My name is Katy and I am 17 years old. I wrote this story about the life of a puppy mill dog. It was a very sad, emotional story to write. It is a long story but, I thought I would share it with everyone.
It is in 3-4 different sections, as it was too long to post in one post.
Jacks
Puppy mills are horrible places where dogs live in wire cages, live in their own feces and urine and are forced to pump out puppies, so that the owner of that puppy mill can pay their water bill. These dogs are neglected and abused. They are not loved on and are treated like puppy machines, instead of loving pets. They deserve much more than what they get. This story is an example of how puppy mill dogs are treated and what conditions they are forced to live in.
I felt the warm touch of my mother’s tongue. She licked my little cozy bed off of me and nuzzled me up to her teat, so that I could stay warm. I felt the cold breeze of the frosty air, brush against my wet fur. It was so cold. I nuzzled up to Mother to try and stay warm. I felt something next to me, another wet body. I sniffed it and discovered I had a sister. Mother gave birth to six puppies. Only my sister, my brother, and I lived though that night, the others were hard and cold to the touch. Mother was not able to keep them warm. I am a boy and the largest of my siblings. My brother was the smallest. We laid on this stuff that tasted really bad and was extremely itchy. I found out that stuff was called hay. My siblings and I nursed and nursed. Mother kept us warm by pushing us up against her milk-filled teats, and wrapping herself around us. It was very cozy. Under Mother’s teats, her stomach was a hollow dent, later in life, I found out why she was like that. One week of our life went by. Now, my siblings and I are dry and twice the size we were. Our tummy’s hurt with pain and when Mother licked our bottoms to make us go poop, I felt this wiggle feeling and cried with fright. Those things are not very fun and make your bottom itch. They came and went through out my life.
A couple of days went by and all of a sudden I heard a faint noise and saw blurry white. My eyes and ears were opening and slowly did over the next day. It kept getting louder and louder. I was the second one to open my eyes and ears completely. The noises were so loud, it hurt my ears. I looked at the world around me. Mother was dirty white with black spots and light tan on her muzzle. Her hair was smooth with little hairs coming out all over her body. Mother was thin and dirty. My sister and brother looked just like her. I was the oddball. I was white with light tan spots. The humans called Mother and us, Jack Russell Terriers. As, I looked around some more, I noticed other dogs that looked liked us and others that did not. Between Us and the other Mothers and puppies there was this stuff, Mother called wire. We were in what was called a wire cage. There were so many of these wire cages with Mothers and puppies in them stacked all around. We were in what the humans called the puppy shed. The smell was very strong and our wire cage was covered in Mother’s poop. The stuff called hay was pee soaked and made us itchy. Also, there was this thing that Mother called water stuck to the side of our wire cage. It looked like a big teat. We also had this bowl that had this stuff Mother called mush that looked like brown milk. The bottom of the wire cage hurt my little feet and tummy, when I scooted around on it.
On each wire cage there were numbers. These numbers were also on these yellow things that were stuck to Mother and the other Mother dogs’ ears. The humans called Mother, Number 216 and we were Number 216’s puppies. The Mother that was on the mush bowl side, in the other wire cage, was who the humans called Number 215. The humans also called her a Toy Poodle. The poodle mother was very shy and anxious. Mother did not trust her and when she came near our cage, Mother growled at her and held us close. She was solid black and her hair was matted and covered in poop and pee. It was so long you could hardly see her eyes and her puppy could hardly find her teats. She sat in the corner of her wire cage and shook with anxiety. She only had one puppy, he was solid black, like her, and she held him close to her and hugged him to keep him warm. She would growl and bite at the humans when they would open her wire cage. In return, they would hit her with this stick and make her yelp in pain. On the other side, in the other wire cage, was who the humans called Number 217. The humans also called her a Dachshund. She was chocolate and tan with white on her muzzle. She also was tiny and frail. She had five puppies, three were colored like her and the other two, were a silver color called isabella. She would stick her muzzle in our wire cage and clean Mother’s face and Mother would do the same. Mother called the dachshund, friend. Friend would cower in fear when she would see the humans, obviously, the stick had met her to many times. Mother feared the humans, but she would still let out a low growl when they would open our cage. The humans just ignored her. I learned from Mother to not trust the humans and that to always fear them, but to never bite or you will get the stick. Mother’s names she called us were much better than what the humans called us. Mother named me Jacks, my sister, Penny and my brother, Runt.
At four weeks of my life, I was learning slowly, but surely how to walk. I stumbled all around our wire cage. Mother watched us with delight. Walking was lots of fun to Penny and I. We stumbled towards each other and I wrestled her to the ground. It was different for Runt, the wire on the bottom of our cage, hurt his feet when he walked and he would rather curl up by Mother and go to sleep. He cried a lot and was very attached to Mother. Personally, I think he was Mother’s favorite. We began to taste Mother’s mush and were starting to learn how the giant teat works. I learned that you lick the bottom of it and this clear stuff comes out. I personally thought milk was better, but I learned to like the stuff. Penny loved the mush and the giant teat, she hardly nursed from Mother anymore. Mother said Runt and I should be more like Penny and learn to like new things. I loved Mother.
