Contact, I Think

I drove down the road where I was told the commercial breeder was. I saw two places that looked like they might be the right place. At the first one a couple was sitting outside, and I figured they'd be a good place to start. I went onto another road and found a good place to park for a minute while I thought through what I wanted to say. I got my wallet out to get a business card for the rescue, so I could write my name and number on it to give to them. Then inspiration struck - Monday night I'd stopped at Chris's to drop something off; she wasn't home, but had left some stuff there for me, including 3 coupons for a free 20-pound bag of Pedigree. Although I'd never feed it, I thought the coupons (no expiration date) might come in handy, maybe to give to someone who was considering giving up a dog because they couldn't afford to feed it. When I saw those coupons in my wallet, I knew I could use them to break the ice.

I asked if they were the folks who bred dogs and they said no, of course. "I don't know anyone around here who breeds dogs." But there was a dog pen with a plastic tarp roof over half of it right there, and it had clearly been used by small dogs. And I heard several small dogs barking in the back, and had caught a glimpse of some rabbit cages, so I'm pretty sure I got the right place. Besides, the road is only half a mile long - if he wasn't the breeder, he darn well knows who is. I told the guy "maybe you can use these, I feed something else," and gave him the coupons. He asked me if I was interested in a little dog. (Ding, ding, ding! We have a winner!) I told him that no, I wasn't interested in a little dog right now, handed him my card, and explained that I do dog rescue and I'd be interested in taking unwanted breeding dogs and/or unsaleable puppies, or any dog that a commercial breeder couldn't sell for one reason or another. I explained that I'm not an animal rights activist and I'm not looking to cause any trouble for anyone, I was just interested in the dogs. Explained that I run on a pretty tight budget so I couldn't afford to pay much, but would be willing to pay a nominal amount for dogs. I told him I live close by and could pick up dogs almost immediately after I was called. He never acknowledged that he was the guy I was looking for, but if that wasn't the right place I'll eat dog food for a week.

Now, we wait and see if I scored a hit. The next time I'm down past the place where the woman told me about "some guy on XXXXX Rd. with 100 dogs in rabbit cages", I'll stop and ask if she knows for sure which place it is. If I got the right guy but haven't heard from him in a month or so, I'll stop back again.