Unicoi County Puppy Mill Seizure

16 dogs taken from 'puppy mill' in Unicoi
By Jim Wozniak
Erwin Bureau Chief

3/25/08: Describing the conditions as horrid and deplorable, Unicoi County animal control officers on Tuesday removed 15 Chinese Shar-Pei dogs and a cocker spaniel from what one said was a puppy-breeding operation in Limestone Cove.

The county's animal shelter already has found new homes for the dogs, said Leanna Dippold, the facility's office manager. For now, though, the dogs are being housed at the shelter.

The officers acted after the 56-year-old owner, who was in ill health, surrendered the dogs, which had been living in chain-link fence areas. No charges have been placed against her or her son, who more recently had cared for the dogs, Officer Estil Edwards said. Sheriff Kent Harris said he would not rule out the possibility of charges down the line.

"She's not able to take care of them, she doesn't foresee being able to take care of them," Edwards said. "My opinion is her health deteriorated so that she couldn't tend the animals properly. Her son had supposedly been taking care of them (during her illness), but as we investigated, we saw that they hadn't been doing so."

Edwards said all of the dogs have been signed over to the Unicoi County Humane Society. Dippold said she contacted a rescue operation for the Shar-Pei breed and got word later that all 16 would receive new homes.

Edwards contended the dogs have been mistreated and called this the worst animal case in which he has been involved.

"They got feces in the pens," he said. "It's been in there for it looks like at least a year's accumulation. Also when we investigated (Monday), part of them had a little bit of water (and) there were no food in any pens. The living conditions ­ they're out in the weather primarily. They don't have much of a shelter to be honest about it. They have houses, but they don't have beds or anything like that to make them comfortable."

"I wouldn't want to put you in a yard like this, so I don't believe animals should have to live this way," Dippold said.

Edwards said the conditions have developed over the past year, but said the animals were taken care of until then.

"It was a puppy-producing machine," said Edwards, who indicated it appeared some of the dogs were pregnant.. "These puppies sold from $300-$400 each. It's a puppy mill is what it's really called."

A license is needed for such an operation, but the woman's mother said the family did not have one, he said. Edwards said the sheriff's department will investigate the situation. He was uncertain how long this operation had existed, but Dippold said some residents told her that  it had operated for at least six years.

Dippold said she discovered the dogs when she was heading back to the shelter after she checked on the welfare of a horse elsewhere in the Limestone Cove on Friday. She and Edwards came to the site Monday and noticed the extent of the problem.

Dippold anticipates finding more of these types of cases now that the county has a shelter and more employees devoted to animal issues.

3/26/08: This morning I talked to the shelter manager and this is the information she gave me:

1. One of the pei has an injured back leg. I found out this afternoon that this dog needs to go to the vet asap and the shelter wants us to pay for it; I haven't been able to reach the shelter to tell them to take him on and have the vet call me with the information about what the dog needs;
2. One of the pei has had an embedded collar and it was obviously sewn up by the owner, not a vet. It appears to be healing though;
3. Almost all of the pei calmed down once they were taken out of the horrible environment;
4. The shelter has 21 kennel runs and 50+ dogs; so the Pei are being housed 2-3 together (males with males and females with females to discourage breeding should any of the females be in heat); they need to be moved as soon as possible;
5. There are reds, blacks and blues; the owner wanted to keep the blues, but the shelter said no - surrender all of them or we're going to court - so she surrendered all of them;
6. I have a long time foster mom who lives near there who has volunteered to help temperament test these guys; the shelter manager welcomed that and they will do that on Saturday;
7. The shelter lady promised pictures, but they haven't come yet

This is going to be a challenge to coordinate because I'm 5 hours away, but I'll do my best. It's also going to be a very expensive endeavor. There are no vet records for any of these dogs; none are vaccinated, spayed/neutered, or heartworm tested. The CSPCA Rescue Trust has allocated $500 to us help, and for that we are very grateful, but it will not be nearly enough.

