Out of the Amish puppy mill for nearly two years, Hope is learning to enjoy life.

The following was sent to the “Columbus Dispatch” today:

The recent travel section article, “Simple Living,” gives readers a bucolic picture of Amish life as a pleasant place to sightsee or to eat in an Amish home. How many of those Amish would invite “Dispatch” readers into their barns to see that part of their picturesque life?

A significant number of Amish generate their income from warehousing dogs in wire cages stacked one on top of the other. The lucky dogs get exercise and medical care. I have a miniature schnauzer that spent five years in an Amish puppy mill in Ohio. Because she was past her prime,  my dog was to be shot in the head and thrown in a ditch. A woman from Cincinnati Schnauzer Rescue intervened.

Puppy mills are big business, and Ohio is one of the most notorious states for tolerating this abuse of dogs. All too often, puppy mill legislation is thwarted by lobbyists and folks sympathetic to the Amish.

So, “Dispatch” readers, as you drive through Geauga or Holmes counties, think about what could be in those barns.