Everyone-PLEASE-read and THINK ABOUT....

[prada24]

My only involvement with anyone affiliated with the rescue in any way has been with Diana, and though I don't know about the organization in general, I can truly say she got involved with a heart to save and place as many dogs as she could, and I was optimistic the whole organization was like her, though I know after reading this that might not entirely be the case.

I have read a lot of the posts, and I think buying at auctions isn't such a good deal for rescue things to do. However, whether or not they are making a profit by selling dogs, I think that the main point is that they still are saving them. Though some intentions might not be right on track 100 percent, the action is still important. And though they aren't saving thousands, they have saved many little pups since they started. I'm not defending or bashing them, because like I said, all I know about it is what I read here, but I feel like its kind of like when you give a homeless person money. You did a good thing for someone, what he chooses to do with the money (drugs, booze, etc.) is not your responsibility, because you gave with a pure heart to help this person. I feel that saving a Yorkie through the rescue is the same way- you give them the money with the intention of saving the Yorkie, if the rescue is making a profit or mismanaging the funds, yeh that totally sucks, but you saved the Yorkie because you love the little pup and want to give them a good home. Like I said, I'm not an advocate for either side, just wanted to share my thoughts.

[megansmomma]

I followed your link to the auction and have been looking around and I am hoping more people do the same. There is some very interesting links within the page you posted starting with this from Petland:

http://www.kennelspotlight.com/PETLAND_FIGHTS_BACK_.pdf

[jeanm1963]

Well said, its horrible.... its so sad that this really happens...

[DogLovingOwner]

:O The post/ad has not now been flagged for removal.

[jencar98]

Originally Posted by QuickSilver

I didn't realize rescues purchsed dogs at auctions. I find this very confusing, though I understand the idea of purchasing dogs that will otherwise be destroyed.

Some rescues do, others don't purchase from the auctions. And, if it were to purchase just those that would otherwise be destroyed, I wouldn't have any problem with the practice. But that wasn't the case with this specific rescue.

Originally Posted by bchgirl

Certainly not the best use of funds....

No, it isn't the best use of funds, especially when there are dogs within the rescue that have medical needs and/or rehab/training needs that are not dealt with.

[Hotel4Yorkies]

First let me say that I have read this and sitting with my mouth hanging open. But let me also speak from the point of the foster mom loving and caring for the Yorkies that come thru this rescue. I cannot on this page even begin to tell you my experiences just since I became a foster mom in July '08. I would have to write a book for that. We may not agree with everything that goes on but the bottom line is do we agree with saving as many yorkies as we can? My answer to that is "Yes!" My sister is the one that posted on our forum "I prefer yorkies!" and I feel the same as her. I am not familiar with the Biewer breed but would not want one not to be saved. Your mouth would drop if I told you how many yorkies my sister fosters at one time and me too due to the lack of foster mommas! I cannot say no to not saving and caring for a yorkie if there is not a foster home for it. And yes, she and I were the ones that were going to lose 2 days pay to go to Missouri to rescue and foster from one of the puppy mill busts had they needed us. But due to the National attention that it got HSMO didn't need our services. There are some hearts into this organization that ARE for the yorkies. If we don't fight for them who will. I drove to Tulsa to do a home inspection myself and place one for adoption. I was so attached to this little guy, that was originally a stray in Enid, that I cried all the way home. Might I add that is a 2 hour drive from where I live. He was malnourished when I got him but healthy and happy when placed in his new forever home. On my drive home I got a call from my daughter, who I talked into fostering, crying her eyes out that one she had fostered and just adopted out on Friday was lost from his new owner in Enid. Darby was a puppy mill rescue. I can't tell you on paper the troubles little Mr. Darby had but my daughter had given him 6 months of her love, time, and affection to be ready to have a forever home. We drove 1 1/2 hours on Sunday to help look for him. I have made posters, called vets, animal shelters and posted in papers and other free listings. We have even gone so far as to seek the advice of a pet PI. We will stop at nothing. After the weekend I just explained, the laundry wasn't done, the house not cleaned and no meals cooked for my DH. But to save a YORKIE, we did all we did for the love of the yorkie and OKYR!!! There are some posts on here that can vouch for everything that some of us do. I don't agree with everything that my job decides to do but I do a good job at what I was hired to do. (That is my full time paying job) I feel as though I'm rambling...I guess I want you all to be sure that there are some of us that have stayed involved with OKYR to save another YORKIE. I have adopted 2 of my fosters because of the health issues that they have and I wanted to be sure that the rest of their life they would be taken care of. I am so picky about the homes that my fosters go to I insist on doing most of the work myself.

