Here's a fascinating book that I thought I would pass on...hope you find it inspiring! –Kim

Saving Gracie
How One Dog Escaped the Shadowy World of American Puppy Mills
Apr 21, 2010
Rhiana Jones

An inspiring book about the terrible life of puppy mill dogs and one communities efforts to save hundreds of them with specific focus on a dog named Gracie.

Saving Gracie is a story that is at once inspiring and yet disturbing. It is full of compassion and love, but also sprinkled with disturbing images that are more terrible than any Stephen King or Dean Koontz thriller. What animal lover could fail to be touched by this book?

Puppy Mills

Carol Bradley does more than just tell the heartbreaking tale of one rescued Puppy Mill dog; she gives in depth coverage of the puppy mill problem in numerous states, Arkansas, Iowa, Pennsylvania, Missouri, Ohio, Kansas, Nebraska and Oklahoma.

The graphic images of tortured and murdered dogs in high profile kennels brings to light the terrible lack of enforceable rules for breeding kennels. Bradley exposes secrets that most common dog owners have no realization of, like the fact that the AKC has been, if not a supporter at least a non-deterrent to the terrible treatment of kennel dogs.

Even more frightening is the image of Amish Farmers murdering dozens of breeding dogs when they are done producing or done with the business.

Gracie and Linda

Weaving in and out of the facts of puppy mill abuses, state legislation and animal rescue attempts is the inspirational personal story of one particular puppy mill breed dog and her new owner, Linda. Gracie is a purebred Cavalier King Charles Spaniel that was tortured, abused and bred constantly for 6 years, while being kept 24 hours a day in a small, dirty crate.

Gracie was rescued in the Pennsylvania raid on the Mike-Mar Kennel which resulted in the rescue of more than 300 abused and neglected animals. The personal story of Gracie helps the reader understand the lives of these puppy mill breed dogs and shows the great compassion of the animal control workers who strive to save them.

In Saving Gracie, Carol Bradley provides a well researched and well written memoir of not just one dog, but of an entire community’s outreach to the abused animals in their midst. There are many "villains" in the book – not only those that personally help to damage these animals, but the big organizations that do nothing to stop them.

The book becomes inspirational though with the profiles of the numerous people that have gone out of their way to help these neglected animals. The animal control workers who work tirelessly through the night to save each and every dog and cat from the Mike-Mar Kennel, the judicial support people who make it possible, and the numerous animal workers at local shelters who care for the rescued dogs are all heroes in their own right.

This is a definite must for any animal lover's bookshelf.