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Rufus McClain carefully directs his motorized wheelchair from his turquoise van, parked in front of a vacant building near the West Monroe Mac's Fresh Market on Cypress Street, over to his beige canopy to wait on a customer.
Under the canopy are three black wire cages with 12 puppies dispersed evenly inside.
"I can't afford to get a bad name," McClain said. "This is my living."
McClain, who has been breeding small dogs, mostly yorkies, for more than 30 years, is one of several vendors who line street corners and roadsides most weekends, puppies in tow, waiting for eventual customers.
This type of solicitation has raised questions and concerns from passers-by across the Twin Cities, prompting a joint effort last spring by the Ouachita Parish Police Jury and the Ouachita Parish Sheriff's Office to crack down on those type of sales.
Most question where the animals come from, assuming most are products of mass breeding facilities referred to as "backyard breeders" or puppy mills.
The legality of these sales has also been questioned.
DeNeen Wyles, director of the Humane Society Adoption Center of Monroe, has seen the side effects associated with puppy mill breeding.
Wyles recalled a woman who brought in a yorkie puppy with a slight defect.
Although the woman had spent money to get the dog's lip corrected, she still couldn't sell it.
So she brought it to the shelter.
When asked where she purchased the animal, the woman said from a roadside vendor.
"I said to her, 'People selling dogs on the side of the road need to get a real job,'" Wyles said.
She said she later discovered the seller was a supposed breeder and that the hair lip defect the animal suffered was most likely a consequence of inbreeding.
"We eventually found the dog a home," Wyles said.
Wyles said cases like this are rare for the shelter, and she rarely sees animals who seem to have been the victim of puppy mill breeding.
"Sometimes you just can't tell," she said. "It's just kind of the reality of things." But Wyles sees puppy mill or "backyard" breeding as a significant problem within the area.
"When you see the same people every week (selling puppies) there's definitely something going on," she said. "And something needs to be done about it. Someone needs to go to these area and see how they are being cared for. Where are these dogs coming from?"
Rufus McClain carefully directs his motorized wheelchair from his turquoise van, parked in front of a vacant building near the West Monroe Mac's Fresh Market on Cypress Street, over to his beige canopy to wait on a customer.
Under the canopy are three black wire cages with 12 puppies dispersed evenly inside.
"I can't afford to get a bad name," McClain said. "This is my living."
McClain, who has been breeding small dogs, mostly yorkies, for more than 30 years, is one of several vendors who line street corners and roadsides most weekends, puppies in tow, waiting for eventual customers.
This type of solicitation has raised questions and concerns from passers-by across the Twin Cities, prompting a joint effort last spring by the Ouachita Parish Police Jury and the Ouachita Parish Sheriff's Office to crack down on those type of sales.
Most question where the animals come from, assuming most are products of mass breeding facilities referred to as "backyard breeders" or puppy mills.
The legality of these sales has also been questioned.
DeNeen Wyles, director of the Humane Society Adoption Center of Monroe, has seen the side effects associated with puppy mill breeding.
Wyles recalled a woman who brought in a yorkie puppy with a slight defect.
Although the woman had spent money to get the dog's lip corrected, she still couldn't sell it.
So she brought it to the shelter.
When asked where she purchased the animal, the woman said from a roadside vendor.
"I said to her, 'People selling dogs on the side of the road need to get a real job,'" Wyles said.
She said she later discovered the seller was a supposed breeder and that the hair lip defect the animal suffered was most likely a consequence of inbreeding.
"We eventually found the dog a home," Wyles said.
Wyles said cases like this are rare for the shelter, and she rarely sees animals who seem to have been the victim of puppy mill breeding.
"Sometimes you just can't tell," she said. "It's just kind of the reality of things." But Wyles sees puppy mill or "backyard" breeding as a significant problem within the area.
"When you see the same people every week (selling puppies) there's definitely something going on," she said. "And something needs to be done about it. Someone needs to go to these area and see how they are being cared for. Where are these dogs coming from?"
Rodger Laird, kennel manager at the Ouachita Parish Animal Shelter, said he tries to encourage people to adopt puppies from shelters.
"We always have so many that need homes," he said. "There's no sense in spending $300 or $400 on an animal from the side of the road."
Laird said sometimes people are in the roadside puppy selling business for money.
"There are too many animals being brought in here to find homes for them all," he said.
Laird said the pound takes in anywhere from 700 to 1,000 new animals a month. Anywhere from 250 to 300 are adopted.