3/27/08: We have worked it out! We will be picking up all 15 dogs on Saturday. We have a cargo trailer that will hold 10-12 crates, my car which will hold 3 or 4, and a third car that can fit 2. And we've had enough crates either borrowed or donated, so we're in good shape so far. But this is only the beginning.

We have places for a few of these guys to go already, but we want to evaluate them before taking that step.

The one injured dog has been to the vet and will be the first to see my vet when we get back home. The others will see the vet on Tuesday afternoon. Thank goodness she comes to my house. That will make it so much easier.

Donations are coming in to help with vetting and food.

3/31/08: Saturday morning, 5 of us headed up to Erwin TN at 5:00 a.m.. Jane and Tim Wake pulled the cargo trailer with their RV, Jason and Sarah Snow drove their SUV and I drove my SUV. Bob and Karen Smith, adopters who live close by in Kingsport, met us there. We got to the shelter around 11:15 Saturday morning; but before we got there, Leanna, the animal control officer, called to say that one of the females was delivering babies. When we got there, she had 3 and was waiting for the vet to come by to check her out. We had quite a disagreement with the deputy sheriff who insisted that we wouldn't be allowed to take the new mother and babies. After a heated exchange and a call to the Sheriff, that decision was reversed. One battle won.

Next we visited all the dogs inside the shelter. Almost all were terrified. We systematically loaded each and every one into the cargo trailer (which is air conditioned and has a radio :-) ). Almost every one had to be picked up and carried to the trailer. Only one or two would walk on a lead. Second battle won. We had loaded (and matched up paperwork with crates/dogs) all except one very scared male (Jamie), the injured male (Domino) and the new mama and babies. When Leanna (the animal control officer) was bringing Jamie out on the leash, he ran into everything so we knew he was blind. We're not sure he could hear either. Outside he freaked and started throwing himself around on the ground. Poor thing bit through his tongue and blood was gushing out of his mouth. It was a terrible thing to watch. I could only think of the woman and son who had let this happen to him. I took the leash and tried to assure him that we weren't going to hurt him. He was having none of it, so he started throwing himself around again; this time, though, he nailed me on the leg. Unfortunately, Jamie had to be put down and because no one knows if he had been vaccinated, he had to be sent to Nashville to be tested for Rabies. We lost this one. So, to make a long story short, after a visit to the emergency room, we were back at the shelter. Jason and Sarah (new foster parents - what a way to get broken in) had the mama and babies loaded in their car where they were nice and warm, and the injured boy was loaded in my car. (There's an update on mama and babies at the end of today's update).

  Bailey   Joy

 Dale Jules

 Lexie  Katie

 Rosie    Sammie

 Tabatha  Scarlett

Stewart  Burton                                  

   RESCUE WAGON

 
VOLUNTEERS

So we're on our way back, leaving around 2:45 pm. We stopped for a burger and hit the road, in the pouring rain for a large part of the trip. Mama and babies got home first because they're in East Tennessee; we got back to our place around 8:30. We unloaded everybody in their crates and started trying to get them out of their travel crates so they could go to the bathroom and get in their wire crates in the barn. This took forever because they were so scared. We ended up taking most of the airline crates apart so we could take the tops off to get them out. Then everybody got a new crate (well, not new, but new to them) with a thick furniture blanket, and we started feeding and watering. Some ate, some didn't. We just left them alone after that. Third battle ongoing. Jane and Tim stayed over to help us on Sunday. I don't know what we would have done without them.

Saturday night everybody sleeps fairly well. Unfortunately, Davis barks a lot!

   
We're finally home . . . It has been a long day so we're just chillin' out with full bellies in our new crates with clean, dry blankets!


3/31/08: Sunday morning we fed/watered/pottied everybody. We could already see a difference in the trust level of some of these guys, but not everybody.

