At 6 or 7 years of age, most of our family dogs don't look much different than they did after they left their puppyhood behind. Not so for puppy mill breeder dogs. Confined to cages to breed one litter after another until they are too old to produce, these sad dogs look old and beaten up beyond their years.

Television news coverage of the Best Friends puppy mill rescue van's arrival at Anti-Cruelty on Sunday, June 12, was hard evidence of the abuse these animals suffer. Kat B, Friends foster care coordinator, was there to take about a half dozen of the dogs into our foster care program on behalf of Best Friends. (We regularly partner with Best Friends at Animal Care and Control by helping find foster homes for many of the Court Case dogs.)

Friends volunteers Lori L and Lauren R were there to help too. Lauren photographed this part of the animals' odyssey. You can find more of her images on our Facebook page. Check out NBC 5 and other news channels on line for filmed coverage of the event as well.

All pups in our custody were taken immediately to Animal Care Center veterinary clinic for vet checks and a bit of R and R before heading for their foster homes. Our thanks to all those caregivers who opened their hearts and homes for these most deserving animals. We'll have them posted for adoption fcacc.org and petfinder.com as soon as they are ready.