not know if we owned any dogs and what their state of health was. This practice also greatly disturbed the mothers, and understandably so. It made me sick to my stomach. It demonstrated a total disregard for the health and mental well-being of these mother dogs and their puppies.

       While my friend was busy with [the miller], involved in the purchase of several dogs, we were allowed to wander about freely and went inside the barn. There we saw, in what little light there was, kennel fencing partitioning off "whelping" rooms.

       Let me discribe this building. It is an old dairy barn. The only light comes from a few small windows to the north (I believe). It is almost total darkness. Peering down the aisle we see another Dalmation bitch, very pregnant and also growling at us. She too is extremely stressed. Her pen is not clean at all.

       Apparently, these brood bitches are not let out to exercise. All their wastes are piled up inside this pen. A dog house is situated in the middle which is where the dogs whelp, unaided, as [Mrs. Miller] informed us. The smell of urine and feces is strong as there is little to no ventilation in this building. The brood bitches are on the left side of the aisle. On the right are some larger pens where the big hunting dogs can go in and out. They are the only dogs who had any room to exercise.

       The small breeds, which formed the majority of his dogs, NEVER and I repeat NEVER get out of their little rabbit cages. These cages are approximately 24" x 36" and have 3 - 6 or more dogs per cage. They are literally tripping over each other.

       Frankly, I found this revolting. These are not inanimate objects. They are living and breathing beings who have basic physiological needs, one of them being exercise! This is akin to putting 6 human beings in a room that is no more that 4 ft x 6 ft and never letting them out! It is cruel to say the least. There have been studies done on the effects of crowding on animals. You don't have to read them, just go see for yourself at [this miller's].

       We also saw rat holes, standing water in the pens that is basically urine and feces, spoiled dog food in the dishes, lethargic dogs, sick dogs, ungroomed dogs, dogs whose breed one could not decipher. I took pictures. However in my emotional state I neglected to take pictures of an overview of the whole place. I took close-ups of individual dogs.

       Another thing that bothered me, is that several smaller breeds, like Miniature Pinchers, who are short haired, lived outside all winter long with no heat, and not only that, they whelped litters throughout the winter. His casualty rate must be phenomenal. What does he do with all the bodies? Surely there must be some health codes regarding disposal of the bodies?

       When the transaction was completed, I noticed that no sales tax had been charged. Is this legal? My girlfriend bought 8 dogs, to save them from the hell they were in. I'm also wondering if this income from this sale was ever reported as it was a cash transaction.

       [This] place is disgusting. It is unhealthy, crowded, cruel, and inhumane. There is no reason it should continue to exist. I left there and spent the next weeks tormented over what I had seen.

       The horror of the place didn't even sink in when I was there. It's almost as if my mind knew it was too much for me to absorb at once and slowly for several days, waves of nausea and pain would wash over me as I truely came to understand how awful that place is.

       You cannot begin to imagine it, until you have been there and looked into those dogs' eyes. Each and every one is pleading to be taken out of there.

       It is a living hell for those dogs. It's a concentration camp in a way, except that the dogs are not killed in gas chambers, they are killed emotionally many times over.

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