We did some more clean up, moving crates around, putting up plastic, setting up the feeding station, etc. in the barn itself. The area isn't perfect, but it's surely a lot better than they've been used to. It has a concrete floor and concrete block walls, so it's a decent space and the temps are in the 50s/60s during the day and not cold at night.

Lo and behold, it's time to feed and potty again. Whew! It was much easier this time. They're learning so quickly that they're not in any danger here. A couple of them still aren't eating and one boy (Davis) is so stressed out and terrified that he has bloody diarrhea.

Bev from Virginia rescue came late Sunday afternoon to take 3 of these guys back with her. She took Happy, the really matted red bear coat (he's going to be beautiful); Domino, the injured boy, and Dexter, a little guy that actually came from a neighboring shelter that we also agreed to take since we were in the area. What's one more, right? Thank you, Bev, and Virginia rescue. This really helps, especially with the ongoing medical treatment that Domino needs. My vet saw Domino Sunday morning and while we were there, we decided to HW check him. NEGATIVE!

Sunday night everybody sleeps well. Fortunately, Davis isn't barking near as much.

    

Monday morning, we're up at 5:30 (again in the pouring rain), to feed/water/potty everybody.  Again easier, except for the rain. This is a continuing battle, which we are winning.

So, I'm at work now at my real job, really tired, but satisfied that we did a pretty good job, and that most of these guys are going to come around fairly quickly, which will be very satisfying when it happens. My husband, Galon, is going to Sam's today to get 10- 44 lb bags of Purina One Lamb and Rice food. God bless him! I forgot to say that there were two guys at the shelter who also do a little rescue. One of them is a Petsmart Manager and is going to try to get us a gift card for food. Won't that be great?

Everybody will see the doctor tomorrow starting at 3:00. And we'll go from there with medical treatment, spay/neuter/entropion/vaccinations/deworming, heartworm testing, etc.

Here's the link to the story in the Johnson City newspaper.
http://www.johnsoncitypress.com/Detail.php?Cat=LOCALNEWS&ID=62230

Ella, Ruby and Gus

We have received some very nice donations so far, and I thank each and every one of you. We can't pull this off without a lot of money. Thanks to Jane and Tim for the use of their vehicles and for the physical labor to get the place ready; to Jason and Sarah for helping us with the paperwork, and especially for fostering mama and her babies (we're still working on names); and to Karen and Bob for taking pictures. And especially to Galon for staying home and taking care of the other 22 we had there before this big family came. Thanks also to Debby Smith in TX for all the 'right on target' things she told me to expect and do. This helped so much to get organized and make the event go very smoothly. Also thank to the CSPCA Rescue Trust for contributing financially to this effort. It was a genuine labor of love for each and every one of us and one day soon, the peibies will know how much they are loved.

MAMA AND BABIES UPDATE FROM SARAH:

Everyone is doing just fine here. We're a little sleepy this morning from checking on them every hour, but Mom is doing well. We've got her on Natural Balance Chicken canned food with a little dry Timberwolf mixed in for extra protein, and she's eating out of our hands and eating very well. She also loves cottage cheese and yogurt! She wouldn't take water until about 3 a.m. when Jason convinced her finally, but she drank the whole bowl, so we were relieved. She's very thin and has a long way to go, but she is responsive. Mom can't get up on her own and can't tell us when she needs to "do business," so Jason carries her down every couple of hours for a stretch and a break --  but no accidents at all because she's so weak and can't even get up on her own. She can, however, walk and enjoys the little breaks outside -- she even is doing well on the leash. She's being a great mom in that she's cleaning them, nursing well, and keeps them very warm. She has very sweet, big brown eyes that just melt you. We've washed and brushed her, and it looks like she's going to be just beautiful.
 
