Amish Owner Planned to Breed His Injured Dog, Then Put Her Down. A Shelter Got Her First
A really sad, and maddening, story was reported last week out of upstate New York. Some of this is hard to read. Via WWNY:
POTSDAM, New York (WWNY) – Warning: the photos and description of the dog’s injury may be upsetting
The St. Lawrence County Sheriff’s Office is investigating a suspected case of animal cruelty after a severely injured dog was brought to the Potsdam Humane Society.
According to Victoria Murray, the shelter manager, the year-old Australian shepherd collie mix named Rosie was seriously wounded when her leg got stuck in a saw mill belt sometime in April.
Murray said the owner failed to get the dog the necessary veterinary care for more than 2 months.
It took outside effort, and ultimately, the threat of jail time and fines to get the owner to give up control of the dog:
She said at least two people reported Rosie’s condition to the animal control officer, who visited the owner’s town of Hopkinton home twice to investigate.
Murray said the Amish owner refused to let the officer see the dog.
According to Murray, it was only after the officer informed the owner that an animal cruelty conviction could result in a year in jail and a $1,000 fine that the owner turned over the dog.
The owner reportedly had plans to breed the dog, and then to put her down.
Rosie’s Recovery
Rosie the dog’s leg had to be amputated, and she is now recovering at the Potsdam Humane Society’s shelter. A Facebook campaign managed to raise $4,000 to pay for her operation and recovery.
The shelter provided an update last week (June 23), sharing photos and a video, and writing that:
Little Miss Rosie was so excited to see us this morning. She was full of tail wags and kisses. Now we are resting after filling our belly! Thank you Silver Birch Veterinary Urgent Care for taking such good care of our patient!
For Rosie the dog this is good news, especially given where she was. Great job by the humane society and the vet. Hopefully someone out there is going to see her story and decide to give her a home (more on that below).
Amish or Non-Amish, Some People Just Shouldn’t Be In This Business
If you’ve paid attention over the years, you’ll know this isn’t the first Amish dog breeder that has made the news for poor treatment of their canines.
There are bad breeders everywhere, but Amish breeders have gotten a lot of attention. I believe this is due to several factors. Those include:
- The sheer prevalence of dog breeding among Amish as an attractive, profitable “sideline” business
- An agriculture-centered mentality, in some, of seeing any animals which generate an income as “livestock”
- Some truly bad cases that have generated news coverage, and finally
- The fact that the Amish are an easily-identifiable group
But – that’s not to say that all Amish breeders treat their dogs poorly. There are some very good ones who raise dogs not as farm animals, but as social creatures destined to become loved pets.
And as time has gone on, I have hoped the bad ones would either change their ways, or be discouraged from the business.
Dog breeding is profitable, however, and Amish households are set up well in some sense to enter the business, with their spacious properties, horse barns and other structures, and a farming and horse culture meaning they regularly deal with animals.
Whoever Rosie’s owner is, this is a guy who simply shouldn’t be in the dog breeding business. I hope he has quit the business, or will do so soon. The animal cruelty investigation was still ongoing at the time of the WWNY report.
As for Rosie, she’s recovering, and I expect she’ll end up in a loving home soon enough. The report closes with this:
Murray says Rosie will likely be ready for adoption in a couple of months, and there are already a dozen people who’ve submitted applications to take her home.
“She’s very sweet,” Murray said. “She just wants love.”
Three-legged dogs can still thrive
It is a shame HOW this dog became three-legged. I can’t imagine the pain she must have been in.
In our travels we have come across a number of three-legged dogs, some from congenital defects, some from injury, some from disease requiring amputation. They really were doing well. They seem to adjust very well to the missing limb. Let’s hope this happens for Rosie, who appears to be a very sweet dog that just needs a loving owner.
Grrrr….
This is an issue that I really dislike among the Amish. I wish there was a way for local communities to monitor Amish animal care, especially with their horses and dogs.