max's story: the tale of a puppy mill pup

Hi, my name is Max. I'm a dog, and I grew up in a place called a puppy mill. A puppy mill is a place where dogs are bred for profit and are treated poorly. 

At an early age, I was taken from my mom and placed in a cage with my brothers and sisters. I was the runt of the litter, and no one wanted to adopt me until one day, a gruff looking man named John came to see me. He told my human Sandra that he could use me as bait to train his fighting dogs. I didn't know what that meant so I went with him with little resistance. As we left the puppy mill, John tossed me in a cage in the back of his truck and we drove to his home. 

When I got out of the cage, I was greeted by 2 large and rather mean dogs. John immediately scolded them and lashed their muzzles with a leather strap. That frightened me terribly, it looked and sounded very painful, and it became clear to me that John was not a nice man. He said I needed to get bigger to be of any assistance, so he placed me in a pen with 3 other pups. John fed us our food with spicy pepper in it, it hurt our bellies and made us aggressive, but through it all I would remember what my mother always told me, “Never bite the hand that feeds you...”, so I never did. 

After about 3 months of my new life, John came to get me. He clipped a heavy chain to my neck and pulled me outside, attaching my chain to a cinder block. After leaving for a short time, he returned with a fierce looking dog. He was growling loud and barking even louder. John released him and the huge dog came barrelling towards me. I tried to retreat, but was cut short thanks to my chain. The dog grabbed my back leg and sank his teeth deep into my flesh, causing me to howl in pain. “TANK, RELEASE!” John shouted. Like clockwork, the dog released his grip on my leg as John pulled him away. I limped back near the cinder block and began to lick my wounds.

Over the next few weeks, I was repeatedly used as a chew toy for the big dogs. One day, Machine, one of John’s other huge dogs, was brought to me. I was sore and scared, things would be different this time. I ran at the large dog and bit him on the neck as hard as I could, piercing his flesh. Machine fell to the ground and whimpered in pain, and John was furious. He stormed towards me, kicking me in the ribs before picking me up by the scruff of my neck. “You stupid mutt! You don’t bite my prized dogs! You’re nothing but bait!” He shouted at me, the stench of beer and tobacco lining his breath.

 He tossed me back on the ground and left, glaring at me as he took Machine away. That night I dreamed of my mom and everything she taught me... “Always be a good dog and love your human.” I can't love John! He does horrible things to me, feeds me food that hurts my belly, and makes me let other dogs hurt me! I wanted a nice life where I could chase a ball through lush grass, and get belly rubs at night, but I guess a life like that will only be a dream... 

I woke up the next morning to John unclipping my chain. “Let’s go, mutt.” He bellowed, picking me up by my scruff. I badly wanted to bite him but my mom’s words echoed in my head,“Never bite the hand that feeds you...” so I did nothing. John brought me to the basement and tossed me into a circle of wood and cinder blocks, then before I knew it, he let Tank out. When I saw Tank coming I tried my hardest to get away. I ran to the wall and tried to get out but my paws just got scraped on the cement blocks. Tank grabbed me by the tail and pulled me closer to him as I whimpered and tried to scramble away. I closed my eyes, turned and swung a paw at Tank. My nail hit his eye and he dropped me, howling in pain. “God dammit, you mutt!” John yelled. He grabbed me by my scruff and brought me outside where he hit me in the head with a shovel. Everything went black...

When I started to come to, I smelled something foul, it smelled like trash...it was trash! I was in a dumpster! I noticed the sides were too high and I was hurt too badly to try and get out, so I laid in the garbage and began to cry. 

A few hours later I felt someone begin to pick me up. Oh no, was it John, was I going back to that horrible place? No, it was...a woman. She must have heard me crying. She lifted me out of the dumpster, “You poor dear, what kind of sick person would do this to you?” She said calmly as she looked at my battered body. She placed me in her car and we drove off. When we arrived at the woman’s home she dressed my wounds and fed me regular kibble that didn't hurt my belly, along with some fresh water. As I ate, she petted my head. “I don't know who did this to you, but you're safe now...” I finished my kibble then laid down and fell asleep, the first full night of sleep I’d had in months. 

The next morning the woman, who I learned was named Jane, put a collar on me. It was made of leather and said “Max” in black letters. She gently fastened it around my neck. “I’ll call you Max!” She hugged me gently. I felt scared at first, I had never been loved before except by my mother who had to be in heaven by now. “I want you to meet some friends.” Jane said, leading me outside, where I was met by 3 dogs. I was frightened beyond belief, I didn’t want them to hurt me, not again! I jumped at Jane's leg and whimpered until she picked me up. “Oh it’s ok, Max, they’re friends” Jane said. I didn't know what “friends” meant, I had never had those before. She put me back down on the ground and we all sniffed each other. The other dogs, named Sam, Peanut and Roxie, didn’t want to hurt me at all! They playfully hopped back and forth.

“Come play with us” Roxie barked

“Easy now, pups,” said Jane. “He still needs to heal.” Meanwhile, Peanut dropped a stuffed duck in front of me. 

“Chew it!” she giggled. “It’s fun!” 

That day I gently played and regained my strength. As the weeks went on, I felt better and grew stronger, my wounds healed and my memories of John and the mean dogs began to fade away.

The next night, I dreamed of my mom again. I told her I was happy, and that I always remembered what she taught me. And Jane... Jane was my hero. She rescued me from certain death and for that, I will always be grateful.

I'm Max and that's my story!