Puppy Mill exposed

A story that will make
any animal lovers blood boil
A story that is unfortunately not an exception
the video shows a man arrested for allegedly performing
illegal C-sections and operating what authorities called
a puppy mill in Lathrop

The scumbag Pedro Maldonado Victorio was not a licensed veterinarian and the way he was performing the surgeries and the mechanisms by which he was breeding the dogs was heinous, police said during a press conference Friday.

The actual vets we have spoken to say these operations were done so poorly that the incision for the C-sections that were completed on these dogs were never truly healed, said Chief Ryan Biedermann of Lathrop Police Services.

He said the dogs, French and English bulldogs, were not sewn up from the inside and never had an opportunity to heal before they were inseminated again.


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Choosing a good Breeder

When you have decided to bring a puppy into your home, it is very important to be a well prepared dog owner. This includes choosing the breeder of your puppy with great care.  When looking for an English Bulldog puppy, you need to be sure that you find a reputable English Bulldog breeder.

English Bulldogs are a very expensive breed.  Unfortunately, this also attracts the wrong kind of breeders and often they are just there to make a profit on these dogs with minimal care and costs.

Most people know about puppy mills, but don’t be fooled! A lot of prize winning, high rated breeders with champion dogs are no different. A lot of these breeders keep the dogs in kennels outside. They get five to ten female dogs, let them have puppies three times and than dump the female dogs online, or in pounds/shelters.

I know this from experience since I adopted several female bulldogs that were used for breeding in this way. Most of these dogs never get to go outside their kennels, or interact with other dogs or animals, and don’t get the love and guidance from a human they need. Most of these breeders will tell you that their dogs go for daily walks, stay all day in the house and only sleep in the kennels, which in most cases, is not true.

Here are some tips to find a good breeder

There are several things you need to look for when you are researching an English Bulldog breeder. First off, the best way decide who to choose is by looking locally. Before you make an appointment to go visit, do some web research about this breeder.  You’ll be amazed how much you can find about breeders by Googling the kennel name, address and the owners name(s). Make sure to also Google the address. Bad breeders quite often change names.  Also, ask around on forums about the breeder.

A good breeder won’t mind and will only applaud you for being careful and well informed before choosing your puppy.  If they have a website, what is the purpose of the site? In my personal opinion, a website says a lot about the kennel. It should not only have pictures, but also important topics regarding the breed. There are a lot of kennels that are just advertising puppies and stud dogs with no personal information about themselves or the dogs. Also, they have several dog breeds for sale and usually will not have many photos and the photos they do have show the puppies either in a show or kenneled environment. These are all serious warning signs.

When you are pleased with the web search results, make an appointment to visit the breeder.  A good breeder will show you the paperwork and documentation proving that both the male and female are pure bred dogs. They can also show you the documentation of the veterinarian to show that both dogs had all their shots. etc.

Your visit to the breeder is an opportunity to get to know the dogs and the breeder before you commit to purchasing one of the puppies. It is also an opportunity to get all the information you need before making that big decision. This should include asking for references from prior litters.

 

Trick Question

Look at the picture above and let’s say for example the three dogs on the left are female and the two are male. Which one would you choose? Of course you cannot choose a dog from a photo! But when you ask yourself that question, several other questions come to mind. What gender, what color, what size, etc. Make sure that before you make a visit to a breeder you make a list of your criteria and include the whole family.

This way, when you go to visit you are a 100% sure what to look for. All those puppies are so darn cute and adorabull, so beware when you are going because you will want to take them all Home! Before emotions take over make sure to make a list, so you make a well thought out choice. Keep in mind a breeder might recommend a certain puppy for you. However, even when you have a good connection with the breeder, make sure to make your own decision! A breeder often has other interests in mind: how many dogs have reservations, which dogs will go to other breeders (and go to show and maybe win prizes which will be free advertising for their kennel), female dogs are often more desirable so they will try to find homes for the males first, etc. etc.