Maybe going to auctions is not all right...but if they save another one, be it yorkie or Beiwer, another furbaby is saved. I understand what most of this is about. I'm not sure that I will ever understand when you draw the line from saving one off the streets, in a shelter or from a puppy mill/auction. Believe you me, between my sister, my daughter and myself we look on Craigslists numerous times a day and email them ourselves. If I ever know of one, a yorkie or mix, needing a home it is always known that my house is available if no one elses is! We have tons of people on our forum but only a handful of fosters. I don't understand that either. There are a whole lot of things that I don't understand but I do know that the yorkies at OKYR that are in 3 homes whose doors are always open to another yorkie are being loved, fed, and groomed for their forever home.

I want EVERYONE to know that the YORKIES at OKYR are being taken care of, loved and prepared for good loving forever homes with all of my heart and soul. I can only speak for myself but I know there are others. I know for a fact that there are 3 of us because they are my family!

[jencar98]

Originally Posted by PrincessDiana

Maybe someone from OKYR will come clarify and answer our questions.

I wish someone from OKYR mgmt would come on and answer, but I don't expect that to happen. They repeatedly ignored the many questions I would ask on their own forum. And, when my questions got insistent it was threatened the forum would be shut down.

[jencar98]

Originally Posted by Hotel4Yorkies

First let me say that I have read this and sitting with my mouth hanging open. But let me also speak from the point of the foster mom loving and caring for the Yorkies that come thru this rescue. I cannot on this page even begin to tell you my experiences just since I became a foster mom in July '08. I would have to write a book for that. We may not agree with everything that goes on but the bottom line is do we agree with saving as many yorkies as we can? My answer to that is "Yes!" My sister is the one that posted on our forum "I prefer yorkies!" and I feel the same as her. I am not familiar with the Biewer breed but would not want one not to be saved. Your mouth would drop if I told you how many yorkies my sister fosters at one time and me too due to the lack of foster mommas! I cannot say no to not saving and caring for a yorkie if there is not a foster home for it. And yes, she and I were the ones that were going to lose 2 days pay to go to Missouri to rescue and foster from one of the puppy mill busts had they needed us. But due to the National attention that it got HSMO didn't need our services. There are some hearts into this organization that ARE for the yorkies. If we don't fight for them who will. I drove to Tulsa to do a home inspection myself and place one for adoption. I was so attached to this little guy, that was originally a stray in Enid, that I cried all the way home. Might I add that is a 2 hour drive from where I live. He was malnourished when I got him but healthy and happy when placed in his new forever home. On my drive home I got a call from my daughter, who I talked into fostering, crying her eyes out that one she had fostered and just adopted out on Friday was lost from his new owner in Enid. Darby was a puppy mill rescue. I can't tell you on paper the troubles little Mr. Darby had but my daughter had given him 6 months of her love, time, and affection to be ready to have a forever home. We drove 1 1/2 hours on Sunday to help look for him. I have made posters, called vets, animal shelters and posted in papers and other free listings. We have even gone so far as to seek the advice of a pet PI. We will stop at nothing. After the weekend I just explained, the laundry wasn't done, the house not cleaned and no meals cooked for my DH. But to save a YORKIE, we did all we did for the love of the yorkie and OKYR!!! There are some posts on here that can vouch for everything that some of us do. I don't agree with everything that my job decides to do but I do a good job at what I was hired to do. (That is my full time paying job) I feel as though I'm rambling...I guess I want you all to be sure that there are some of us that have stayed involved with OKYR to save another YORKIE. I have adopted 2 of my fosters because of the health issues that they have and I wanted to be sure that the rest of their life they would be taken care of. I am so picky about the homes that my fosters go to I insist on doing most of the work myself.