Sixty percent to 70 percent of these animals are put down a month due to overcrowding. Laird said the national average for euthanization is 75 percent.
"There are so many good animals in here that need homes," he said.
Laird said there are no regulations in place requiring his staff to report people who bring in animals who may appear to be victims of violence or were injured in a puppy mill.
"We don't always know which one originally came from a puppy mill," he said.
Laird said people who drop their animals at the pound are required to sign a surrender form.
"No reputable breeder is going to sell their dogs on the side of road," Laird said. "There's a reason they don't want you to come to their house."
Jay Mitchell, OPPJ attorney, said the Ouachita Parish Sheriff's Office and the Ouachita Parish Police Jury teamed up last spring to crack down on enforcement of vendors having licenses.
He said the jury specifically asked him to look into the regulation of roadside animal sales.
"The folks you see now selling in the area do have their peddler's license," Mitchell said.
He said after the operation with the sheriff's office last spring, the business license office carries more information on those who set up roadside shops. Aside from the license enforcement, the office also keeps records on who these people are, the tag numbers of any vehicles used at the sale site, where the site is set up as well as documented permission from the landowner, if applicable.
Mitchell said roadside vendors selling anything from purses to animals are required to have a peddler's permit obtained from the Ouachita Parish Police Jury Business Office.
Mitchell said vendors legally are allowed to set up shop in parking lots of vacated businesses or areas that are not public property.
Those who set up on property belonging to a business or individual must provide the business office with written proof from the landowner.
"We've tried to put some regulation on these sellers," Mitchell said. He said deputies on patrol can ask vendors to produce their licenses.
If vendors are operating without licenses, deputies usually shut down the practice on the spot.
Mitchell said he's willing to prosecute these cases, but they rarely make it to the 4th District Attorney's office.
"If the case is referred to the district attorney's office or police jury, we will prosecute," Mitchell said.
Mitchell said the investigation and heavy hand on enforcing the license law came from a series of complaints from the community.
Mitchell noted that roadside sales typically increase around Easter when people sell ducks, rabbits and chicks in addition to puppies.
"In preparation for that, we beefed up the licensing process where we now get more information from these people," Mitchell said.
Mitchell said the Ouachita Parish Police Jury has little authority to regulate roadside animal sells.
He said state law allows police juries to regulate matters involving roaming livestock, dogs running at large and rabies matters.
"We're doing just about all we can do out in the parish," Mitchell said, adding the jury mandates that all dogs have their rabies shots before they turn a year old.
It is difficult to enforce this with roadside sales because the animal is typically too young.
Mitchell said roadside sales are difficult to monitor and enforce. Although vendors are legally supposed to have a license, it is up to the Ouachita Parish Sheriff's Office to enforce this law.
The same is true for those operating inside city limits. In this situation, enforcement falls in the hands of the area police department.
"Within city limits, municipalities have more authority," Mitchell said.
Hack Tull, director of animal control for the parish, said his office has no regulation over roadside puppy sales.
But Tull, like Mitchell, said vendors are not permitted to sell on public property.
"If they're selling in the parking lot of a business or a business that doesn't exit, it's OK," Tull said. "We have to assume they have the owner's permission. If no one really questions them, there's nothing we can really do about it."
McClain said he was unaware people were complaining about roadside sales.
McClain said he has a healthy clientele, including several return customers.
Although his main source of income is breeding dogs, McClain also does carpentry work. "I'm in a wheelchair, but that doesn't stop me," he said.
McClain has papers on each dog he sells and provides customers with a health guarantee. Also, each animal is given its shots and is wormed prior to sale.
McClain said he is frustrated with people who conduct businesses in an illegal manner.
"I don't think they should be out there," he said. "They should have to follow the same rules I do."
McClain said he used to frequent the former R.J. Gator's parking lot near Pecanland Mall in Monroe before several vendors - some legal, some not - started to crowd the area, prompting police action.
McLain said that's what led him to move to the corner of Cypress Street and Well Road in western Ouachita Parish.
"There's so many things you have to go through to get a Monroe license," he said.
McClain and his wife breed about 20 dogs, and he says his facility is top-notch.
"Some people's houses smell worse than my kennel," McClain said. "(My wife's) dogs come first, before anything."
McClain said he frequents the spot only when he has animals to sale.
"I get out here and enjoy the people," he said. "You meet all kinds."
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