Carol Bradley - Saving Gracie: How One Dog Escaped the Shadowy World of American Puppy Mills

Saving Gracie

How One Dog Escaped the Shadowy World of American Puppy Mills

Carol Bradley

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Copyright 2010 by Carol Bradley. All rights reserved.

Howell Book House

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ISBN 978-0-470-44758-1

Printed in the United States of America

First Edition

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

Edited by Beth Adelman

Book design by Lissa Auciello-Brogan

Book production by Wiley Publishing, Inc. Composition Services

For Steve,and for Sadie, Delta, Bosco, Chachi, and Jillie,who taught me that all dogs matter.

Preface

The north side of Great Falls, Montana, where I live, is ideal for dog-walking. Craftsman bungalows and 1940s-era houses line the residential streets, and the sidewalks are shaded by towering ash and elm trees. I head out each morning with Chachi, my Husky-Golden mix; my Border Collie, Jillie; and a pocketful of treats to dole out to canine friends along the way. Among the dogs we stop to visit are Bear, a shaggy German Shepherd with kind blue eyes; Jocko, a red-haired mutt who waits eagerly for his prize; and Cody, an Akita whose enormous nose peeks out from under a vinyl fence, quietly passing the time until a biscuit skitters her way.

Every now and then, on a less familiar block, I stumble across a dog confined to a small run, excrement piling up inside, obviously ignored by its family. These animals usually sit too far back from the street to toss a treat tothey would set off an alarming racket if I triedyet I can see the yearning in their eyes as my own dogs trot by. The sight of a lonely, cooped-up dog is distressing. But then I remind myself that even these dogs live like kings compared to dogs confined in puppy mills.

Its one of Americas most shameful secrets: the hidden world of substandard kennels, where dogs are caged like chickens and forced to produce puppies over and over, until they can produce no more. For all the attention we bestow upon mans best friend, all the designer collars we fasten around their necks, the doggy day care programs we enroll them in, and the organic wheat-free premium biscuits we feed them, youd think we would be more curious about where dogs come fromthat wed be more knowledgeable about the bad breeders in our midst and more willing to blow the whistle on them.

In fact, many people are incensed. Do an Internet search on the phrase puppy mills and up pop 1.5 million results. Despite the plethora of information, I am continually surprised at how many of my friends and acquaintances havent a clue that hundreds of thousands of companion animals in this country are living out their lives in barbaric conditions.

I didnt know puppy mills existed either until the fall of 2002, when Collie breeder Athena Lethcoe-Harman and her husband, Jon, tried to relocate their kennel from Alaska to Arizona. To make the 2,240-mile journey, the couple crammed 180 Collies into a tractor trailer, in cages stacked three high, and hit the road without stopping for food or water. By the time their rig crossed into Montana from Canada late on Halloween night, the dogs were wet, shivering, hungry, and yelping loudly enough to alert the customs inspector. He, in turn, contacted law enforcers for rural Toole County. Sheriff Donna Matoon could have taken the easy way out and let the Harmans pass through. Instead, she did the right thing: She ordered a deputy to arrest the couple and charge them with multiple counts of animal cruelty.

The case dragged on for nine months. For much of that time, residents of Shelby, Montana, were left to care for the dogs. They housed them in a barn at the local fairgrounds and devised a complicated schedule for feeding them, walking them, and working to dismantle their fear of human beings. As autumn turned to winter and then to spring, the workload required to operate Camp Collie was nothing short of staggering.

It took two trials to convict the Harmans and free the dogs up for adoption. Before the trials were over, dozens of animal lovers from Florida to California flew in to donate their time on the Collies behalf. When Shelby-area residents became overwhelmed with the task, the dogs were moved to Great Falls, where another army of generous souls stepped forward to do their part.

I covered the case for the Great Falls Tribune , and it opened my eyes to the widespread existence of puppy mills and to the cost, both in real dollars and in human effort, required to salvage their victims. Years later, I still see survivors of Camp Collie around town. Adopted by loving families, most of these beautiful dogs have overcome their past abuse, but some never will forget. They are so scarred by their experience that they still hide in a corner or flinch at the sight of a belt.