I went to the auction on September 18, 2004 in Wetumka, Oklahoma. I would like to share my experience with everyone.
Friday morning the alarm clock went off at 6:30 am. I jumped online and had to try to sort out some bad news about a rescue I had been working on, so packing and getting ready to go would have to wait. We couldn't find anyone to watch both of our kids, but I had made a commitment to go and wasn't about to back out. My daughter stayed with grandma for the weekend and my son came with us. My husband, son, and I left the driveway at 11:23 am.
Twice we took a wrong turn. The first we went 20 miles before realizing the mistake. We were in Kansas and "bear right" is not the same as "turn right" :lol: The second time we were just entering Tulsa (yeah! I always did want to visit there). The instructions said to get on Creek Pikeway... so we did. Unfortunately we got on going the wrong way! And this is a toll road. We went through two 75-cent toll booths with nobody manning them, and finally came to another booth with people. They charged us $3.50 to turn around and another $3.50 to get through on the other side! It turns out we were almost back in Missouri! At that point we were both exhausted and I was really concerned that we wouldn't make it there if either of us dosed off.
We arrived to our hotel (Motel 8) in Henryetta, Oklahoma at 6:30 am. I slept for about an hour and we were up and at the auction at 9:00 am.
I got to the auction early to look around and was really hoping to find somebody... anybody with a rescue shirt to pal up with. I had no idea what I was doing. I've never been to an auction in my life, but I had a purpose; a reason to be there.
While in line I listened to the discussions around me. There were people talking about who was breeding which breeds for Christmas this year. Several people complaining about how the "animal rights people" always seemed to show up and make such a big deal out of not much. One man said a friend of his gave a few dogs to a rescue and they complained about how sick they were and all the things that were wrong with them. Said that it would have been cheaper to go to the local shelter and pick some up. Then he said, "If they were that sick, why do you think anyone would sell them anyway?" ... They all seemed to be very reasonable decent people. The only difference is that they make their living breeding dogs. All they seemed to be asking for was either some understanding or less glamorized accounts of "mill" auctions. I will try my best to stick to the points here and give a true and accurate look at a dog auction.
The woman at the counter in the trailer took my ID and gave me a bidder number. I headed straight to the kennel after that.
Having read many stories of auction attendees I was preparing myself for the worst. As I walked in to the barn something occurred to me. I had smelled this very same smell somewhere else! The local shelter; same exact smell. It wasn't horribly over-powering and certainly didn't make me ill. It was actually very reasonable for the number of animals in that building.
All of the small white fluffy dogs were in one area. Most were bichons, but a few were poodles too I believe. There were so many little puppies. I walked the line of kennels reaching out and putting my hand on the wire. The puppies would wag their tails and fight over who could best lick my fingers. I thought, "there's still hope for these ones" and moved on. The adults were not nearly as social. They shrunk back or paced and growled.
The dachshunds were in the same area so I checked them out next. Two mom's with tiny litters of babies. My heart broke. I had no money to buy a dachshund. They were adorable and they even had a long haired Isabella male. Gorgeous dog.
There were two silkies and a handful of yorkies in the corner. I couldn't even stop there. I wanted to find the others. That room I must say was very well done. There was a metal pipe system underneath to keep the waste from piling up and I am sure that helped with the smell as well. I headed for the back door to the other kennel part. There I saw quite a sight; two cages with 6 puppies in each. A dozen Bernese mountain dog puppies! You don't see those very often up here.