The pups look strong and are very mobile - they keep getting "lost" so one of us pops out of bed and runs to the "Pei bedroom" to move them the 6 inches back to Mom -- so funny. The only real problem is that Mom can't really move to help them if they wander from her, so we're on peibie watch until they either grow up a little or until she can get to them. Mom took very well to the kiddie pool whelping box, so they are all secure and happy with a little heater to ensure they keep their body temperatures up. I'm washing towels about twice a day to make sure everything is clean for them. None of them strikes me as weak, so I think all of them will flourish. The first few days are really the worst because they can't produce body heat, but Mom's being so attentive that I'm not as worried. The little boy has the cutest tail -- it's got a little zig-zag kink in it! He's the quiet type. The little brown girl with the mask is the largest and very sweet. Now, Miss Dilute is the talker of them all, even though she is by far the tiniest. She lets you know exactly how she feels all of the time! She's probably the one who moves the most, but boy if she gets too far away she will squeal until I dutifully move her back to her mother. They are all eating very well and seem to be growing by the hour.
 
In short, all four are coming along very well, and it is clear they will make wonderful companions for lucky adopters. Thanks, and we will send more information soon! Sarah and Jason

4/2/08: Yesterday afternoon, our vet came and saw 9 of the 10 dogs in our care. All 9 are heartworm negative (thank God for that); all need entropion except for one; all have really, really bad ears; none of the females are pregnant; only one has skin issues, which is amazing; all were vaccinated and given physicals. Every single one of them were so good. You just wouldn't believe how far these guys have come since Saturday. Two or three of them were licking my face while they were on the table. Now, unless you were there to see them on Saturday, you probably wouldn't think that is such a big deal, but trust me, it's a huge deal. I'm sure Jane, Tim, Sarah, Jason, Karen and Bob can vouch for that.

The only one who didn't see the vet is poor Davis. He's still terrified and I'm not able to handle him by myself. By the time Galon got home from his meeting to help us, we were exhausted, so we decided to wait until another day. We are keeping Davis separate from the others in a large 4x4 puppy crate, hoping that if we just allow him to chill for a few more days, he might come around. Right now he's growling and showing his teeth.

After much internet searching and trying them out, Sarah and Jason have decided on names for mama and her babies; Mama is Lola, the one little male is Gus, the apricot dilute female is Ruby; and the other female is Ella. Sarah says they're all doing great. Lola is loving the cottage cheese and yogurt and today she's getting chicken and eggs. I'm sure little Lola thinks she's died and gone to heaven with the wonderful treatment she's getting from Sarah and Jason.

We're seeing our new vet, Dr. Traci Helton.

   Katie          Joy

 

 

Jules getting his stitches out from the embedded collar. He really likes Pattie, Dr. Traci's vet tech.

                    

                         Rosie's blood draw - ouch that hurts!

  Sammie

These guys were all so good while being examined, poked and prodded. They have wonderful temperaments despite their previous living conditions. Two or three of them insisted on giving slobbery Pei kisses during their exams.

We just got new puppy pictures and a picture of their beautiful mama. The puppies have grown so much and Lola looks like a completely different dog than she did just four days ago when she couldn't even stand on her own and had to be hand fed. It is truly amazing. This little girl certainly has the will to get better so she can take care of her precious peibies.

Lola

Ella Gus

Little Ruby

4/3/08: These adult dogs are amazing. They are adjusting so quickly. They already know the routine and come up to the crate doors ready to come out, go outside to potty, then back inside for food/water.  Last night at bed time I gave each of them a cow hoof. When I finished my work and was ready to head for the house, every single one of them was chewing away. This morning after eating, some of them were right back at it. They love those things. I've added some pictures below and Sarah sent new pics of Lola and her babies. Enjoy!

PHOTO GALLERY

Bailey Katie

Lexie

Scarlett

Tabatha

 

 

Ok, let me back in. I need to check on my babies.

4/4/08: DAVIS WALKED ON A LEASH LAST NIGHT AND AGAIN THIS MORNING. YEA!!!!!

Bad news from the shelter came last night around 9:00. They have a parvo outbreak and had to put down 15 puppies. So very sad. Vet says our guys should be okay, but we're watching them very closely, especially Lola and her babies. Please keep these guys in your thoughts.