Maybe going to auctions is not all right...but if they save another one, be it yorkie or Beiwer, another furbaby is saved. I understand what most of this is about. I'm not sure that I will ever understand when you draw the line from saving one off the streets, in a shelter or from a puppy mill/auction. Believe you me, between my sister, my daughter and myself we look on Craigslists numerous times a day and email them ourselves. If I ever know of one, a yorkie or mix, needing a home it is always known that my house is available if no one elses is! We have tons of people on our forum but only a handful of fosters. I don't understand that either. There are a whole lot of things that I don't understand but I do know that the yorkies at OKYR that are in 3 homes whose doors are always open to another yorkie are being loved, fed, and groomed for their forever home.

I want EVERYONE to know that the YORKIES at OKYR are being taken care of, loved and prepared for good loving forever homes with all of my heart and soul. I can only speak for myself but I know there are others. I know for a fact that there are 3 of us because they are my family!

You , your sister and daughter are true angels and have always gone above and beyond to help out the OKYR dogs. That's another sad note to this, is that there are some good people within the rescue and they shouldn't be blamed at all, just the mgmt seems to have lost it's focus.

[ladyjane]

Originally Posted by Wylie's Mom

You made good points in your whole post - and I don't disagree with much of what you said. However, when there are probably *thousands* of dogs in need of rescue right outside their front door, WHAT is the point of taking a day's trip to go pick up the biewers?

I'm sorry, but to me - that is just not in the spirit of a true rescue organization. Am I just off-base in thinking this is odd or the intent is "off"?

This is a very controversial topic with some rescuers. There are many who do this and justify it every way they can; but I have yet to buy into their philosophy.
I can find at least one yorkie in a shelter on any given day in Texas, so it escapes me why anyone would drive to Missouri to get mill pups and yet there are two groups here in TX that I know do that regularly. One look at some of the websites and you see over and over the words: "puppy mill" and "breeder release".
It totally boggles my mind and also just frustrates the heck out of me. We are being inundated with yorkies and our group is so full. I cannot get another rescue to help because they are full...yet their pups are mostly from the above mentioned.
I have had this conversation with two rescues on different occasions and have never gotten them to understand how they are leaving pups to be euthanized in shelters. Their response is always that the pups they get would also be euthanized.
I have given up trying to explain it because they simply are going to do what they do anyway.
Yes, they are saving dogs....I just think that they are enabling the not so reputable breeders and mills to continue doing what they do.

[ladyjane]

Originally Posted by jencar98

I wish someone from OKYR mgmt would come on and answer, but I don't expect that to happen. They repeatedly ignored the many questions I would ask on their own forum. And, when my questions got insistent it was threatened the forum would be shut down.

Oh my...sounds like another group I know of. So sad when people feel they do not have to answer legitimate questions.

[ladyjane]

Originally Posted by QuickSilver

I didn't realize rescues purchsed dogs at auctions. I find this very confusing, though I understand the idea of purchasing dogs that will otherwise be destroyed. It really seems like dancing with the devil, so to speak. Buying ANY animal from a puppy mill puts money in the miller's pocket, and this is presumably going to be re-invested in the mill. This seems like the same logic of "saving" puppies in pet stores - yes, you save that one, but you help the cycle continue.

Even cornering the market and then pulling out seems to be an "ends justifying the means" strategy. By cornering the market, you push prices up, and cause more dogs to be bred. Then when the market collapses, at least some dogs will be destroyed. And I don't think this guarantees that bichons won't be bred anymore, does it? It just means that the millers will move to a more popular breed until bichons come back into style.

