The dogs, all Shetland sheepdogs, were picked up from a home in the 16400 block of Pick Place.
Firefighters went to the home after getting a call of smoke coming from the attic. No one was injured in the fire, but the three residents were displaced.
The shelties’ owner relinquished all but four of the 61 dogs that were taken to the Riverside County Department of Animal Services, spokesman John Welsh said.
The dogs all appeared healthy, friendly and well cared-for, Welsh said. The shelties must be screened to ensure they are healthy and behave well before they can be moved into the adoption area, but Welsh said some should be ready for adoption Monday morning.
UPDATE: Shelter ‘a zoo’ as crowd of prospective owners shows up
He could not provide the owner’s name, but public records show the Dennis family lives at the address where the fire occurred. Dog breeder websites indicate a business called Act 1 Shelties, run by a Ginny Dennis, is on the same street.
A 2002 Press-Enterprise story on the death of songwriter and entertainer Matt Dennis said he and his wife, Ginny, had moved to the Riverside area 18 years prior to give her more room to raise her championship Shetland sheepdogs.
A woman who answered the door at the residence Sunday morning declined to comment.
Fire damage was not visible from outside the house. A Cal Fire/Riverside County Fire Department spokeswoman did not have details Sunday about how badly the inside was damaged.
Welsh said he did not know specifically why the owner chose to relinquish the dogs, but if the house was uninhabitable because of the fire, the owner may not have been able to feed and care for the dogs on the property. She could have paid the county to board them until she could make other arrangements, but Welsh said the bill to care for that many dogs for even a few days would have been steep.
“There are four dogs she’s going to come back for once she gets back on her feet,” he said.
Welsh could not verify Sunday whether the dogs’ owner had a kennel permit, which is required to house more than five dogs in Riverside County.
He did say that Animal Services is “very familiar with this property.” He couldn’t confirm whether the owner had been cited before, but said animal control officers “have been working with this particular woman for a long time.”
But he stressed that the conditions on the property aren’t like what officers typically see in “animal collector” cases, where the dogs aren’t well cared-for and often exhibit feral pack behavior.
While taking in 61 dogs in one day is a lot of work, Welsh said the shelter wasn’t overwhelmed. He could recall one previous case where Animal Services impounded more than 100 dogs from one property.
The shelties are in a protective custody ward that is designated for these types of situations, and will be moved into the adoption area as they’re cleared. Welsh said the shelter is already working with rescue groups, including ones in the Pacific Northwest that regularly take in dogs from Riverside County.
“What we’re going to do is try to get these dogs all homes,” he said.
(Press Enterprise - July 21, 2014)
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