I hope its ok to post this:

A Tennessee judge has ordered the seized dogs of a convicted animal abuser to be sold at public auction on October 16th. These animals consist of over 200 purebred Maltese and will be sold intact, most likely to other puppy mills.

Maltese are one of the top selling dogs in puppy mills and it is not uncommon for these dogs to fetch over $1000 at Midwestern puppy mills. Foster homes have provided loving care to these animals and were shocked by the judge's ruling. They are now faced with putting the dogs they vowed to protect into the hands of a similar or worse fate.

We are working to legally halt this auction, but as a last resort, we need to collect thousands of signatures to present to the Tennessee Governor. Please take a moment (it honestly only takes a VERY short moment!) of your time to sign the petition.

You can view an image link to the petition at www.nopuppymills.com or you can sign now at: www.petitiononline.com/siliski/petition.html
Feel free to use the image link to put on your own website. Crosspost this message or a link to the petition to all dog related lists you are on!
Here is a link with all the information pertaining to this case -
hollybellemaltese.com/index2.html
Thank you!

There is an auction site MSN in Japan which is auctioning puppies many look as though they are not old enough to actually stand on their little paws. There were staffordshires, bull terriers retrievers among the many breeds up for auction.

Its awful to think about it, but unfortunatley dog auctions are perfectly legal, and not all that uncommon, in the USA.  Buyers are usually other Puppy mills, although breed rescues sometimes get in an buy some.
bye
Gwen