by Kim Kavin
26
“describes himself as having spent thirty-five years”: CNBC and USA Network, Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show, 2015.
26
“included 127 from beyond America’s borders”: westminsterkennelclub.org.
27
“known for bringing his private Gulfstream jet”: Josh Dean, “How to Win the Westminster Dog Show.”
28
“Michael LaFave, a breeder himself”: Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show marketing materials.
30
“which dates from 1877”: westminsterkennelclub.org, “Facts and Figures.”
32
“she’d had great success after breeding Peter’s daughters”: McDonald.
32–33
“conceived from frozen semen in 1981”: Canine Semen Bank of Columbus.
33
“has a preinsemination application it asks breeders to use”: Cryocel.com, “International Regulations.”
33
“allows some national kennel clubs to permit insemination”: Fédération Cynologique Internationale.
33
“purebred dog getting herpes”: Cryocel.com, “Advantages of using frozen semen.”
33
“had been accidentally thawed”: Huffington Post.
33
“widely reported as more than $300,000”: ibid.; McDonald; Carroll.
34
“by claiming they could have made $5,000”: ibid.
35
“Jurors awarded Blackie and Thomas”: ibid.
38
“none of the dogs here at Westminster came from a pet store or a puppy mill”: original reporting at 2014 Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show.
40
“in whom wealthy people owned shares”: Good.
40
“Canadian native and former breeder of German Shepherds”: dogjudges.com.
CHAPTER THREE: BRANDING, BY BREEDING
40
“beginning about a week before Christmas in 1798”: Ritvo, p. 50.
46
“social hierarchy reigned”: Ritvo; Brandow.
46
“shot skyward in England around 1880”: ibid.
47
“P. T. Barnum’s Great National Dog Show”: Brandow, p. 63.
47
“Model T Ford automobile cost $825”: Derr.
47
“first edition of the Kennel Club Stud Book”: Kennel Club.
47–48
“by 1890 about sixty breeds were being displayed”: Ritvo, p. 96.
48
“created a circus that displayed exotic animals”: Brandow, p. 63.
48
“disgusting abortions exhibited at the shows”: Ritvo, p. 113.
48
“Victorian sensibility and gothic horror”: Brandow, p. 25.
50
“learned more in the past decade about how dogs think”: Hare and Woods, jacket copy.
50–51
“Presa Canarios mauled her to death”: Polsky.
52
“breeders won’t use Greyhounds as stock unless they’re eager to chase”: interview with Janis Bradley.
53
“cynologist named Jonathan Caius defined a Spaniel”: interview with Jane Brackman.
54
“Seventeen of them have a mutation”: ibid.
55
“breed’s name was changed from the plain-sounding”: Brandow, p. 101.
55
“yellow ones were killed at birth”: ibid., pp. 34 and 177.
56
“calling itself the American Bull Terrier Club”: ibid., p. 159.
57
“AKC decided it wanted to include Border Collies”: United States Border Collie Club.
57
“They used lawyers and the media, and they tried to get help from politicians”: McCaig.
58
“One Border Collie breeder went so far as to have all puppy buyers sign”: United States Border Collie Club.
CHAPTER FOUR: FREELANCE PRODUCERS
67
“already provide sufficient care to their animals”: United States Department of Agriculture.
67
“altogether ignoring the small-scale breeders”: Abraham.
72
The story of Laura King: WLKY News; Allen; WBIW News.
73
“the AKC acknowledged that it had no idea”: Rossen and Patel.
73
“it had inspected less than 4 percent of breeders”: Harrison, “The Discredited Breeder Scheme, a Kennel Club Disgrace.”
74
“Chihuahua breeder Margaret Ann Hamilton”: Pulkkinen ; Kagarise; AKC Gazette.
74
“but also national borders”: Eccles.
74
“puppy mafia”: Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, “The Puppy Trade in Europe.”
75
“from Poland, Romania, Hungary, and Lithuania”: Eccles.
75–76
“one dealer in Slovakia estimated”: Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals.
78
“had been the first to bring Lhasa Apsos into the Netherlands”: Schneider-Louter.
CHAPTER FIVE: BIG PRODUCTION COMPANIES
82–87
Story of Dave and Judy Miller: Hebert; original interview with Dave and Judy Miller.
83
“one among about 2,600 commercial puppy operations”: Better Business Bureau.