 

Questions you need to ask the breeder

  • How long have they been breeding dogs? What are their motives?
  • What is their daily routine? How many times do the dogs get to go outside?
  • What kind of food are they giving the dogs? Is it a hobby or do they have jobs aside?
  • Did they breed other dog breeds as well? If yes, beware it might be a fashion breeder (a dog breeder who does not specialize in one breed and breeds whatever wanted and most profitable)
  • When there are no older dogs around, ask the breeder what they do with their female dogs who can’t give any more litters?
  • Did they study the breed and if yes, how?
  • Ask what diseases and viruses they vaccinate for
  • Ask when the puppies are ready to leave the nest? Usually its a minimum of eight or preferably nine weeks, but you should check with your local laws first. If a breeder weans too early, I suggest that you look elsewhere.
  • Always ask if any of the dogs have hereditary medical problems and what they define as hereditary medical problems.
  • Make sure to ask about Bulldog breed related health problems like cherry eye, or problems with their breathing, skin problems and allergies.
  • Ask about the possibility of your puppy getting sick. At what age and under what conditions will they cover the medical costs?
  • You will want to know how often the same female is bred. In some countries there are laws to prevent using the same female dog over and over again. Here in the Netherlands the maximum amount of litters per female dog is three.
  • How and when will you pick your puppy? Is there a waiting list or picking order? What if they have reservations for 3 females and they only have one, etc.
  • Ask the simple question why you should buy a puppy with them and not another breeder

You want to make sure that the English Bulldog breeder is willing to offer you some sort of guarantee or paperwork on the health not only of the parents but of the babies as well. You want to make sure that they can verify the health of their puppies. You don’t want to pay all that money only to find that the little puppy is sick and will have medical problems later in life.

 

To Do’s on your visit

  • Check out the health of the dogs in general (not only mom and dad). Is their overall look clean and healthy?
    You don’t have to be a veterinarian to get an overall look. Check for clean eyes and ears, clean skin, no dirty wrinkles etc.
  • Check out the home of the breeder. Is this a place where the dogs seem to be most of the time or are they more likely to be in the kennels all day?
    A good way to check if the dogs are being walked is checking their paws. If the paws are soft, more than likely they are not being walked.
    The paws of a dog that walks every day feel like sandpaper.
  • If the dogs are kept in kennels, how do they look? Do they have good shelter, clean water, toys, etc?

Ask the breeder if you can walk one of the dogs (preferably the parent dogs but if the female is pregnant for awhile that’s not an option).
Walking the dogs is the best way to find out if the dogs have good endurance and don’t have any breathing problems.
A good breeder won’t mind a 15 minute walk with you and their dogs and will give you a good representation of the dogs overall health.

 

A Good Breeder

In my opinion a good breeder:

  • Breeds 1st on Health, 2nd on Character, and 3rd on Looks. Unfortunately, with most breeders, it’s exactly the other way around
  • Studied the breed extensively, owning the breed for several years does not automatically make you a Bulldog expert
  • Keeps their dogs like family which means (mostly) in the house
  • Even when kept in kennels the dogs get to go outside for a walk every day (not on some playfield besides their kennels but really explore)
  • Knows the pro’s and con’s of the breed and will inform the future owners about both
  • Will want to know a lot about you, your living situation, etc. Don’t think of this as intruding, in fact, this is exactly what you want. This shows the breeder wants to find good homes and is not looking for the highest bidder but the best home.
  • Will provide all the papers when you get to take your puppy home (when they say they will send it later, beware!)
  • Will vaccinate and deworm your puppy
  • Will prepare future owners with all the information needed, about health, food, house breaking, training etc.
  • Most important, a good breeder is an honest and loving person. This sometimes means saying no to people who want to buy a puppy but are not fit to be puppy parents. This means compensate medical care when the problems are hereditary and most of all this means caring for their dogs like they are family not possessions.

 

When you are thinking about getting a Dog, have you considered adopting a Dog?

There is nothing wrong with buying a puppy from a good breeder but there are also a lot of Bulldogs in shelters or even death centers waiting for someone to take them Home. So when looking for breeders online you might want to check out some local rescues and shelters as well. Why buy when you can Adopt?

Bulldog Rescues Worldwide


Spay, Neuter, Adopt

Today, the 4th of October, is World Animal Day.  A day to celebrate the love and happiness our pets give us everyday.
Let’s also use this day to think about what we, the loving pet owners, can do to make everyday World Animal Day for all the animals.

What can you do?
Be a part of the solution not the problem.
Spay, Neuter and Adopt!

Some things are hard to see, hard to know. Those sad stories, the horrific numbers…
BUT..Don’t turn your head, cause the only way we can change this is to face the problem and create awareness.

