Dozens of dogs taken from home near Doty
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NEAR DOTY, Wash. -- Dozens of dogs were seized from a home out of compliance with county code Friday afternoon.
Lewis County sheriff's spokesman Steve Aust said animal control officers seized 72 foxhounds, some of them puppies, from a home in the 400 block of River Road. A deceased dog was also found on the property.
The animals were living in deplorable conditions, said Aust.
"The puppies that were brought out were wading in inches of feces," said Pasado's Safe Haven spokesperson Amber Chenoweth.
Aust said the county had been working with the dogs' owner for the past few months in an effort to get her property up to code. However, it became clear that the owner, a cooperative woman in her 70s, would not be able to do so.
"This looks like a hoarding situation, a puppy mill situation," said Chenoweth.
The owner has given up custody of all the dogs, and all of the animals will eventually be available for adoption.
Pasado's Safe Haven was providing temporary shelter for some of the dogs, and the rest will be kept at various shelters.
A necropsy will be performed on the deceased dog, Aust said. The owner has not been charged.
Lewis County sheriff's spokesman Steve Aust said animal control officers seized 72 foxhounds, some of them puppies, from a home in the 400 block of River Road. A deceased dog was also found on the property.
The animals were living in deplorable conditions, said Aust.
"The puppies that were brought out were wading in inches of feces," said Pasado's Safe Haven spokesperson Amber Chenoweth.
Aust said the county had been working with the dogs' owner for the past few months in an effort to get her property up to code. However, it became clear that the owner, a cooperative woman in her 70s, would not be able to do so.
"This looks like a hoarding situation, a puppy mill situation," said Chenoweth.
The owner has given up custody of all the dogs, and all of the animals will eventually be available for adoption.
Pasado's Safe Haven was providing temporary shelter for some of the dogs, and the rest will be kept at various shelters.
A necropsy will be performed on the deceased dog, Aust said. The owner has not been charged.
I'm so glad these dogs have been taken out of these conditions. what beautiful creatures.
Puppy Mill! You people are so ignorant. Do you think pet stores are lining up for American Foxhounds? Do you not realize that they are the rarest breed in the AKC in terms of registration. Several years ago, Nancy's home and kennel was wiped out by a flood. One dog survived and four puppies. She was hospitalized for weeks after floating all night in her flooded house, clutching to the top of a china cabinet, floating the puppies in a foam cooler. Â As soon as she was out of the hospital, she was back at work, working full-time-- which apparently she is still doing. She's nearly 80! The situation obviously got out of hand, and she didn't know what to do. There's not a huge pet market for these dogs. Now the dogs will be taken away from the only situation they've ever known-- because the kennels weren't clean. They will undergo unnecessary sterilization and then most of them will be euthanized, because unsocialized adult foxhounds aren't sought after as house pets. Guess it's better that they're going to be dead instead of living in a messy environment. I think Nancy needed help-- not psychological help, actual help. She needed someone to help her place dogs, and she needed help cleaning up. I'm really sorry she didn't get that help. I'm very sorry that we're too far away to help her now.Â
A corrupt DEA poisoned my dog to death because I called the San Francisco Attorney General's office to complain that the FBI and DEA where fabricating evidence and stealing from me.
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I have a new dog and hope that by making the public aware of what happened, he is not poisoned as well.
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The DEA is dog feces.
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If you read the Chronicle you will see the rules for having dogs.I never said the dogs were not in appalling conditions I agree with most of your comments, apart from the ones that say she should do jail time. There is no excuse for the neglect, I personally never saw the pens, all I saw was a lady going to Cosco every week for dog food. I did mention a couple of months ago to a person that knew all the regulations, and I was told that the laws are very iffy in Lewis county, I asked her if the Lewis county animal shelter could get involved and she said no, it would have to be the police. I was told she had more than 50 dogs and apparantly that's allowed . there's a lot more to the story, but I don't have to get into detail You can blame me if you like, your perogative.
Sue
No animal should have to live in conditions like that. Luckily these dogs have been saved however there are so many more out there that are abused and neglected (and yes, this classifies as abuse. She may not have beat her dogs but this is abuse). While she may have had the best of intentions and loved her animals, fact is she was just doing them harm. Not only do animals need adequate shelter and decent living conditions but they also need attention and love, which I bet is hard to give each of them individually when you have 72 animals.
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I understand that this hoarding situation may have been caused by a disease but isn't an excuse and it doesn't make it ok. People, please be aware of your surroundings. Be nosy neighbors. If you see animals living in disgusting deplorable conditions such as these were, PLEASE CALL THE AUTHORITIES. Report it! No animal deserves to be abused and neglected as these dogs were. It is sad and NOT OK!