85
“is home to 20 percent of the worst puppy mills in America”: Humane Society of the United States, “101 Puppy Mills: A Sampling of Problem Puppy Mills in the United States.”
87
Story of Joy Wise: USA Today; Marietta Daily Journal.
88
Story of Margaret Elaine Komorny: Roose-Church; Battle Creek Enquirer.
88
Story of Rebecca Van Meter: Leach; Lennon.
89
“smuggled into California from puppy mills in Mexico”: Mott.
89
“Hungary and Slovakia are now among the Eastern European nations”: Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, “The Puppy Trade in Europe.”
89
“Siberian Husky, whose sales skyrocketed”: Fackler.
91
“My concern with the people who operate puppy mills”: Balzar.
91
“accused him of being two-faced”: Bates.
93
“outright bans of dogs in pet stores”: Garrick.
95
“organized opposition from the AKC”: American Kennel Club, “New York Bill Will Impose Mandatory Microchipping and Enrollment in State Registry.”
CHAPTER SIX: THE MEGA-DISTRIBUTOR
97
“likely the biggest legal distributor of puppies to pet stores”: Puppy Mill Project; original interviews with Ryan Boyle and Michael Stolkey.
98
“followed the company’s trucks into the field and locked their drivers inside with puppies”: original interview with Michael Stolkey.
98
“$10 million, at least 200,000-square-foot facility”: Gillham.
99
“buying about ninety thousand puppies a year from breeders”: ibid.
99
“which were $26 million”: ibid.
99
“about forty-five thousand puppies a year”: original interview with Ryan Boyle.
99–101
Tour of the Hunte Corporation: original reporting with Michael Stolkey and Greg Brown.
101
“similar business model to the one used by Tyson Foods”: Leonard.
105
“2006 truck fire in Lowell, Massachusetts”: Smith.
106
“move to an incineration method”: original interview with Michael Stolkey and Ryan Boyle.
107
107
“has stores in Canada, China, Japan, Mexico, and South Africa”: Petland marketing materials.
107
“lawsuits by former owners of three Petland stores”: US District Court, Arizona.
108
“A judge dismissed Hunte from the proceedings”: HumaneWatch, “HSUS Lawsuit against Petland: Dismissed in Large Part (the second time).”
109
“multiyear refund guarantee against genetic health problems”: original interview with Michael Stolkey.
109–111
Story of Andrew Hunte: original interview with Greg Brown.
112
“a two-hundred-seat chapel is on site”: original reporting during a tour with Michael Stolkey and Greg Brown.
CHAPTER SEVEN: MARKETING THE MESSAGE
116
“eighty-sixth competition win” and the story of Banana Joe: CNN; Sandomir; World Dog Show.
116
“wasn’t allowed to spend a single day”: Sun Chronicle.
118
“precisely seven Affenpinscher puppies were for sale”: Mayo.
118
“International Canine Semen Bank”: Palma.
119
“‘America’s Dog’ was going to the Netherlands”: ibid.
119
“He isn’t really what we call a player”: ibid.
119
“high mortality rate at birth”: Cohen.
119
“inside the home of Jude Daley”: ibid.
120–121
Story of Shiloh: original interview with Pati Dane.
120
“from about eight thousand puppies a year to nearly forty-three thousand”: Herzog.
121
“Dalmatian rescuers were already seeing the spotted puppies”: original interview with Pati Dane.
121
“Humane Society of Boulder, Colorado, saw a 310 percent spike in Dalmatian drop-offs. The Humane Society of Tampa Bay in Florida said its increase was 762 percent”: Williams.
121
“British Dalmatian Welfare, for one, reported a sharp increase”: Country Life.
124
“One Chihuahua rescuer in New Jersey”: Couloumbis.
124
“second only to the cartoon dad Homer Simpson”: BBC News.
124–125
Story of Moose: Golden; Shrieves; Warrick.
126–127
Story of Rin Tin Tin: Orlean; Venning; Canidae Natural Pet Food Company; germanshepherds.com.
128
“to the Guggenheim Museum in Manhattan”: Trebay.
128
“Yakee If Only”: Lieber.
128
“their skulls are what veterinarians call brachycephalic”: Mountain; Advocates for Animals.
128
“Brachycephalic dog breeds include”: The Daily Puppy, undated.
131
“Burn the witch!”: Radio Times.
131
“the fallout from her documentary was swift and severe”: Cuddy.
