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Saving Gracie: How One Dog Escaped the Shadowy World of American Puppy Mills Kindle Edition
This touching narrative uses the poignant makeover of Gracie, a sickly Cavalier King Charles Spaniel, to tell the story of America's hidden puppy mills-commercial kennels that breed dogs in horrific living conditions and churn out often-diseased and emotionally damaged puppies for sale.
Saving Gracie chronicles how one little dog is transformed from a bedraggled animal worn out from bearing puppies into a loving, healthy member of her new family; and how her owner, Linda Jackson, is changed from a person who barely tolerated dogs to a woman passionately determined not only to save Gracie's life, but also to get the word out about the millions of American puppy mill dogs who need our help.
- A touching story of survival and redemption
- Written by award-winning journalist Carol Bradley
- Newsworthy issues call animal lovers to action
Join journalist Carol Bradley as she draws back the curtain on the world of illegal puppy production in Saving Gracie.
- LanguageEnglish
- PublisherHowell Book House
- Publication dateOctober 12, 2010
- File size3293 KB
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Editorial Reviews
Amazon.com Review
This touching narrative uses the poignant makeover of Gracie, a sickly Cavalier King Charles Spaniel, to tell the story of America's hidden puppy mills-commercial kennels that breed dogs in horrific living conditions and churn out often-diseased and emotionally damaged puppies for sale.
Saving Gracie chronicles how one little dog is transformed from a bedraggled animal worn out from bearing puppies into a loving, healthy member of her new family; and how her owner, Linda Jackson, is changed from a person who barely tolerated dogs to a woman passionately determined not only to save Gracie's life, but also to get the word out about the millions of American puppy mill dogs who need our help.
- A touching story of survival and redemption
- Written by award-winning journalist Carol Bradley
- Newsworthy issues call animal lovers to action
Join journalist Carol Bradley as she draws back the curtain on the world of illegal puppy production in Saving Gracie.
Amazon Exclusive: Q&A with Author Carol Bradley
Author Carol Bradley with her two dogsWhat are puppy mills?
Puppy mills are commercial kennels where dogs are treated like livestock, forced to produce puppies in often-squalid conditions. Puppy mills vary in size – they can contain as few as a dozen dogs or more than 1,000. Any breeder who subjects his or her dogs to filthy cages or runs, extreme temperatures, inadequate food and water and little to no socialization or veterinary care is operating a puppy mill.How many puppy mills are there in the United States?
The Humane Society of the United States estimated in 2008 that there were 10,000 puppy mills in America. The head of the Humane Society, Wayne Pacelle, now believes the number is closer to 15,000.Aren't puppy mills illegal?
Surprisingly, no. In most states breeders may confine dogs to wire cages their entire lives if they so choose. Breeders can be charged with animal cruelty if they fail to provide adequate food or water, but there aren't nearly enough federal or state inspectors to keep tabs on shoddy operators, and even when they're discovered, they are often given a free pass.What is it about Gracie that made you want to tell her story?
Gracie is a Cavalier King Charles Spaniel, a breed renowned for their companionship -- they're total lapdogs. I was struck by the resilience a small, vulnerable dog would need to muster to overcome a life as traumatic as the one Gracie had led. I was intrigued, too, by her new owner, Linda Jackson, a woman who hadn't necessarily wanted a dog—she adopted Gracie to satisfy her kids—but who wound up being changed forever by the experience.How do breeding dogs like Gracie become available?
Breeders are sometimes willing to sell at a discount dogs that have spent years having puppies. Rescue groups also purchase some of these dogs at auctions and then try to adopt them out. Puppy mill survivors aren't for everyone, but people who have the patience to work with a traumatized dog often find the experience deeply gratifying.Letter to Readers from Carol Bradley
Gracie after being rescuedFrom the attic office of my home in Great Falls, Montana, I have a bird's-eye view of Memorial Park, where occasionally a dog will sprint by, happy to be alive. It's heart-warming to watch because I am mindful that across America, hundreds of thousands of dogs are kept in cages, never once allowed the simple freedom of running through grass.
As a newspaper reporter in my former life, I covered the story of a puppy mill -- a large-volume dog-breeding operation involving 180 neglected and abused collies. My husband and I had two shelties at the time, and the similarities between those sweet-tempered collies and my own dogs were distressing. Long after the breeders were convicted and the dogs adopted out to new homes, the dark side of dog-breeding still haunted me. I began searching for the right dog, the right case to tell the story of puppy mills in America. The trail led me to Gracie, a Cavalier King Charles Spaniel who was rescued from a puppy mill in Pennsylvania. After six years of living in a cage, giving birth to puppies, Gracie finally had a chance at a new life. But could she overcome the cruelty of her past?
Saving Gracie is told "Law and Order"-style, with a description of life in a puppy mill, then segueing to the raid on Gracie's kennel, the trial that ensued against the breeder, Gracie's first exposure to kindness in a shelter and then to her new life with Linda Jackson, a woman who hadn't particularly wanted a dog. As Linda and Gracie struggle to adjust to one another, the state of Pennsylvania undergoes a bitter battle to curtail puppy mills.