Every year, an estimated 5 to 10 million pets are euthanized in animal shelters only in the United States. Why? Because there is no place for them to go, no homes for them. Yet, we continue to let animals roam freely, unneutered and producing more unwanted animals. Their offspring often go from birth to the shelter where, if they are not adopted before their days are up, they will be killed. That is where the expression “born to die” applies; newly born into this world only to be put to death. What a tragic waste of life. There is a solution for this overpopulation problem, and that is to spay and neuter and adopt.

Instead of buying a puppy from a breeder or shop you can choose to adopt a dog from a shelter or from a rescue group. There are also a lot of Rescue Groups  for specific breeds.

Please Watch, Learn, Act and Share.

Neuter and spay your pets and adopt pets from shelters and rescue groups.
Think before you take a pet into your home, so when you do, you make that choice for their whole lifetime.

When you have enough time, money and love to care for a dog for life
look for love in shelters and rescues and save an animal .
Find a Rescue Group or Shelter near you:
Bulldog Rescues

Read more on what you can do against animal cruelty here

Please share this blog, talk about these dogs in your community, convince people to go to shelters and rescues and neuter and spay your own pets.


Prevent Dog Nappings

Almost every day I see posts on the internet about Missing and Stolen dogs. Time to write a Blog about this. Unfortunately these days, you got to keep your dogs safe from predators. A lot of dogs are stolen each year. The number of pet thefts has risen 30 percent in the past year alone! Bulldogs are one of the most expensive breeds, this makes them a high level target for dog-nappings. Also some people still see them as a fighting breed which makes it even worse.

To most of us, our Dogs are not Pets they are Family, so losing your family member and maybe never know what happened to it is a nightmare none of us wants to face. Here are some tips to keep your Dogs safe.

 

Most common reasons people steal Dogs

  • Making a profit, selling the puppies online or on the black market
  • Posing as a buyer or posing to adopt, to get a free dog
  • Dog fighters in search of fighters or bait dogs
  • Ransom

Most common ways Dogs are stolen

  • Taken from your yard
  • Stolen out of a car or outside a shop
  • Stolen out of a home, breeder kennel or rescue

How to Prevent Dog-nappings

  •  Never leave your dog alone in your car, at the shop or even in your own yard. It sounds simple but it is key for your dogs safety. Don’t be ignorant and think you can leave your dogs in the garden and pick up the phone inside the house. Driving by and getting a dog into a car only takes seconds!
  • Make sure your dog is micro-chipped and that the chip is registered to you, this way if your dog got stolen or is missing its much easier to track it down. This is one of the best ways to identify your pet and make it more likely to be recovered.
  • If someone approaches you to ask about your dog, don’t divulge details, especially not the purchase price of your dog or where you live.
  • When purchasing a dog via an advertisement, be careful you are not buying a stolen dog. Ask for some proof of ownership, Kennel Club registration papers, veterinary records or microchip registration.
  • A lot of people have dog signs/warning signs on their doors. This can be an invitation for dog-nappers. I have a sign on my door that says in case of fire save my two dogs. It doesn’t say which breed so you can still put up a warning sign without alerting the wrong people and in case of emergency fireman or rescuers know how many dogs to save and wont risk their own lives looking for more or maybe forget one.

 


Rescues and Breeders

Rescues and Breeders are at high risk of dog-nappings, because they have more than one dog and often puppies. There are so many stories of people at rescues asking to walk a dog they would like to adopt to never return again or people posing as buyers and steal dogs from breeders (with false id’s/checks or come back later to raid the home).

Tips:

  • Put your contact information and location (city/state) on your website but not your address! It’s very easy this way for dog-nappers to stake out the house and wait for you to leave and steal your dogs.
  • If you are a breeder or rescue and you have people come over, put up a webcam and inform everyone who comes in they are being filmed or ask to take their picture and explain why. A person with good intentions will have no problem with that.
  • Always ask for ID (with recent photo) and make a copy before re-homing or selling your dog. Also Google their names, a lot of these thieves operate on a large scale and often use the same fake id or name.
  • When dogs are kept outside in Kennels make sure to properly secure that area. Fences, locks, cameras, a guard dog lose on the property etc.

How to Prevent Dognappings

protect me

Almost everyday I see posts on the internet about Missing and Stolen dogs. Time to write a Blog about this. Unfortunately these days, you got to keep your dogs safe from predators. A lot of dogs are stolen each year. The number of pet thefts has risen 30 percent in the past year alone! Bulldogs are one of the most expensive breeds, this makes them a high level target for dognappings, also some people still see them as a fighting breed which makes it even worse. To most of us, our Dogs are not Pets they are Family, so losing your familymember and maybe never know what happened to it is a nightmare none of us wants to face. Here are some tips to keep your Dogs safe.