132
“apparently been common practice to get the look”: Passionate Productions, Pedigree Dogs Exposed: Three Years On.
133
“Imperial College London study”: Calboli et al.
134
“former Crufts host Ben Fogle”: Thomas.
134–135
“record 4.6 million people reportedly tuned in to watch Crufts in 2014”: DogWorld.
135
“Westminster Kennel Club issued more than seven hundred press credentials”: westminsterkennelclub.org.
135
“About twenty thousand dogs were registered to compete in the 2014 FCI World Dog Show”: worlddogshow2014.fi.
135
“Tricky Ricky’s father, Banana Joe”: Mieke Cooijmans Facebook post, August 12, 2014.
CHAPTER EIGHT: INDUSTRY WASTE
136–137
Story of Oleg Deripaska and the Sochi dogs: Brown; Dodd; Hall.
138
“How to Adopt a Sochi Stray Dog”: Busbee.
138
“French Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals runs an annual campaign”: Beardsley.
138
“estimated sixty-five thousand pooches—one for every thirty people—living on the streets of Bucharest, Romania”: Gillet.
139
“two million dogs killed for food every year in South Korea”: Animal Welfare Institute.
139
“already worrying in 2014 about how their nation’s dog-meat restaurants would fare in 2018”: Gale.
139
“old-school restaurateurs inflict pain and suffering before cooking the dogs”: Korea Animal Rights Advocates.
139
“Japan is killing—every two weeks or so—the same number of homeless dogs”: Clegg.
140
“estimates suggest that taxpayer-funded facilities are killing as many as 38,000 dogs a week”: This number is estimated from multiple sources that include, but are not limited to, Humane Trends, the Humane Society of the United States, Statistic Brain, and the Oxford-Lafayette Humane Society. On this subject, I agree with the American Humane Association, which states, “National euthanasia statistics are difficult to pinpoint because animal care and control agencies are not uniformly required to keep statistics on the number of animals taken in, adopted, euthanized, or reclaimed. While many shelters know the value of keeping statistics, no national reporting structure exists to make compiling national statistics on these figures possible.”
140
“If just half the Americans already getting a dog went the shelter route”: Pacelle, p. 306.
141
“believe that the best way to get a pooch is to buy a purebred. Thirty-five percent of Americans say they want a purebred, and a slightly higher percentage say they won’t adopt”: PetSmart Charities.
142
“Sarah McLachlan reaches for the remote control”: Brekke.
142
“totaling more than $30 million to date”: Strom, “Ad Featuring Singer Proves Bonanza for the ASPCA.”
143
“any dog found in a shelter cannot qualify for anything other than alternative listing”: American Kennel Club, “Purebred Alternative Listing/Indefinite Listing Privilege.”
144
“dogs who come from shelters or rescue groups were low-priced options”: American Pet Products Association, 2011–12.
144
“Apple has in terms of sales with its iPads”: Kirk.
144
“fewer than one in ten Americans say dogs coming from breeders, pet stores, or even puppy mills are low-priced options”: PetSmart Charities.
144
“Psychologists call it negativity bias”: Baumeister, Finkenauer, and Vohs.
146
“young adults now saying in one survey that they’re more likely to buy”: Hageman.
146
“Britons average eight hours and forty-one minutes a day”: Miller.
146
“Americans spend eleven hours a day”: Petronzio.
149
“Since about 2005 in America, nonprofit rescue groups have been transporting”: Kavin, Little Boy Blue.
149
“from Eastern Europe, where purebred puppies are farmed”: Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, The Puppy Trade in Europe.
149
“One longtime purebred seller from a conservative region”: original reporting in Southwest Missouri.
CHAPTER NINE: THE UPSTART COMPETITOR
153
“Reiboldt is as much of a homegrown local”: billreiboldt.com autobiography, retrieved August 22, 2014.
154
“Proposition B, the Puppy Mill Cruelty Prevention Act”: Ballotpedia.
154
“they would have preferred something more neutral”: Yokley.
155
“trend in syntax that, by 2010, extended far beyond Missouri’s borders”: Humane Society of the United States, “Iowa Gov. Culver Signs Bill to Combat Puppy Mills.”; RSPCA Australia.
155
“He said the group spent $4.85 million campaigning for Proposition B:” Reiboldt, “Capital Report by Bill Reiboldt.”
155
“Other sources put the figure closer to $2 million”: HumaneWatch, “The ‘Missouri Solution’ Wins.”