Like most of you, I love stories where good triumphs over evil, where perseverance carries the day. Saving Gracie is that kind of book.
From Publishers Weekly
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
Review
"Bradley's compelling account propels readers on a roller-coaster ride of emotion as they follow Gracie's journey from a squalid puppy mill to a loving home. But this is also an excellent exposé of a shady industry—it describes legislative attempts to control the large-scale breeding of dogs and evaluates the effectiveness of those efforts." (Library Journal, February 1, 2010)
Journalist Bradley exposes the hidden world of puppy mills, where dogs are caged like chickens and forced to repeatedly breed until they die. Unlike most factory farm animals that endure painful confinement and are slaughtered within six months of birth, mill breeding dogs are sentenced to many years of existence in deplorable conditions; many don't learn to walk because their cages don't give them enough room to stand. Bradley details the raid of one such mill, Mike-Mar Kennel in Oxford, Pa., which led to the seizure of more than 300 dogs, mostly adults that had languished for years with broken limbs and untreated diseases. Dog 132, a Cavalier King Charles Spaniel later named Gracie, was rescued during the raid. Nearly blind, with decayed teeth and a strong aversion to human contact, Gracie flourished under the love and patience of her adoptive owner, Linda Jackson. Bradley's powerful narrative will tug at heartstrings, raise public awareness, and, hopefully, help put an end to puppy mills. (Feb.) (Publishers Weekly, January 4th, 2010)
From the Inside Flap
Gracie's life started much like any other puppy's would: she slumbered with her littermates ninety percent of the day and nursed the other ten percent. But she never had the chance to go exploring. Instead, the black-and-white puppy was crammed in a crate with the rest of her litter. She was born in a puppy mill—a large-scale and shoddily run commercial kennel. There was no room to run and play; there was barely enough room to stand.
In the United States alone, an estimated 10,000 cramped kennels produce as many as 4 million dogs a year—innocent, often diseased, and emotionally damaged animals who are then sold to unsuspecting families as "purebred" puppies. Worse, some—like Gracie—are kept behind and turned into breeding stock, doomed to a life of confinement with nothing to look forward to but monotony and loneliness. But not every puppy mill dog has a sad ending, as you'll learn in this heartwarming book.
Saving Gracie uses the poignant transformation of a scruffy Cavalier King Charles Spaniel, who was rescued from her sentence as a breeding dog, to tell the story of America's hidden puppy mills. Award-winning journalist Carol Bradley chronicles Gracie's makeover from a bedraggled animal worn out from bearing puppies into a loving, healthy member of her new family and follows her owner, Linda, as she becomes passionately determined to save Gracie's life and spread the word about the millions of other puppy mill dogs who need our help. Saving Gracie will open your eyes, warm your heart, and call you to action.
From the Back Cover
—People magazine
A compelling true story of one dog's rescue from a pennsylvania puppy mill
In the United States alone, an estimated 10,000 cramped kennels produce as many as 4 million dogs a year—innocent, often diseased, and emotionally damaged animals who are then sold to unsuspecting families as "purebred" puppies. Worse, some—like Gracie—are kept behind and turned into breeding stock, doomed to a life of confinement with nothing to look forward to but monotony and loneliness. But not every tale about a puppy mill dog has a sad ending, as you'll learn in this heartwarming book.
Saving Gracie uses the poignant transformation of a scruffy Cavalier King Charles Spaniel who was rescued from her sentence as a breeding dog to tell the story of America's hidden puppy mills. Award-winning journalist Carol Bradley chronicles Gracie's makeover from a bedraggled animal worn out from bearing too many litters into a loving, healthy member of her new family; and follows her owner, Linda, as she becomes passionately dedicated to saving Gracie's life and spreading the word about the millions of American puppy mill dogs who need our help. Saving Gracie will open your eyes, warm your heart, and call you to action.
About the Author
Product details
- ASIN : B00DNKYLN6
- Publisher : Howell Book House; 1st edition (October 12, 2010)
- Publication date : October 12, 2010
- Language : English
- File size : 3293 KB
- Text-to-Speech : Enabled
- Screen Reader : Supported
- Enhanced typesetting : Enabled
- X-Ray : Not Enabled
- Word Wise : Not Enabled
- Sticky notes : On Kindle Scribe
- Print length : 257 pages
- Page numbers source ISBN : 0470447583
- Best Sellers Rank: #1,922,275 in Kindle Store (See Top 100 in Kindle Store)
- #338 in Animal Rights (Kindle Store)
- #748 in Animal Care & Pet Essays
- #1,202 in Animal Rights (Books)
- Customer Reviews:
About the author
My family had a couple of dogs when I was very young and adopted a number of stray cats, but I really became interested in the lives of animals after my husband and I acquired two Shelties. I was fascinated at the intelligence and emotional complexity of those beloved dogs.