Those dogs in the pic there look in pretty good weight at least. This was probably a case of a nice 'animal woman'- you know the ones, the ones people dump thier dogs with or foist off on - who just got in WAY over her head.
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I hope she'll eventually be able to work with Animal Control to have an acceptable number of animals, and also that they won't strip her ability to own animals.
I would agree with your statement except the fact that the dogs were all the same breed. That's not from people dumping their dogs. Definitely looks like a puppy mill and/or animal hoarding situation.
I want to feel sorry for this little old lady but that guy saying these dogs were walking through up to a foot of feces and sawdust keeps playing over in my head. Â It shouldn't have taken months to get those poor dogs out of there. Â The good thing is that there are so many great rescue agencies around here, the dogs will be fostered and put into good (clean!) homes.
I live near this lady and know her well, and I have to say she is a very nice person. She's a hoarder and as foolish as it sounds loved the dogs. Yes they were in apalling living conditions, and I'm happy the situation came to light. She is very private and refused help , you could call her stubborn.All the dogs were well fed and had shots etc. It annoys me when the media get things wrong, this hadn't been an ongoing thing for months. Some people are very judgementle and have no sympathy for some one with this disease' Let's hope and pray she is treated like a rather sad human being and not like a criminal. She did not sell any of the puppies, and made not a cent on them. She couldn't part with them. Very sad. I thank all those people who commented with compassion.
Sue
@yorkshirelassyÂ
Sue,
I have one of these dogs. It doesn't matter one bit if Nancy Punches sold the puppies or not. The fact is she had 70+ dogs living in unbelievable filth. My dog is clean and safe now but the trauma that she experienced in her first few years of life is something she will deal with forever. Â
You can't even begin to understand the psychological damage that these dogs have and will likely have their entire lives. Â
@yorkshirelassy Yeah - that picture here, those foxhounds look all right - just those pens and that water and mud isn't so great. I'm glad she turned them over so someone else can take care of these dogs.
@yorkshirelassy How can you, someone who lives near this lady and knows her well, not do anything about this? This situation should have been reported long ago before it got this out of hand! In my opinion you failing to report this makes you just as guilty of animal cruelty because YOU DID NOTHING. You KNEW the dogs living situation was appalling AND YOU DID NOTHING. Those poor animals were suffering in filth and I think it is BS you say "Oh, I'm happy this situation has come to light." How dare you not do anything for those animals?
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SO WHAT if that lady has a hoarding disease? It does NOT make it ok nor is it an excuse to abuse those animals and YES THEY WERE ABUSED. She might not have physically beat them but failing to adequately care for them is abuse and neglect. You should be ashamed of yourself for not doing anything for those poor animals.
yeah, well, i tend to cast judgement when people let animals suffer like this....boo on me i guess.
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for every crappy thing in the paper there's always someone claiming how wonderful the criminal is, etc, how the"media" has it wrong....yeah yeah yeah.
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no sympathy for the human. the dogs, yes.
Hopefully this woman will not be able to breed or hoard animals again. Because of her age I can't help but wonder if she maybe didn't have the resources to physically or financially care for these dogs. Seniors are
proud and sometimes it's hard to ask for help even when overwhelmed. Fortunately someone seen the need to interviene here and hopefully these dogs will all go on to good homes. In the meantime even though I don't think this woman should get jail time they need to make sure she doesn't get anymore dogs since she obviously can't/couldn't manage to properly take care of them.
This is Sue again.This is a complete hoarding sitiuation, she never sells puppies, that's why she has so many dogs.She can't part with them
 @yorkshirelassy I can understand that, it can be very hard if you love animals, and I feel for her, and wonder why there was no one to help before it came down to this.
Ok...So which is it with this lady? A hoarding situation? or Puppy mill situation? Because they are completely different. This was not hoarding I believe- mainly because she had predominately one breed on here property. This is a back yard breeder with didn't care about the dogs...The dogs and pups were for profit. What a scumbag.
I feel sorry for both the owner and the animals. The authorities were working with her and, yet, the situation continued to spiral out of control. The dogs/pups really look pretty good; hope they find great homes soon.
feel sorry for the owners? whats wrong with you? animals living in inches of their own feces.....
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she should be fined at the least, maybe a few months in jail.
 @SwampThing Authorities attempted to work with the owner and I give them credit for that.  That's how it should be. The raids where they storm and grab worry hell out of me.Â
 @Susan Dodge I certainly  don't think the authorities raid, storm and grab unless there is a need  to do that to protect an animal, if Pasado's Safe Haven got involved, there is a good reason, they are a wonderful organization that help countless animals.
I don't understand how she could not be charged??? Â just because it was a hoarding situation? doesn't make any sense... it's simple animal cruelty~ deserves some kind of punishment!!
