The dogs rescued by the Puppy Mill Rescue Team primarily come from Ohio. The Humane Society of the United States says Ohio has the second-most puppy mills in the country. There are nearly 300 known, large–scale breeders in Ohio. That means there are tens of thousands of dogs forced to live in inhumane conditions for the purpose of mass production of puppies.
But what happens to the extra inventory? Often they die. They are killed off, culled.
This is why we are The Puppy Mill Rescue Team. Our humble beginnings started with a single veterinarian advocating for discarded mill dogs. Dogs that formerly would have been disposed of via euthanasia or given to a shelter instead were surrendered to the veterinary clinic, which would provide medical care and then surrender them to reputable rescues.
ALL OF OUR DOGS ARE SURRENDERED- WE DO NOT PAY PUPPY MILL OWNERS FOR DOGS.
What started out as one veterinarian and one clinic has turned into several. The rescues on our team are responsible for paying the clinic for the medical services provided. Often these services cost several hundred dollars or more due to the lifetime of neglect these dogs have endured: dental disease, tumors, infections, orthopedic issues are all commonplace.
In addition to taking in puppy mill surrenders through veterinary offices, we also get dogs surrendered directly through breeders. We have a Humane Officer on our Board of Directors. Through her community connections, she gets notified when breeders have dogs to surrender.
Our goal is to be a champion for puppy mill survivors- to lead them to a life worth living. One dog at a time until there are no more that need to be saved.
We also use our resources to help non-puppy mill dogs when we can.
We have foster-based teams in areas of Ohio, Buffalo, and Rochester, NY. We are rescue partners with the shelters near our team bases. If those shelters are overrun or need help with particular dogs they will reach out to us for assistance.
We also have rescue partners in Arkansas and Texas. These are rescues we have worked with for years. They take in dogs from high-kill Southern shelters, quarantine them in foster homes for 2-3 weeks before they get transported to our foster homes.
