Animal Place

I hate “livestock” auctions for a whole mess of reasons. The festive atmosphere. The terrified cows, pigs, turkeys, and goats. The children playing in front of miserable creatures. It’s surreal. There’s often a restaurant where people can eat dead cows while buying live cows to kill. Weird!

Don’t think for a moment that the people who attend a livestock auction think of dogs very differently. In fact, at most auctions, people will bring dogs to sell or give away. All the unwanted ones.

My colleague and I took three of our interns to an auction late last month.

While there we found a puppy in a dilapidated, rusting metal crate with a cardboard sign that read “Puppy FREE, crate is not”. Wow. I mean, how do you even respond to that?

By rescuing the puppy, of course. And knowing you would help us find him a good, permanent home.

While pulling the puppy from the crate, the “guardian” showed up to explain: He has an un-spayed Great Pyrenees. His neighbor has an unneutered Cattle Dog. Obviously the two met, fell in lust, and a few months later out popped six wriggly puppies.

FREE Puppy, no one wanted. So he was brought to a livestock auction and given away for free. I shudder to think of what would have happened if any of the other patrons - the ones laughing over calves stumbling into the auction pen - had gotten a hold of him.

FREE Puppy is now known as Buddha, or Little B for short. He is housetrained, leash-trained, and knows how to sit. He is only 4-mos-old and already about 40 lbs. He will be a big dog with a big heart to share with you.

He is going to be neutered and vaccinated before he gets to sit on your lap forever. He is located in Grass Valley, CA, probably snoring in an intern’s bed.

Interested in adopting? Fill out our form here.