Charlie's second chance
His bark sounds more like a muffled yelp, the likely result of a metal tube stuck down his throat to lacerate his larynx so he wouldn't make noise.
Most of the fur on his tiny 8-pound frame is pure white, the way nature intended. But when you check out his little paws -- the fur is brown and discolored from standing in urine and waste for prolonged periods.
He shivers and shakes even when he's wrapped up in his cozy little blanket, probably from fear and confusion. After all, this is the first time that Charlie, a 5-year-old bichon frise, has been away from home, which was a small wire cage at a Missouri puppy mill with 1,000 other canines. Even then, he was rarely, if ever, allowed out to socialize -- only to breed.
The good news is he's never going back.
Charlie was brought to Western New York on Halloween with 36 other pure-bred canines following an auction of 850 dogs at the Missouri commercial kennel that was plagued with pages of violations from the U.S. Department of Agriculture, which regulates such businesses. Currently, the rescued dogs are in foster homes and eventually will be adopted into permanent ones.
This is the first in a series that will document Charlie's journey from deplorable conditions at the Missouri commercial kennel to his foster home in Alden, where he is adjusting and adapting to the new-found freedom, and finally to his adopted home.
His foster family, Lorry and Richard Schlick, have fostered at least 50 dogs in the past eight years. Charlie will live with them for as long as it takes to get him socialized with humans and other animals.
Right now, the Schlicks see clear indications of life at his former home:
"Hiding, shaking, fear in his eyes," Lorry Schlick said. "It's in his whole demeanor, where you can see the total lack of trust of people ... He's stiff as a board when he is held. Right now, he won't sit in a chair with humans because he's scared of the chair, but pick him up while standing, and he's fine. He's really not comfortable at all with the human touch yet." Charlie's story comes amid a growing concern over the treatment of canines in so-called puppy mills, commercial dog facilities that operate with an emphasis on profits above animal welfare.
In Missouri, which is home to the most puppy mills in the country, voters recently passed Proposition B, which spells out tighter regulations for commercial kennels. Called the Puppy Mill Cruelty Prevention Act, it requires breeders now to have no more than 50 breeding dogs, have the animals examined at least once a year by a veterinarian, provide dogs with constant access indoor and outdoors, use cement flooring for cages instead of wires and clean dogs pens daily.
Last month, the Humane Society of the United States released a report on some of the worst puppy mills in Missouri, called "Missouri's Dirty Dozen." For weeks, Humane Society researchers poured over state and federal inspection reports to compile the 27-page report. It is based on the number and severity of animal welfare violations. The breeders were singled out for repeatedly depriving dogs of the basics of humane care, such as food, shelter from the heat and cold and basic veterinary care.
Herman and Bonnie Schindler, owners of the commercial kennel where Charlie came from, showed up on the list as a dishonorable mention. The elderly couple had been written up by USDA inspectors for 14 pages of violations Ñ some repeat offenses Ñ including dogs with matted hair and covered in fecal matter sometimes up to 75 percent of their bodies.
In addition, the Schindlers reportedly had only 10 employees to look after 1,000 dogs, averaging out to 100 dogs per worker on a daily basis.
The couple decided to close their breeding kennel and auction off about 850 dogs. That's when a Western New York animal welfare organization, Going to the Dogs Rescue, stepped in with volunteers from similar organizations in Wisconsin, Indiana and other parts of the country to purchase the pooches and give them a new lease on life.
The volunteers were competing against dog breeders from across the country who wanted to increase their stock. The rescuers all wore green, "so we knew we weren't outbidding each other," said Melissa Henchen, president of Going to the Dogs Rescue in Perry.
In her two days at the auction, Henchen said she witnessed some of the inhumane conditions, including more than 30 shivering Yorkshire Terrier puppies left outdoors in frigid temperatures in their wire cages.
"They were freezing. There was frost on the ground when we got there," Henchen said.
Meanwhile, Charlie will continue to receive love and patience from his foster family, which includes four other dogs.
Having other dogs in the home serve as teachers, Lorry said. The best kind of home for a puppy mill dog to go to is one with other canines because they teach other dogs how to interact with humans and show them that humans are OK, that they're not bad, she said.
Of Charlie's four canine foster brothers, 6-year-old Peter Ñ another bichon frise Ñ has been the number one teacher for Charlie. Maybe it is because Peter can relate to Charlie. Peter also was rescued from a Missouri puppy mill. He was 6-months-old when he came to live with the Schlicks and because he was so young, "he was able to come around quickly" to the point he is a nursing home therapy dog.
"That's how much they can progress from being a puppy mill dog to being a normal socialized dog that can even do service work," Lorry said. "They will learn to be a normal dog and a loving, lifelong companion."
Meanwhile, the brown-stained fur on Charlie's paws will probably grow out in a few years with proper grooming, but he probably will not bark ever again.
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