Dog auctions in Mo. incite passions for and against

~ Missouri has more licensed commercial breeders than any other state, and many of them use dog auctions.

JACKSONVILLE, Mo. -- The wire fox terrier trembled as she stood at the front of the room.

A woman steadied the dog, stood the animal on her hind legs and showed the dog's belly to the crowd. The dog was pregnant, due at any moment, and wore a collar that identified her as No. 145.

"This dog is going to have pups right away," the auctioneer said. "Ain't nothin' but money in the bank."

Thus began a recent dog auction about 50 miles north of Columbia.

More than 250 dogs were bought and sold to breeders from throughout Missouri. Some went for as little as $12.50, while others fetched hundreds of dollars. Still others went unsold despite the auctioneer pleading, "Anybody want that dog for a $10 bill?"

No state has more dog auctions than Missouri, according to the Humane Society of the United States. And those auctions, the society says, are cruel because dogs are housed in metal cages for hours and sometimes denied food and water.

"The animals are literally sold like cars in used auto auctions," said Stephanie Shain, the society's director of outreach for companion animals. "Cars are probably treated better than these dogs."

Counterarguments

Supporters counter that the auctions, while perhaps jarring to the frightened animals, are not abusive and are closely regulated by state and federal inspectors.

"We try our very best to make it humane for the dogs," said Betty Dwiggins, who with her husband put on the Jacksonville auction.

Dwiggins also said the auctions serve reputable breeders from Missouri and elsewhere and are simply the byproduct of a market that Joe Public supports every time he buys a purebred dog.

"Without these auctions the dogs would all be mongrels," she said.

Not true, said Shain and others. They said that the auctions, while legal, are problematic because they serve not reputable breeders but puppy mills, large commercial facilities where dogs are bred to produce as many puppies as possible in conditions ranging from unsanitary to inhumane.

Puppy mills then sell those puppies to pet stores, to brokers or directly to families.

"The public has no idea," Shain said.

The number of dog auctions in Missouri is exploding, according to the Missouri Alliance for Animal Legislation.

According to the organization's data, there were 10 auctions in 1995. That jumped to 28 in 2000 and 67 in 2005. This year the number promises to grow, and the number of dogs changing hands is likely to exceed 18,000.

"Missouri is the dog auction capital of the world," said John Coffman, the alliance's legislative director.

Why? It's simple, Coffman and others say.

Missouri has more commercial breeders licensed with the U.S. Department of Agriculture than any other state, and many of them use dog auctions.

Shain said that reputable breeders avoid auctions, dealing instead with other reputable breeders to buy and sell dogs. She said that dogs purchased at auctions might not be true purebreds, typically don't have complete medical records and could have genetic diseases, skin conditions or other problems.

Kennel inspections

Linda Kalmar, a veterinarian at Parkway Animal Hospital in Lenexa, Kan., said some dogs coming out of puppy mills and auctions aren't house-trained, socialized or used to people and don't make for good pets. And the spread of disease or other problems, like fleas, can be an issue because the dogs are kept for hours close to one another.

Jerry Eber, the head of Missouri's kennel inspection program, said auctions aren't abusive and are seldom a problem. His office, within the state Agriculture Department, licenses and inspects auctions. Inspectors look to see whether the dogs are handled properly, have enough space in their cages and are not subjected to extreme weather.

Eber pointed out that most auctions are open to the public, which serves as "surveillance."

"If something is wrong, the general public knows and tells us," he said.

Inspection reports reviewed by The Kansas City Star showed that many auctions had no violations. Others had minor problems, such as the one in Chillicothe where part of one building was "badly chewed" and needed to be replaced. At another auction, inspectors found kennels in which huskies could get their heads through fences.

Rep. Beth Low, a Kansas City Democrat who is interested in animal-welfare issues, said stringent regulation of dog auctions has not come up in the legislature -- yet.

"Like many pieces of important legislation, it's going to take some time," Low said. "But it is important for us to look at it.

"Any Missourian who is civilized and has a reasonable grasp of the responsibilities to provide decent care to companion animals is going to be horrified by the auctions and the puppy mill industry that spurs these auctions."

Eber and others, though, said that most complaints about dog auctions were philosophical.

"Whether you like it or not, dogs are essentially a consumer product," Eber said.

Think of it this way: Should dogs be considered working animals, no different than breeding stock, and traded like cattle? Or should they be considered members of the family, trusted and loved companions who deserve a spot next to us on the couch?

Producing puppies

Spend some time at a dog auction and one thing becomes clear: The target audience is not Mom and Dad looking for a new family pet.

At these auctions, the sales pitch is about one thing: producing puppies.

"She's in heat," the auctioneer said of a dachshund shivering on a nearby table. "And she's young. She's an '07 model. She's ready to go to work."

About another dog, he said: "He's an aggressive breeder." And another: "She'll do nothing but make you money."

The sellers are trying to feed America's fascination with dogs, to tap into a culture in which there are about 75 million dogs as pets and 39 percent of U.S. households own at least one dog.

The buyers are looking for cash crops. Presale catalogs include such descriptions as "proven stud" and "due in heat anytime."

At the auction in Jacksonville, officials sold a dog about every 58 seconds, at an average price of $155, and they replaced the sold dog with a new one almost immediately.

Meanwhile, behind the auction area and a sign that read "No video cameras or cameras," the dogs were in cages stacked two and three high. Some dogs sat in their own feces. In one cage, a bull terrier cowered in the corner. In another, an Italian greyhound shook almost uncontrollably.

None of the dogs was being abused, said Marilyn Bodine, a breeder from Madison, who attended the auction.

"Are you going to abuse a dog you can sell for $200?" Bodine asked. "You don't abuse stuff you can make money out of."