As a newspaper reporter, I began to write about horse slaughtering and animal hoarding and - after covering an egregious puppy mill bust - my interest in the underbelly of the animal world deepened.
I studied Animal Law as a Nieman fellow at Harvard in 2004 and afterward began work on my first book: Saving Gracie: How one dog escaped the shadowy world of American puppy mill (Wiley, 2010.)
Last Chain on Billie is my second book.
I live in Great Falls, Montana with my husband and three very colorful rescued dogs.
Check out my website at www.carolbradley.com
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I knew when I got him something was up with the breeder, things just "weren't right" when I got there. So what to do? Of course bring him home and give him the best possible life I could. I have a job that lets me mostly work from home, I take him EVERYWHERE with me, so it's rare for me to be out of his sight. And that makes us both happy.
So when I saw this book I was really intrigued to see if I could get some insight that might help me understand Arthur and to help him gain more confidence. This book is somewhat misleading in that you think it's a story about one dog and the lady who loved her. In reality, about 45 of the 242 pages are on Linda, her family, and their dogs (including Gracie). Yet somehow that is enough.
The majority of the book is about the puppy mill industry in general, many many heart breaking examples, and some great help at the end to give you ideas where to go if you want to help stop this horror. Yes, as many other reviews said, in some ways this book is tedious with details that really don't matter (who drove which can to the rescue that day, etc). I think that's just the resilt of the authors extensive time as a newspaper reporter's style. I didn't really mind that.
The reason I didn't mind the details and many stories is that it has FINALLY sunk into my head the enormity of the situation. It also is now clear the unbelievable number of man hours people have spent trying to get regulations in place to control this. Also how far we have come, and sadly how far we still have to go. With an estimated (according toothed book) 2-4 million puppies a year churned out of puppy mills, this is still a problem we can't ignore.
For example, I had NO idea many Amish now raise dogs because it's an easy income for them. The problem is dogs are not pets to them, they are "like ears of corn" the book said. One man thought nothing of shooting his 80 dogs to get out of the business. What? Yes, lots of shocking facts to learn here. NO it's not so grusome you can't get through it, but honestly if you aren't doing some crying I'd be shocked.
It really does take reading all the details in this book, no mater how tiring you find them, to truly understand what's going on. If you're like me, you'll be shocked, horrified, crying, then angry, and finally willing to actually put your own towel in the ring and do your part to stop this.
All in all, this book helped me finally understand some of Arthur's quirks. More importantly, how to get my husband to understand why Arthur only want to be my dog and not "our" dog. Very is not a "normal" Cavlaier. He is so similar to Gracie in many aspects it just made me weep to think he may have had it worse than I thought when I got him.
This book also helped me put two and two together about what was so "off" about the place we got him from. In fact I stopped reading and looked the place up online. Arthur is now listed as one of their breeding dogs (not a pet needing re-homed) and his picture is up with a different name...hmmm. I plan to use some of the resources listed in this book to get to the bottom of this fan of worms.
I HIGHLY recommend this book. Not as a Cavaier rescue story like it's advertised, but as an introduction into the world of puppy mills, with just enough adoption stories (other breeds too) to help put it into context and to see how puppy mills affect lives. Seriously, READ this book. You don't need to become an animal advocate (although you'll want to after this) but you can learn how important it is to get your next dog from a good source, and what this source is.
Beautiful story
The heroes are these families, the ASPCA, the Humane Society, several affiliated animal shelters, prosecutors, undercover investigators, and even the governor of Pennsylvania. The villains are unethical breeders and USDA standards that fail to provide adequate protection for puppies. Instead of seeing these dogs as companions for people, the USDA sees them as livestock.
The man who initially owned Gracie, Michael Wolf, bred dogs for Best in Show in the 1960’s, and often won. When the ASPCA raided his compound in 2006, his defense was that he loved these dogs—all 333 that were crowded into cages piled 3-4 cages high. All these dogs that he “loved” were covered in feces and lived in darkness and isolation. Many of these dogs would never recover from this trauma.
The author, Carol Bradley, tells a story with many characters. She makes every effort to be objective and fair, but it doesn't take long to see that all is not well. Despite the good and courageous people who stand up to the puppy mill system, the continuing abuse hovers over the story like a dark cloud. As long as there is money to be made, and limited accountability, these torture mills will exist.
It was a hard book to read, but well worth it, and I think any lover of dogs should read it. And anyone who wants to buy a puppy from a pet store should read it to see how those puppies parents are treated.
The book is less about one dogs story and more about puppy mills in general. Though it does follow Gracie and her family, it delves into many aspects of puppy mills. I am greatful to the author for bringing this horrible aspect of breeding into the open, and I am greatful to the many rescue agencies who take in the dogs rescued from these deplorable conditions.
Top reviews from other countries
A very good read.