All in all pretty decent in learning about where so many dogs come from.
Here is the link to the next several airings 8/28 - 9/23.
http://madonnaofthemills.com/screenings/
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"Madonna of the Mills" original airing on HBO on 8/24/2011.
Directed by Andrew Nibley and produced by Kelly Colertis, HBO has bought the rights to air the documentary and will do so on August 31, 2011. Mark your calendar or set your DVR to record. Review indicates it's a must-see to gain perspective in regard to many dog farming breeder practices. The footage enables one to learn about an industry that might otherwise not be disclosed to the general public.
Rescue advocate Laura Amato states, "most of us would not willingly buy a puppy from a mill, but through our ignorance we are complicit".
Interesting but sad fact, "when the economy is the poorest people buy puppies".... Film trailer available from http://madonnaofthemills.com/
Additional information can be obtained from the following links:
I just watched this earlier today, at a friend's house who has HBO. It's not as hard hitting as I thought--the focus is on one person, rather than exposing what is going on in the mills entirely, but that said, it's got enough of the harder stuff in it to really open people's eyes, I think, and the focus on the efforts of one person (Laura Amato), is also an important story to tell, so I would highly recommend it.
A couple of things were just astounding to me: one, that a mennonite puppy miller would be so open to having people come in and film his farm, where all the dogs are in rabbit hutches. Two, that the person in charge of USDA inspections of large scale breeders (ie. mills) was able to sit there with a straight face and say that 95 % of these places were in legal compliance. Of course, some of them may be, because as the show points out, compliance just means that the dogs survive, not that they have in any way a decent life (as in the legal size for the container the dogs live in--which many puppy mill dogs may spend their entire life in--only has to be 6 inches taller than the dog and give them room to stand up and turn around.
I admit I cried a bit, watching those goldens that came out of the mills and were afraid to even stand up outside of a cage. And I understood the frustration of Laura Amato, who wants to change things, but can't, because the laws favor these "farms" and the USDA has no interest in putting them out of business. She's doing what she can--rescuing one dog at a time.
I kept thinking what I always think when I see people be resistant to the puppy mill talks: which is do you really want to support the way these dogs are treated? As the show said, sure, you got your puppy, but do you want to subject the pup's mother to more repeated breedings in a cage? That's what you're supporting when you buy from pet stores or mills. But it seems that what moves people is money, and I thought the documentary was smart to also focus on that, as they interviewed people who had mill dogs, and how much they'd spent on them.
Anyway, this is absolutely worth a watch, and suggest it to people who need to be educated on the mills too!
@Shibamistress - I agree with you, I thought it would be a little more "graphic".
I think it is definitely worth the watch, although I also think it was a tad short... maybe to the point of showing what "one woman" has been able to do. Hardest part of it for me was the dog in the corner... she just buried her face, and looked so sad.
