Freedom for #165

April 13, 2008 - Molli is doing great physically. Mentally the best word that I can use to describer her is ashamed. Her soul needs love and repair. She sleeps well and eats well but every unknown is difficult for her. With some love and guidance I think that she will be a beautiful, smart and confident girl in no time. We are still trying to raise money to repay Molli's angel. Please continue to forward the link. Thank you so much for all of your support!

April 9, 2008 - #165 has a name. It is Molli. She currently in Arkansas with awaiting her ride to North Carolina. She is very smart and sweet. Please continue to forward the link. We still have a bit more money to raise to pay back Molli's angel.

April 7, 2008 - WE GOT HER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I will post more as soon as I hear more about her. She will be here on Friday but hopefully we can get some pictures in between!

April 7, 2008 - We are set up once again with transport. Today is the day. We still need to raise money to pay for her! Please forward the link to everyone that you know!!! We are almost there....

April 6, 2008 - Our transport fell through last night. We are scrambling to figure this out. Pick up can not be changed from Monday. They already are very suspicious of who we are and why we want this dog so bad. There are a few options that we are working on...PRAY! Please send all of your good thoughts...we are so close.

April 5, 2008 - The miller has accepted our offer of $4,000…cash. We now have less than 72 hours to raise the rest of the money. A volunteer will pick her up on Monday and have her scanned to be sure that the dog is in fact our #165. Once we confirm, she will be transported to NC by a FBRN volunteer that is making the trip to pick up her own newly adopted Frenchie. Please send good thoughts! We have to raise the rest of the money, get it to our volunteer in cash by Monday afternoon, and firm up transport. It is going to be along weekend!!!!

April 4, 2008 - We will be calling the miller with the $4,000 offer tonight. If #165 goes into heat we will lose her.

Today, March 29, 2008, is her first birthday...........

While we realize that there are many who oppose the participation of animal welfare advocates in Puppy Mill Auctions, there are many animal welfare advocates who support the act of springing these animals from a life of cruelty when they have the chance. The following story is about dogs purchased and those lives who were lost at a recent dog auction in OK. Please note this was a total dispersal "going of business" sale and arrangements are being made to make the IRS aware of the amount of money this particular "cash crop" brought.

Everyone involved in this last effort to make the life of one dog "stand for something" gets hundreds of emails a day regarding dogs and cats in need. Our hearts break on a daily if not hourly basis. So why #165? Why "Hannah's Sister"? Why did this one email concerning one dog make a difference? Perhaps because a number of us felt an extra stab of pain when we read this following email. Perhaps because not only did we feel the pain of the rescuers but because we felt Hannah's pain and her sister's terror.

We will let you decide. See if you don't believe as we do that #165 needs a place in our hearts and in the history of the fight against Puppy Mills.


March 15th, 2008 - 11 French bulldogs are purchased from a puppy mill auction in Oklahoma by French Bulldog Rescue Network volunteers.

March 16th, 2008 -Summary

We are back. We pulled 11 dogs (12 total if you include one purchased by a volunteer). It was unreal. The mill was definitely going out of business. They auctioned off all the equipment and kennels as well. There were 43 Frenchies. Words can not tell you how hard it was to watch dog after dog (all breeds) be put on the table by Amish children and auctioned off. We did not get back to the hotel last night until 11:30 pm, exhausted and numb.

We spent $15,000. We raised close to $13,200. Jan and I committed to walk out when we ran out of money raised for the project but we couldn't. If we did we would have left Wally (big cream boy with droopy ears) behind. Some dogs went for $2,000 plus, especially the pregnant mothers. It was horrible. We did not identify any other rescue groups. The tent was filled with millers, many Amish. The most we spent for one dog was $1,700. Jan just knew we had to get her for some reason....it turns out she is blind. We think that she can see a little bit. Her name is Opal. She is so sweet!

We saved the dogs that we could and we will continue to fight for those that were left behind. One of the dogs that was left behind was Hannah's sister. Hannah was in a kennel with her at the mill. Hannah was literally holding her sister as people walked through the building looking at the dogs before they went into the auction tent. Hannah's sister had an eye infection and appeared to have a hurt leg but it may have just been from a year on cement. I went back twice to her and told her I was coming. She looked me right in the eyes both times. We got Hannah but I lost her sister. The way the bidding is done is that 4 dogs go on the table at once. As the bidding climbed I was certain that the millers were going for the little red and white girl, not the brindle with the infected eye. We stopped bidding thinking that it would start again once the red and white girl was selected. The miller took Hannah's sister. Our hearts were broken. It was all we could do not to start crying. Last night Hannah was inconsolable. It is one of the saddest, most painful of things that you can imagine. Anyone that can say that dogs do not experience similar emotions to ours need only meet Hannah and see the video. There is no mistaken that her soul is broken. She is the tiny brindle (blackwith white spot on her neck) below. We are all suffering the loss. I think that we all cried over her at least twice in the last 24 hours.....here I go again!

Maggy is one of the cream girls. She was listed in the catalogue as "Vaginal prolapse with her last heat, recommend insemination". We all agreed that regardless of the cost we were going to get this dog. Vaginal prolapse is painful and reoccurring unless the dog is spayed. When we got there she was in a cage with a male. We were all devastated for her. When she came up for bid we were ready to max out every card we had to get her the hell out of there...we didn't have to. We got her for $1,500. Today she is running and playing in her foster mother's yard...being silly and rolling about. Her name is Maggy. Maggy and all the other will be spayed or neutered ASAP. She will never experience vaginal prolapse again.

Thank you to everyone that has contributed to the Oklahoma dogs. You saved 11 lives on Saturday and helped to raise awareness for those that were left behind. There are two pictures missing from this email, Wally (being bathed when I was snapping pictures off) and Kerri who had already left with her foster mother.

More to come....

Jan and Kim

March 24th, 2008
We know where #165 is. The miller has been contacted and asked to sell #165 so that she and Hannah can be reunited. He has placed a price on her head of $4,000. You may be thinking this effort is crazy - or you may be identifying greatly with the folks of "Save 165" - regardless of your stance on the matter as a whole, you must admit there would be nothing better then to spring a terrified dog from a life of hell. A chance to right a wrong and a chance to get the miller in trouble - it is a win win. #165 desperately needed medical attention. What are the chances that she has received any vet care? Is she sitting and shaking and thinking about Hannah? $4,000 is a lot of money, but how can you go about your day and not be haunted by #165? Each and everyone of us has been riddled with sadness since the minute we received the news.

Hannah and her sister will be one year old on 3/29/08. Join us in this fight and help us raise the money to rescue her before her birthday! Let's reunite these two sisters who clung desperately for each other.

Should the funds be raised, and #165 sprung from the mill, each and everyone of you will get the chance to meet her at this year's Puppy Mill Awareness Day. You will get the chance to see the dog whose freedom you have made possible. We CAN change the life of this one dog. Let's do it - together.

[b]What you can do[/b]
Please share Hannah and #165's story with your friends, family and rescue associates. Ask them to click here and make a donation. Every little bit helps and every donation brings us closer to our goal. If the total goal is not raised within a month no money is taken from donors. If the funds are raised and #165's miller backs out, we will save other mill dogs and you will get to meet them at this year's PMAD. Our goal is #165 - we just want donors to know that should the miller change his mind, the funds raised will go to helping other mill dogs.