Most common reasons people steal Dogs

  • Making a profit, selling the puppies online or on the black market
  • Posing as a buyer or posing to adopt, to get a free dog
  • Dogfighters in search of fighters or baitdogs
  • Ransom

Most common ways Dogs are stolen

  • Taken from your yard
  • Stolen out of a car or outside a shop
  • Stolen out of a home, breeder kennel or rescue

How to Prevent Dognappings

  •  Never leave your dog alone in your car, at the shop or even in your own yard. It sounds simple but it is key for your dogs safety. Don’t be ignorant and think you can leave your dogs in the garden and pick up the phone inside the house. Driving by and getting a dog into a car only takes seconds!
  • Make sure your dog is microchipped and that the chip is registrated to you, this way if your dog got stolen or is missing its much easier to track it down. This is one of the best ways to identify your pet and make it more likely to be recovered.
  • If someone approaches you to ask about your dog, don’t divulge details, especially not the purchase price of your dog or where you live.
  • When purchasing a dog via an advertisement, be careful you are not buying a stolen dog. Ask for some proof of ownership, Kennel Club registration papers, veterinary records or microchip registration.
  • A lot of people have dogsigns/warning signs on their doors. This can be an invitation for dognappers. I have a sign on my door that says in case of fire save my two dogs. It doesnt say which breed so you can still put up a warning sign without alerting the wrong people and in case of emergency fireman or rescuers know how many dogs to save and wont risk their own lives looking for more or maybe forget one.

 

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Rescues and Breeders

Rescues and Breeders are at high risk of dognappings, cause they have more than one dog and often puppies. There are so many stories of people at rescues asking to walk a dog they would like to adopt to never return again or people posing as buyers and steal dogs from breeders (with false id’s/checks or come back later to raid the home).

Tips for Rescues and Breeders:

  • Put your contact information and location (city/state) on your website but not your address! It’s very easy this way for dognappers to stake out the house and wait for you to leave and steal your dogs.
  • If you are a breeder or rescue and you have people come over, put up a webcam and inform everyone who comes in they are being filmed or ask to take their picture and explain why. A person with good intentions will have no problem with that.
  • Always ask for ID (with recent photo) and make a copy before rehoming or selling your dog. Also google their names, a lot of these thieves operate on a large scale and often use the same fake id or name.
  • When dogs are kept outside in Kennels make sure to properly secure that area. Fences, locks, cameras, a guard dog lose on the property etc.

     



Doggy Wishes for 2013

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What Dogs are wishing for:

  • Wishing all my fellow dogs in shelters and pounds will find a loving home in 2013
  • Wishing the humans will end the killing of their best friend in pounds and shelters when there is no room or money
  • Wishing breeders and petshops would spend the time and effort in animalwelfare in stead of making a profit
  • Wishing humans will stop abusing and torturing us for dogfighting and cruel hunting sports
  • Wishing an end to all puppymills
  • Wishing the humans in charge will protect us by giving us rights and punish the animal cruelty offenders

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DogFighting and BSL

After reading and hearing numerous sad stories of dogs being used to fight and dogs that are put down just because they are labelled a fightingbreed, I think it’s time I voiced my opinion on the following issues:

Aggresive breeds/BSL (Breed-specific legislation) and Dog Fighting

For starters: I don’t believe but I KNOW that there is no such thing as a Fighting Breed. Nature didn’t make fighters out of these dogs, people did! Yes, there are dogbreeds that will respond quicker with agression and are more dominant than other breeds but those dogs don’t make the difference but the owners do. No healthy dog is born a killer, not a labrador nore a pitbull.


There are no Bad Breeds only Bad Owners! 

These dogbreeds are not born fighters or unstable. Humans create this unwanted behaviour in them. But somehow we still judge our dogs on their breed and looks even in law.


There are several countries where a number of dogbreeds are forbidden just because of their so called bad reputation. Not only do they use this to ban certain types of breeds, they also have rules like;

  • Every pitbull has to wear a muzzle
  • No stafford or bullybreed is allowed off leash in the dogparks
  • Dogs with simalar characteristics to a bully- or pitbull breed and don’t have the right papers are immediately put down for no other reason than their looks

Simple question…What has been learned from human history?
Do not judge on skincolor, looks, religion or background, judge people on their actions… Should we not do the same for our animals? 