4/6/08:Today we got great news from Lola's parvo test - NEGATIVE!! Nobody here is showing any signs either, so I think we're in the clear.

4/7/08:Today was a great day! We finally had a sunny day and Lord knows we needed it. The ground has been saturated, but now it's pretty much firm again. Thank goodness. Everybody got to go outside today in the freshly cut grass (thank you, Galon), in pairs mostly, OFF LEASH. If we had taken these guys off leash a week ago, we would have never been able to catch them. We have a large fenced area attached to the barn and everybody got to play outside in the sunshine. We gave them toys, but only Jules knew what to do with them. Jules and Lexie are best friends, or maybe brother and sister. They like each other a lot. Bailey went out with Joy; Tabatha was out with Lexie and Jules; Katie was out with Davis (yes, Davis). They even drank out of the water bucket at the same time. Rosie O'Grady and Sammie got baths and ears cleaned and Scarlett got clipped. She looks really funny, but at least those mats aren't painful to her anymore.

I swept the barn out, changed out everybody's blankets and cleaned the kennel. It was a mess, too, with all the rain. Our kennel dogs are much happier today, too.

Galon was able to get a collar on Davis today so he could use the retractable leash. That way he can have a little more freedom when he's outside. He did very well today, but he's still very afraid. He didn't growl, though, which is good.

Something you may not have thought about - do you know how many piles of poop PER DAY there are when you have 32 dogs??? There's no way we can pick it up everyday. I'm going to see if I can hire a teenager to come a couple times a week to help. Not how I want to spend my hard earned money, but I see no other option. Tim, where are you????

Sarah says Lola and her peibies are doing great. Lola has been introduced to Sarah and Jason's own pei (Emma, Lily and Chloe) and all the girls are getting along great. Lola doesn't take part in playtime, but she watches - thinking she might join in some day soon. She was able to enjoy the sunshine and warm weather today, too. I hope to have new puppy pictures tomorrow.

4/8/08: As promised - new Lola and puppy pictures. Enjoy!

  
Lola is such a good mother to her peibies.

  
Sweet, sleeping peibies                            Isn't Lola a pretty girl?

 
Lola and Emma (Sarah and Jason's girl)             What is this green stuff I'm standng in?

4/9/08: I am slowly getting these dogs posted on their own individual pages. Click on the Adoption Bone on the home page to see them.

4/11/08: Guess who let me get him out of the crate last night and also took a treat from my hand??? DAVIS. He's really making progress. 

Look how these puppies are growing. They are so cute. Can you smell the puppy breath???
 

Look - my eyes are open!!!

 
I love chillin' out with my peibies!

Isn't this the sweetest picture?

4/11/08: Update from Lola's foster mom: Last night we had Lola and her peibies down in the family room as usual (everyone's loving that set-up for the evenings). Lola decided to nap with her pups at around 8 after spending several hours outside, so she cuddled up with them. Well, Lily is completely enamored with Lola and her pups so she rested her head on Lola's head and watched the pups sleep. Lola just loved it. There must have been a rainbow over that little kiddie pool full of Peibies...it was so adorable!

4/15/08: Can you believe how these peibies have grown? Aren't they just the cutest little things? Foster Mom Sarah says they'll be walking in a few days.

Gus, Ruby, Ella

4/18/08: Little Joy (we call her Joy Bean in memory of another Joy Bean we knew) has had some problems this week. She had a very large abscess on her right rear leg that required lancing and draining. We don't know how this happened because there's no puncture wound anywhere near it. She's much better now, and she's really liking living in the house. She's a very sweet girl and seems to be okay so far with our Ginger. We hope that continues so her adoptive home (when that comes around) isn't restricted to just brothers.

4/24/08: We have posted a separate web page for each of these guys except for Lola and her babies. We'll get that done soon. So for updates of all the others, go to http://www.tnsharpeirescue.com/adoption.html and click on each individual pei.

4/27/08: Finally we've posted a puppy page. Lola is next.