What am I missing here?

The puppy mill problem seems very solvable to me. We need a cultural shift that makes it unacceptable to buy a dog or cat from a pet store. Kaboom. This happened with "dolphin friendly" tuna fish. It can happen for puppy mills.

[Katys mom]

Well, I work. So, at the risk of getting reported to my employer I will respond.

Yes, we go to auction. Auctions are a dumping ground puppymills. Other breeders replenish their stock and medical research companies come there to pick up dogs for their studies. OKYR has gone to auctions in the past and will go in the future. I do not believe that it was excitement as much as dismay at how many and what breeds are going to be there. I know for a fact that is not how I feel.

There is a fine line between paying enough to get the dog out of the situation and making the breeder profitable. The breeder has to pay for every dog that they bring. We try to make sure they do not profit or profit very little from any dogs we get. We often pay more to get them out of a kill shelter.

Most times we go, we come back from auction with 5-8 year dogs that have been breeding all of their life. We promise each and everyone of them, that they do not have to have another litter, they do not have to live in a cage, they do not have to drink spring water with coccidia.

We promise them that they will be loved, they can sleep in a bed and have a blanket.

So, yes we go to auctions. We also save, dogs from shelters, the streets, owner surrenders who can not afford medical care for their dogs.

Yes, our Foster Moms, can adopt a dog from us just like anyone that fills out an application and passes the application process.


I am asking admin to close this thread.

I challenge each and everyone to go start a rescue. When you do, you can run it the way you want. We have rescued nearly 100 dogs in 6 months and gave them a better life.

[megansmomma]

Originally Posted by ladyjane

This is a very controversial topic with some rescuers. There are many who do this and justify it every way they can; but I have yet to buy into their philosophy.
I can find at least one yorkie in a shelter on any given day in Texas, so it escapes me why anyone would drive to Missouri to get mill pups and yet there are two groups here in TX that I know do that regularly. One look at some of the websites and you see over and over the words: "puppy mill" and "breeder release".
It totally boggles my mind and also just frustrates the heck out of me. We are being inundated with yorkies and our group is so full. I cannot get another rescue to help because they are full...yet their pups are mostly from the above mentioned.
I have had this conversation with two rescues on different occasions and have never gotten them to understand how they are leaving pups to be euthanized in shelters. Their response is always that the pups they get would also be euthanized.
I have given up trying to explain it because they simply are going to do what they do anyway.
Yes, they are saving dogs....I just think that they are enabling the not so reputable breeders and mills to continue doing what they do.

I would have to agree this with thought process as well. It is supply and demand. If rescues would stop going to dog auctions and "buying freedom" for auction dogs then their would be less demand. Which in turn would allow the rescue to focus their attention on the shelters that are putting dogs down every day. To a mill, these dogs are a supply and demand commodity and if a rescue is causing the demand to increase by pruchasing from their supply they will supply it. This is a vicious cycle on both ends.

Their response is always that the pups they get would also be euthanized.
But a mill can only euthanize so many because they have a much more limited supply and they also CONTROL their supply. If there is no demand from the mill to breed yorkies for example they will cut back on the amount of breeding females they keep. The females might be turned over for free, dropped at a shelter or unfortunately PTS but their supply will then drop because of lack of willingness to purchase. It is all about money to these people.

[Katys mom]

You never once called me, pmed me or emailed me.

Originally Posted by jencar98

I wish someone from OKYR mgmt would come on and answer, but I don't expect that to happen. They repeatedly ignored the many questions I would ask on their own forum. And, when my questions got insistent it was threatened the forum would be shut down.

[Katys mom]

The questions need to be asked before they can be answered.

Originally Posted by ladyjane

Oh my...sounds like another group I know of. So sad when people feel they do not have to answer legitimate questions.