These laws were made by people who do not know much about dogs and who are responsible for a lot of animal and human suffering which is totally unnecessary. With these laws they are claiming to protect humans from these ‘killing monsters’.. When in reality they are letting the real monsters go, the dogowners and animal abusers who are responsible.

As I wrote before I would like to stipulate, dogs are not born fighters or born unstable. It is  humans who create these unwanted behaviours in them. If you look at it that way, it is heartbreaking to hear when they put dogs down for what their owners did to them. It is like putting down a victim of abuse, just because of the fact that they were abused they now no longer fit in, because of their unsocialized character or unwanted behaviour.

You would think that after all the opinions of animalexperts, dogowners, breeders and kennelorganisations and the TV hit the Dogwhisperer these opinions and laws would have been changed by now. You would think that people would have come to the conclusion that it is not the dog or the breed but the owners that are to blame and furthermore  that no matter how bad the behaviour seems these dogs can be rehalibated to be a loving socialized pets. Read More


You Can Help 2 Stop Dogfighting

Dog fighting is one of the most serious forms of animal abuse. Although dog fighting is illegal in most countries, this cruel form of abuse for human entertainment still happens every day. Infact dog fighting is making a comeback in a big way in the U.S. It is estimated by some government sources that there are on average about 16,000 dogs killed each year in organized dog fights and that number continues to grow. All over the world, in backyards everywhere, helpless dogs are being bred to fight and die for this very sick form of human entertainment. These unimaginably cruel and sick dog fighters are even going to animal shelters posing as a loveable new owner when in fact they will force them to fight against their own fighting dogs for training and to give them a taste for blood. Also, dogs are increasingly kidnapped from peoples yards and homes to die in dog fights.

Because fighting dogs is illegal, people who do these cowardly and sick crimes will try to hide any evidence of dogfighting to avoid being caught. So what do we have to look for and what do we do when we suspect someone?
Here are some tips on how to recognize dog fighting dogs and fighting areas and  who to call to report this.

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How to recognize dog fighting
Multiple dogs are generally housed in one location. More sophisticated operations may look more like a kennel; in fact many that breed and fight dogs do so under the auspices of a kennel to deflect suspicion. Less sophisticated dogfighters, especially the urban street fighters generally have several dogs chained in backyards, often behind privacy fences or in basements or garages. Dogs that have been fought have fresh wounds or scars, in various stages of healing, on the head, chest and legs.

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The area

Blood spattered on any surface. Dogs may be fought or trained in basements, garages, barns, and vacant buildings, so spatters of blood on any interior walls or floors should be closely documented. Dogs are often trained outside, so watch for blood spattered outside, especially near training equipment. When live animals are used as bait, there are generally remains of the animals on site. On the training location there will probably be training devices like: Treadmills, catmills (jennys), springpoles (jumppoles), flirtpoles, chains/weights, and any implements used to hang or harness bait animals. Pry bars, bite sticks, or breaking sticks are used to pry the dog’s jaws open when he has gripped onto another animal

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On the Internet
Matches are often filmed and the videos can be used in court as evidence.  Many dogfighters also utilize the internet to maintain contact with other ‘fanciers’, post match stats, to order and sell supplies and dogs, etc. The newspaper can also be utilized to identify potential breeding and selling of fighting dogs. Often classified advertisements for fighting dogs include a reference to ‘game bred’ dogs.


Report suspected Dogfighting in the USA:

Report suspected dog fighting anonymously, from anywhere in the U.S.

Call, toll-free, at: 1.877.215.2250, or visit HelpStopDogFighting.com and submit a form online.

Report suspected Dogfighting  in the Netherlands:
Bel 144 (anonieme meldingen worden hier niet in behandeling genomen) Wanneer u 144 belt, krijgt u de politie aan de lijn. Afhankelijk van de melding kan de politie besluiten de Landelijke Inspectiedienst Dierenbescherming in te schakelen. Als melder krijgt u de garantie dat er zorgvuldig en conform de Wet bescherming persoonsgegevens met uw gegevens wordt omgesprongen. Natuurlijk wordt uw naam niet bekend gemaakt bij de ‘beklaagden’.
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Related Blogs:
Stop Dog Fighting and Animal Cruelty
Stop PuppyMills
Stop Fighting the Dogs Music Video
Safe a Life and Adopt
Dog Fighting, Michael Vick, Mos Def and Chris Rock

Please Share/Like this and Help 2 spread the word