We woke up the next morning to Mother whining. Friend and her puppies were gone. Mother said that they took Friend’s puppies away from her and shot Friend right in front of her. Mother had to explain what shot meant to us, and I would rather not describe it. Mother also explained that when you get older, like Friend, you are not of use to the humans, so that is what happens to you. I was glad I was asleep. The toy poodle’s puppy was the same age as us then. We tried to play with him through the wire of the cage, but his Mother was very anxious about everything and growled at us when we got near.
Two weeks later, the humans came up to our wire cage, which was uncommon because they usually only came once a week to give Mother mush and water. Mother knew what they were coming for. They were coming for us. First they grabbed Runt by the back of his neck. He screamed, growled and bit at the humans but, they just ignored him. Mother wanted to protect Runt, but she knew better. After a while, they came and got Penny. Of course, Penny being Penny, went up to the humans wagging her tail and trying to play. They ignored her kindness and grabbed her by the back of her neck and walked away. Before they came back, I nuzzled into Mother’s fur and she groomed me from head to toe. Oh, how I would miss Mother. Her warm kisses, gentle touch and yummy milk. Why did they have to take us away from her? Also I wonder why did the humans have to be so mean and cruel? Why were they not like Mother? And were there any good humans out there? Then, the humans grabbed me by the back of my neck and took me away from Mother. I would never see her again.
As they carried me away, I wondered where I was going. All of a sudden, this yellow bright thing called the sun looked me straight in the face. Where did it come from? It hurt my eyes for a few minutes but I got use to it. It also was cold outside and I shivered while they carried me. I looked on the side of what the humans call the puppy shed and this white long thing, with clear and red stuff inside of it said: 36 degrees. I guess that meant cold! The humans took me over to this thing outside, called a table. I was unsure what they were going to do next. They took this thing called a syringe with stuff in it. They squirted that stuff in my mouth. It was really gross, but I was forced to drink it. I found out that the medicine they gave me got rid of those things that itched my bottom. That is the only time the humans gave me that stuff. Even though these humans were pretty mean, they were not as hateful and selfish as the ones I would meet later in my life.
After the humans were done with giving me that nasty stuff, they took me over to this big thing. It was a giant wire cage with legs on it. It was off the ground and it had two giant teats stuck to it and two mush bowls in the bottom of it. The bottom was covered in hay and poop. Inside the wire cage were Penny, Runt and about twenty other puppies. It looked pretty cramped in there and I wished I was back with Mother. The puppies were all barking and whining. They were making the humans very mad. The humans yelled at them and would pound the stick on the side of the wire cage. It was scary. The humans lifted up the wire door on top of the giant wire cage and threw me in. All of a sudden I was bombarded with puppy noses and tongues! They sniffed me from head to toe. I thought they would never stop! After they were done, all twenty of them, except Penny, Runt and I, curled up in a big ball to keep warm. I greeted Penny and Runt with a tail wag and a bark. Penny did the same thing back and Runt licked my face. Runt was so scared he sat in the corner and whined. He missed Mother and her warmth. So did I. Penny and I curled up with Runt to keep warm and tried to fall asleep.
The next morning, I woke up and decided to explore around my new home. There was not much to look at on the inside. Just, poop, pee, mush, hay and whole bunch of puppies. There were puppies like us, puppies like Friend’s, puppies like the poodle’s, and others I have never seen before! On the outside of the giant wire cage, there were others just like it. The cages had tons and tons of puppies in them. On the other side of our cage though, there were never-ending lines of giant wire cages full of adult dogs. Some were running around in circles, while others, cowered in the corner of their cage, shaking with fear and shyness. Most were very skinny, and the Fathers fought for food and room until blood was running off there bodies and faces. Some, I could tell were very sick and others were dead. The humans took the dead ones out of their wire cages and threw them in the back of the woods, where no one could see them. I wondered, what kind of place was this?
The next few days went by and I started to notice that new humans started to come to see us. There were short ones, fats ones, tall ones and skinny ones. Where did they all come from and why were they here? I found out they were what were called “puppy buyers”. I guess the “puppy buyers” did not know or care that those humans did not take care of us and all about the horrible things they did. Could they not see that back behind those woods were dead dogs and puppies that died because they were sick, diseased, killed by other dogs, shot or froze to death? I realized that us dogs, were much smarter than the humans. The “puppy buyers” that came to see us, just thought about how cute we were. They did not care to look around and see the horrible place we lived at. How could they be so naïve? The puppy shed with the skinny and abused Mothers inside, covered in poop and pee, trying to keep their puppies alive. The giant wire cages on legs, the bottom covered in our own pee and poop, that us puppies were force to live in. The other giant, wire cages on legs with skinny and dirty adult dogs in them. The Fathers covered in scars and wounds from fighting with each other to try and stay alive. Why didn’t the “puppy buyers” come rescue us? Why were they paying those humans to abuse and neglect us? I guess they did not care.