Charges should be reserved for egregious cases of abuse and punished severely. Hoarders tend to get gradually overwhelmed but are not malicious.Â
 @Susan Dodge This I agree with, but it was more than plain she was a breeder and seems a hoarder, 72 animals were removed, do you think 72 animals to take care for, especially if you are her age is responsible breeding?
 @MC  @Susan DodgeHer neighbors have posted that she couldn't bear to part with her dogs.  She wasn't selling them, and she simply got overwhelmed.  It sounds like the authorities understand this and that's why she wasn't charged.
She is guilty of a crime and needs to e charged along with her close relatives. If we don't charge these people, family members all over will continue to ignore these dangrous and criminal acts. We sem to charge those who help drive criminal to hideouts, so chage family members forallowing hording of living creatures. We live in a humane society and we must act accordingly.
Family members should be held liable also. Allowing any person to do this to living creatures is criminal. Her close family and friends are just as guilty even worse because they aren't sick like she is. I hope they get what they deserve before they die.
 @Socialjusticeforall No one on this thread seems to have thought that it's possible she has no living relatives.  At her age, it's also possible she's outlived all her close friends, as well.  (I can't say for sure, of course, but there is always that possibility.)  If that is indeed the case, who would you consider "...just as guilty..."?
Please spare me! She gets money from someone for living expenses and she has visitors I am 100% of that plus she has neighbors. Get real, she doesn't live in Siberia by herself. As I said, excuses are not going to justify this wrongdoing.
 She could have her own independent income, which I know is nearly unheard of in this day and age.  And her neighbors have said she's a very nice and very private person.  Her neighbors have also said that she couldn't bear to sell her dogs, which is why she had so many.  It sounds to me like she just got overwhelmed. Not everyone depends on their family (any still living) and/or neighbors.  You're so ready to jump on prosecuting anyone, you can't see there might be extenuating circumstances.  Thank God you're not one of the authorities handling her case.
 @Socialjusticeforall Really? So if your uncle robs a liquor store, you go to jail for not stopping him? Nope. Nope. Nope. If you know the secret to controlling adult family members, please share, because several of mine do things I disapprove of.
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It is the same behavior that allows overspending on Christmas presents and thinking that more is better. Ask your kids if they remember what they got for Christmas last year and the answer is usually I don't remember.  Allowing parents or grandparents to become horders is similar, you are just enabling the behavior because going along is easier than doing the right thing like saying "NO".
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There is no secret sauce, simply do the humane thing and remove the animals from the property. In our society folks seem to find exuses everywhere to justify their failure in caring (or not caring) for loved ones.Â
@Socialjusticeforall Did you ever think the family tried and could not control this lady. You ever watch Horders? The family members have a very difficult time convincing the horder to accept help. That is a put up show, but does demonstrate how bad it can be for families.
 @Funky-Munky @mustang sally  Â
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When hording impacts living creatures, there is no excuse in the world that can be accepted. The family is responsible and I hope they are liable.  Not doing the right thing is simply another way of not caring for the loved one.
There are so many good dogs that need rescuing, they make wonderful pets, I prefer to rescue. and have done so for many years, and never have I been disappointed, sometimes it got difficult, especially when they came from an abusive situation, but with lots of love and patients, they respond very well and make a good companion & friend.
 @MC Adopting a pet should be the only way people get a pet... (my opinion).
 @Funky-Munky  @MC Right on, Funky-Munky.  All our dogs have been rescued and while some have had lifelong trust or medical issues, they have all been worth every moment we ever got to spend with them.
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 @Funky-Munky I wish that all shelters were no kill, people need to be educated on how to control the animal population, there are a lot of places that offer $10.00 spay/neuter clinics now days, no reason to have anymore un-wanted animals that have to die, I'd take them all if I could, but then I suppose that would be hoarding...lol...
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Fox hounds are not an easy dog. They need lots of excersise and will follow their nose. I hope they screen these homes very carefully! They are not for an unexperienced owner. If handled properly a pack of hounds can be cared for but it takes a gifted master and a commited community to support them. I wish the pups the best! I owned one for many years.
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Sounds like animal hoarding that got out of hand. Hopefully the dogs and the owner get the help they need.Â
Poor dogs, I wonder what happen to get an investigation going, I am sure nothing good.Â
 @Just my say Hopefully a neighbor finally did the right thing for these poor animals.
 @Just my say No animal, dog, cat, horse, cow, none, should have to suffer in conditions like that, I get so angry when I read stories like this, there is no excuse for people to get animals then can't or won't take care of them, when it gets that bad, it's time to ask for help, and there are plenty of animal lovers around to pitch in and help.
