This summer marked the 12th anniversary of the death of my 15-year-old dog, Rogan. A beautiful cocker spaniel mix with flowing strawberry-blond tresses, Rogan was this close to being sold to a laboratory when a PETA investigator purchased him at a Missouri dog auction, along with five other lucky dogs.
Rogan, just after being rescued from a dog dealer
PETA suspected that Rogan and the others had been picked up as strays, obtained from “free to a good home” ads, or possibly even stolen out of their backyards by “bunchers”—people who collect animals for sale to “Class B” or “random-source” dealers, who in turn sell them to laboratories.
PETA’s investigator worked undercover for four months as a kennel worker at Quaker Farms in Quakertown, Pennsylvania—at the time, one of the largest Class B dealers in the country. He documented hideous conditions at the kennel, including filthy cages, severe crowding, maggots in the food, contaminated water, cannibalism, and a lack of veterinary care. Small or timid dogs were unable to get to their food because it was guarded by larger, more aggressive dogs. Newborn puppies were killed by stressed-out cagemates.
PETA’s investigator bought Rogan and the other dogs on the last day of the investigation, saving them from being experimented on and killed in laboratories. PETA posted photos of the dogs all over the Midwest, hoping to find their original owners, but to no avail, so the dogs were put up for adoption. Five of them were snapped up quickly, but no one wanted Rogan because he had a bit of a chip on his young shoulder (and mange). I took him for a long Thanksgiving weekend—just to see—but by the end of the weekend, there was no way that I could ever let him go. I took him for some basic training (more for me than for him!) and he eventually became a canine gentleman and diplomat.
Rogan was my faithful companion for 14 years. Although small in stature, he was the leader of our little pack. A single glance over his shoulder or a low growl immediately put my other (much larger) dogs, Shandy, a Dobie mix, and Darby, a husky mix, in their places. An avid chaser of tennis and street hockey balls, Rogan perennially had one in his mouth. If you rolled a ball to him, he would even roll it back!
I think Rogan could even read my mind. Case in point: One day, I was lamenting the fact that another of my dogs, Druzhok, who had the ability to smile had died and I would never see that funny smile again, when Rogan suddenly ran and picked up a ball, quickly chewed it in half, and then held it in his mouth in such a way that it propped his lips up into a makeshift smile. I was sitting on the floor, and he came over to me and put his face close to mine and started snorting, exactly the way Druzhok used to do! He might just as well have been saying, “Don’t be sad, Mom! I’ll smile for you!”
As a result of PETA’s investigation, the U.S. and Pennsylvania departments of agriculture inspected the Quaker Farms kennel, forcing it to clean up its act and reduce its “inventory.” (It ultimately closed.) Nationwide publicity about the case alerted citizens to the danger of animal theft and to the need to pass legislation to ban the sale of animals to laboratories. Today, Class B dealers are a dying breed—the National Institutes of Health has vowed to phase out random source dealers by 2015.
Every year, on the anniversary of Rogan’s death, I donate money to PETA, as a “thank-you” for saving him and countless other animals. Hopefully, my donations (and yours?) will ultimately succeed in stopping experiments on animals once and for all.
Rogan in his twilight years
In the meantime, we can all protect our dogs and cats from being stolen by having them microchipped or tattooed through the National Dog Registry and by never leaving them outside or in a car unattended. Never, under any circumstances, offer an animal “free to a good home” (bunchers’ five favorite words) and warn others about the dangers of animal theft.
Written by Karen Porreca, PETA’s senior director of editing and foreign languages and Augustus Club member, who has had the good fortune to live with 11 wonderful dogs, most of whom also achieved senior status.
