Sitting on her blue walker she cradled Sammy, one of four dachshunds remaining in her home, where dozens reportedly had been kenneled until authorities stepped in and took them over the past two months. The red, longhair nuzzled her cheeks, kissing her wet face.
Karen Stone, 47, has been debilitated since 1991, and for several years has been unable to care for the dogs.
Her husband and son tried to come to the rescue. Every night her husband cleaned and disinfected the back yard. Her son cleaned their bedding, fed and exercised them.
It wasn't enough.
[There is no way that they 'cleaned and disinfected' the back yard, cleaned bedding, fed and exercised 70 dogs EVERY SINGLE NIGHT.]
Since August Stone has turned over 26 miniature dachshunds to the Mission Viejo Animal Services Center. The dogs were found when Orange County Sheriff's deputies responded to a traffic accident that led them to Stone's Mission Viejo home. There deputies found more than 70 dogs in kennels in the home and back yard. Nearly all of the dogs' vocal cords had been cut.
Sheriff's Deputy Quyen Vuong had difficulty breathing when he entered the house with animal control officers.
"It smelled of poop and pee," he said. "She first told us that she was in the process of getting a permit to be a dachshund rescue we later found out that was a lie."
Shelter officials gave Stone six weeks to turn over all her dogs. Twenty-six - aged three months to eight years - went to the shelter in three batches. All have been adopted into new homes. Stone said she found homes for the rest. The shelter is continuing its investigation.
"It was like giving up my kids," Stone said. "They gave me unconditional love all day long."
Many suffered extreme dental disease. One had 28 teeth removed. Twenty-four were spayed and neutered. A few required more serious surgeries.
"The dogs' mouths were in the top worst I've ever seen," said Dr. Matthew Wheaton, a Mission Viejo vet who provided medical care to the dogs. "Clearly there was a genetic component to this group of dogs."
Stone - sitting on her patio near her living room packed with collectibles - started with only one litter of pups about 13 years ago as a hobby for her kids. She took in more than 20 dogs when her best friend - who raised dachshunds in Downey - died from cancer. Others who got dogs from her fell upon hard times and Stone took the dogs back. Recently another friend died - and Stone took her dogs, too.
"It gave me something to love and keep me out of my self pity," she said.
Shelter officials and Wheaton described Stone as an animal hoarder - defined by the Humane Society of United States as a person who has more animals than he or she can properly care for.
"They think they are providing a wonderful safe haven for animals but the whole situation gets out of control," said Wheaton. "Once you have more than 10 animals you're verging on being a hoarder."
Stone's case is not the first such one in Orange County.
In 2005, more than 30 Pomeranian puppies were seized by animal control when they were discovered — sick with respiratory problems and parasites — in an illegal kennel in a Dana Point attic. More than 200 cats were found in a Garden Grove home in 2006. About 20 had to be euthanized.
Each state has laws prohibiting cruelty to animals and imposes on caretakers the duty of providing minimal care. Cities vary on the number of animals allowed. In Mission Viejo four dogs and four cats can legally be owned. If there are litters, puppies and kittens must be in new homes in four months.
"We get reports of people violating the more-than-three-animals limit fairly regularly," said Ryan Drabek, spokesperson Orange County Animal Care that serves 19 cities in the county. "We don't find real hoarding - more than 20 animals - more than once or twice a year."
Mission Viejo shelter officials say rarely see such serious cases.
"What is unusual is that she started as an unauthorized business and somewhere down the line she went into denial about the number and the healthcare care that was being neglected," said Sharon Cody, president of the Dedicated Animal Welfare Group that spent more than $10,000 in medical bills to make the dachshunds adoptable. "She will be monitored for compliance."
When the dogs arrived at the shelter some were shy but most seem well-socialized. All were quarantined for a week as a precaution against disease. It wasn't long before word about their presence at the shelter spread drawing dachshund aficionados from all over Orange County, seeking to adopt the animals.
A week ago almost all the dachshunds and their new families reunited at Cody's home.
When Kathe Hayden came to the shelter looking to rescue a dachshund after her dachshund of 17 years died, she couldn't believe her eyes. She saw one, then another and another - all purebred dogs.
"I thought there must be something up," she said. "They told me it was a local breeder without a license."
She put two and two together, remembered having seen some of Stone's dogs and phoned her.
"Are these dogs at the pound yours?" she asked. 'Yes,' she was told. Stone explained that she lost control of her dogs because of her medical problems. She had been told to turn them in to the shelter.
Hayden opted to get one of the rescues from the shelter.
The family adopted Addie, a sable-longhaired, two-year-old. She had six teeth pulled.
"She's an absolute joy," said Hayden. "She just wants you to hug and kiss her."
Marlene and Jeff Hellerman from Laguna Niguel had combed local shelters looking for another dachshund. It had been more than a year since they lost Oscar, who lived to age 20.
"I've had dachshunds all my life," cooed Marlene Hellerman, holding her new puppy Penny Lane who was nose to nose with her brother Buster Brown, held by Jeff Hellerman. "When we walked into Mission Viejo and saw their pictures at the front counter we looked at each other and said 'Yes. We want an application.' I just fell to my knees and cried they were so loving and sweet."
(ocregister.com - Oct 31, 2008)