@rightandexact @Susan Dodge @MC @Just my say Susan sounds like a rational person who looks objectively at the facts -- which is very refreshing in the wild torrent of speculation and hysteria on this thread. If someone thinks Susan sounds like a breeder, she should be very proud. Breeders are the people who put huge amounts of time and money into breeding healthy, good tempered dogs that are a delight to live with. Breeders research the health records of the ancestors of the dogs they breed for several generations in order to eliminate hereditary diseases. Breeders carefully match dogs to owners for maximum compatibility so the dog will not later be rejected. IF problems arise and the owner can no longer keep the dog THE BREEDER TAKES THE DOG BACK. If the dog has behavior or health problems the owner doesn't know how to handle, the breeder acts as a mentor to help the owner deal with those problems in the best possible way. For some people, adopting rescue dogs is a good fit, but if the general public was educated to get dogs from breeders, there would soon be very few dogs in rescues because dogs that come from breeders do not get dumped at shelters. They either spend their whole lives with one owner or they are returned to the breeder and re-homed. Breeders are wonderful and I agree, Susan deserves the compliment.
 @Susan Dodge I don't know what you meant by skeletons falling out of closets, if you are refering to something about halloween, ok, if not then it sounds like you might be doing some judging yourself, even you have to admit no dog should have to live in their waste, and I have to ask, if all these that are in the neighborhood  know her, why didn't they lend her a hand? anyone can see 72 dogs is way too many for an elderly person to cope with, any age for that matter.
 @Susan Dodge Please believe me, I'm not judging her, as I said earlier, if you are an animal lover, it's hard to part with them, but sometimes it gets out of hand, it does seem they are all of one breed, maybe her intention was to sell them, but she just couldn't, I do understand that and just wished she could have gotten help before they were all taken away from her.
The woman is quite elderly and known in her neighborhood as being very nice and good to her dogs. Â It looks like she just had a hard time knowing her limitations. The authorities tried to help her get the situation under control and she's been cooperating with them. Everybody seems to be doing the right thing except the people who write these stories to put the situation in the worst possible light and the judgmental public who have to devour the woman to make themselves feel good.Â
By the way, while you were busy judging her, a bunch of skeletons fell out of your closet.
 @rightandexact  @MC  @Just my say I don't know anything about this lady but I have experience that causes me to suspect these stories are often exaggerated. This article mentions a dead dog but no information on cause of death. Even the most pampered dogs die--they die of old age, choke on their food, sometimes a young healthy looking one just drops dead for reasons unknown, and many newborns just don't make it. The mention of a dead dog makes you people want to rip up this woman without any concern for what the dog dies from. Good breeders store their dead in the refrigerator until they can get to the state lab for necropsy, or freezer if disposal is an issue. There are a lot of reasons a breeder may have a dead dog on premises. The rush to judgment is disgusting.
 @Susan Dodge  @MC  @Just my say The guy on video said they dogs were living in up to a foot of feces and sawdust.  Sounds pretty deplorable.  He did say they were healthy body-wise though, so that's good.
 @rightandexact  @Susan Dodge  @MC Yesterday when I first read this story, there was no mention of the lady. It was pretty much a short story of  how many dogs were taken in. Nothing about getting the place up to code or anything. I hope all the dogs find a good home. I love all animals but I do not own any now, I hope to some day (when I have a yard) and I am thankful that these dogs were not abused and the lady gave them up. I hope the lady finds help and peace with her "hording"Â
 @Susan Dodge With all due respect Susan Dodge, I have seen way too many of these situations, I'm not here to judge this lady, I know how being an animal lover and wanting to have a lot can and does lead to this kind of thing, the fact is, if you're going to be a dog breeder  you have to be a responsable one, don't let it overwhelm you which can turn into a situation like this, do you know for a fact the dog who died was old? to me the word "Deplorable" fits if these animals have to  live and walk around in their waste, that is not responsable dog ownership, that is when you seek help, when the situation starts to overwhelm you, as it appears it did for her, there is no reason to turn out pup after pup until you have so many you can't care for them properly.
 @Susan Dodge  @MC  @Just my say Susan - Don't worry about the dead dog? Wow.. Are you a breeder? Because you sure sound like one.Â
 @MC  @Just my say OK, calm down. This is only a brief news story with not much detail. Photos look like they were taken in the rain. The word "deplorable" is used very loosely at all raids, so I don't give it much weight. If the animals were truly abused and in danger they would have been removed before this. The story says the authorities tried to work with the elderly  owner and that she was cooperating. don't worry about the dead dog. Old dogs die. Newborn puppies die often. Good breeders freeze the bodies for later cremation/burial when they can get to it. Those who don't care just dispose of them in the trash. Which do you like better?