I need some good advice

[KristynB]

Hello all. I wanted to get this out there and wasn't sure where to post this. I wanted to get some input from other animals lovers, so I figured a forum like this would be a great place. I am keeping everything in this post anonymous, but would like to give as much detail as I can so people know the situation and can help me out the best I can. If anyone has good knowledge of laws in Ontario that would be great help too.

I know someone who is a Sheltie breeder. They have been doing it a few years now, and on her website claims a lot of things that aren't true. Such as, how well the dogs are socialized and brought up and cared for. The truth is, she doesn't spend any time with the dogs, and she never cleans up after them and hardly takes the time to take care of them. She would rather spend all her time on the phone with her friends then spend any time with her dogs. She literally spends no time with them at all, other than letting them out if she doesn't get someone else to do it. She rarely feeds her own dogs because she gets someone else in her family to do it.

Shelties are intelligent dogs, and they love to know they are loved and really want attention and approval. They crave attention from her, and bark and scratch at their crates when she comes into the room, but she won't even acknowledge them. I find it so sad seeing this. Most of her dogs are kept in crates all day, now large crates either, just big enough they can stand in. The crates are plastic crates and are filthy on the inside. Sometimes there is feces up the inside walls of the crates and sand and crash in them. Sometimes these dogs aren't let out often enough and are forced to go to the bathroom in their crate, then spend the night in it.

Shelties are high energy, yet her dogs stay in the house all day and don't get let out very often and when they are they aren't outside very long. Why is this? Because she has 14+ dogs in the house, and she lives in an area where she's only allowed to have 6 dogs. So she doesn't want the neighbours to see, because the humane society has already been to the house many times and have warned her.

The entire house is disgusting, the dogs go to the bathroom on the floor wherever they please, and I feel bad for any puppies she sells because they grow up thinking it is ok to go to the bathroom in the house. The problem with all this is, she knows other breeders that do a very good job with their Shelties, but they have never been in her house before and don't realize how her dogs are being raised. They get absolutely no socialization, and hardly any attention. She brought home a Sheltie the other day that is very timid and scared, and then she started yelling in the same room as this dog, thus scaring the poor girl even more.

If you haven't guessed yet I do in fact live in this same house as her, so I have to see this stuff going on every day. I don't know what to do about it. I risk getting kicked out if she knows I'm behind anything and I cannot afford that right now.

The humane society has already told her the dogs shouldn't be in crates that small for more than 2 hours. She honestly does not care about the dogs, I'm not sure why she is a dog breeder at all. She loses more money than she makes doing it and she is very much in debt to begin with. She is making everyone she lives with miserable and raising dogs to be scared and shy and afraid of everything because they've never seen anything outside of their own house/yard before. The dogs also don't get trained at all so they are very misbehaved and know no commands at all (yet she will claim they are well trained, etc to anyone that asks).

If anyone knows how to deal with this, please let me know. This needs to be taken care of because it can't keep going on like this. She shouldn't be able to 'raise' dogs in an environment like this. It's not fair to the dogs. There is no abuse at all, it is all neglect, but I'm not sure how that should be handled.

Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thank you.

Kristyn

[Marty11]

This is serious stuff. Hopefully someone here on the forum will give you advice.

[marko]

I hate reading stuff like this. My first instinct might be to call the humane society again. Hopefully others can provide better info.
Good luck!

[BenMax]

This is a terrible situation for you to be in.
If the Humane Society is doing nothing about this, then I would be inclined to contact HSI and see if they can give you some assistance on how to proceed. It can be done anonymously so you do not have to worry.

Also, contact a rescue group that takes in these breeds. I cannot publically say who they are as it is not permitted here. If you google rescue groups in Ontario for sheltie's they should pop up. You can ask them if they know of this person and also what you need to do to try and help this woman and also these dogs.

She sounds like she has a mental problem if she is not able to do the math and figure out that this 'business' is not profitting her. She needs help.

Also, you can try contacting human welfare or social services. If there are children in the home, then this will prove to be unsanitary.

Unfortunately animals have no real value in this society, but if you put a spin on this and consider it a 'human' issue then you may get more response.

Good luck and I hope that this helps in some way. Always remember that turning a blind eye to something ethically wrong is not a way to soothe your soul. Be heard, even if it is anonymously. Don't let this continue.

[KristynB]

Thanks for the input so far everyone.

I think she does have something wrong mentally. At times I don't think she is thinking clearly and I feel like she doesn't realize the dogs are even there. It makes me sad because I love my dog so much and she has so many and it's like they are just objects. The only time I hear here talk to them is when she is yelling at them to shut up. They get no encouragement and are so confused about how they should act, so they don't know any better. It's not the dog's fault they are misbehaved, it's her fault. She will blame it on everything else (even the food they eat) but not her.

I have contacted the humane society before and told them the situation. They had already been to the house a few times before and gave her warnings. The last time they were here they gave her the final warning and said the next time someone calls she will get fined. I'm surprised the neighbours have not called since a few of the dogs jump into the neighbour's yard (which is dangerous anyway).

There are no kids living in the house, there are 4 adults. It is a very disgusting place to live though and it's no wonder no one is ever invited over.

The sad thing is is that the humane society here said they won't take the dogs away from her, but expect her to put them elsewhere. She has a friend who has a real kennel in the country, but even that place isn't that clean (though since it is a real kennel and the dogs have yards to run in it's much cleaner than being stuck in a crate all day).

Would a shelter actually come in and take the dogs away? Or would she have a chance to keep them? Would they be able to come in and check the place without notice? The problem is that whenever someone knocks on the door she never answers, and if they leave a note (like the humane society will) she will clean up around here and get rid of a few dogs and make things look normal before calling them back to inspect. It's not fair.

Another thing is that I live in the same house with my own dog, but he lives with me in my room and I care for him very well and keep him out of the mess (I don't even like him laying on the kitchen floor most times because it's so dirty). I don't want my dog getting involved and being taken away from me, when I am a good owner and take care of my dog the proper way.

[BenMax]

Again - contact the Humane Society International. This is NOT the same as the SPCA.
They may be able to help. They usually do. Tell them about your dog. Important that they know that this is yours and you care for him/her.

Really it is simple and give them a call.