I was working at this “part time” job where part time apparently means 6 to 14 hours a day six days a week…I’d hate to be full time! The woman I worked for started a company out of her house that uses Border Collies and Australian Shepards to herd geese out of parks so that people can swim in the lakes and sit in the grass without all the poop. I was a dog handler/driver. It wasn’t too bad a job except for the insane boss. All I did all day was drive from park to park and walk one of her dogs. Not too rough, but she had all these insane little rules, and after working there for a month I found out that she has 21 dogs…sixteen of them are kept in airline-type kennels inside her house. They’re only let out for ten minutes twice a day, and only four of them are used for work. In this county you’re supposed to have a kennel license if you have more than four dogs on your property, so I sent out a letter…below is an edited (took out/changed her name, address ‘n stuff) version. Enjoy!
Thursday, June 10, 2004
County Auditor
Licensing Division
To Whom It May Concern:
I currently work as a dog handler for Chris. Chris has 20 acres of land in which she keeps horses, sheep, turkeys, ducks, and dogs. Though she told me she had 17 dogs I actually counted 21. Sixteen of her dogs are kept in airline type kennels inside her house, with no water. The kennels for the dogs inside the house do seem to be the appropriate size for the individual dog that lives in it, but each dog is only allotted ten minutes outside their kennel twice a day to: go potty, drink water, and play. I’m not sure if this qualifies as dog abuse, neglect, or anything, but their living conditions are bad enough that it’s bothering me to not inform someone about it. I don’t think Chris has a kennel license, but either way I would really like to have someone do an inspection regarding the living conditions of her 21 Border Collies and Australian Shepards.
All of the dogs appear to be well fed and healthy (of course I’m only speaking as a plain ‘ol pet owner). Five of the dogs are kept in pens that are about 4’x4’ out in the barn. I don’t know if they’re ever let out to play, but even if they’re not at least they have some room. I’m not as concerned about the barn dogs as I am about the sixteen inside the house.
Four of the dogs (Rhett, Troy, Sam, and Gail) inside the house are used for goose work (herding geese out of parks). The rest of the dogs are retired workers, breeders, or younger dogs (Rim, and Chet) that will be trained for goose work.
The House:
There is stuff stacked from floor to ceiling through out the house, and it’s all covered in several layers of dust and dirt. There are cobwebs everywhere and rats scurrying around in the cupboards! – I have actually seen one run across the floor in front of me. Four of the sixteen indoor dogs are kept in kennels in what would be a dining room just off the kitchen. The other twelve dogs live in a room that is approximately 12’x8’. One entire wall of the dog room is lined with stacked kennels. The walls in the hallway leading to the dog room are coated in dirt and mud from the dogs passing through. Once I saw Gail (the dog I work with) walk across the little bit of carpet that can be seen in what would be a living room and clouds of dust lifted from her steps. None of this would really affect the dogs since they’re kept safely in their kennels, but the air inside the house is terrible. It is literally difficult to breathe in this house…especially when the windows are closed. I really have no comparison for how thick the air is inside that house, except one that very few others have experienced: It’s very much like when I went into the solids room of the sewage treatment plant where my father worked in Alaska.
When the dogs are let out, I don’t think they’re allowed to roam Chris’ twenty acres, but sent to one of the seven outside pens (I’m not entirely sure about this part). The outside pens are about 3’x3’. I looked in the outdoor pens Sunday June 6th 2004 and they all have tall weeds inside as if they haven’t been used at all, but there was also some fresh poop inside one of them. I know none of the dogs are *kept* in these pens.
Possible Animal Abuse:
On Thursday May 20th 2004 I returned from working and went into the house to put Gail back in her kennel. Two of the dogs on the second tier of kennels bark at me every time I’m there, but one was always much more aggressive. She would curl her lip and grow, lunging at the door of her kennel. I had told Chris about this dog’s behavior, and she told me that three of the female Australian Shepard breeders had been used as her guard dogs at one time. I only know two of their names, Eve and Indy. On this particular day Indy (the one more aggressive towards me) had growled and lunged to the point that her kennel was teetering and about to fall on the floor. I put Gail away and quickly left. I was too scared of Indy, even though she’s in a kennel, to push her back into place. I called Chris to let her know what was happening and why I didn’t try to push the kennel back. The next day was my day off. On Saturday May 22nd 2004 when I returned from work I noticed that Indy was very quiet. She wasn’t even standing in her kennel. I looked at every dog to see if she had been switched with another dog, but the only dog barking aggressively was Eve. I was still afraid of Indy, and I didn’t want to open her kennel to see if she was wearing some kind of bark shock collar. Since she is still (as of June 7th 2004) quiet and clam when I go in the room I’m don’t think the dog was drugged, so I can only assume she was abused or something. I don’t want to ask Chris. I can’t really believe anything she says anyway.
I keep in contact with one of Chris’ former employees, and he emailed this story to me about one of Chris’ Horses:
This has to do with her former roommate who supposedly let some dogs in the corral to harass her horse. When she found the horse it was lying down and stuck under the barbwire fence, suffering apparently from a heart attack or the horse equivalent. Of course there was no sign of the mysterious dogs or the roommate. And of course Chris did what any self-respecting horse owner would do: She got out a whip and flayed the poor animal to the point of death. This is because you are supposed to make a horse stand up at all costs (she says). She beat the horse all night and next day called the vet. The horse was in such a way that even the vet cried.
His story about this horse makes me wonder about a story that Chris told me about a former employee (not the employee that told me the horse story) that had abused Gail. Chris said that she never witnessed the abuse herself but was some how able to demonstrate to me how the employee would kick Gail in the chest with the heel of her boot in order to keep Gail from running ahead while on a leash. I don’t know if Gail had to have surgery because of that abuse or for something else, but when I accompanied Chris to her vet on one occasion the vet mentioned Gail and how close to death the dog had been. I didn’t ask what had happened or what the injuries were, but from working with Gail I know that if she exercises too much she starts to favor her right front leg. Chris’ Vet is: #### Veterinary Hospital ####. (###)-###-####.
Address & Directions:
Chris’ house is a blue two-story mass of rotting wood built in 1925 not the nice little trailer you pass by on the right. Keep going on the path. There is a gate that is usually locked… smile you’re on her camera at this point. As you follow the driveway around the house there is a pen to the right with ducks. As of June 10th, 2004 there are three ducks…one has been dead for four to six weeks, but has not been separated from the living ducks. Chris has another camera that looks out onto her vehicles, and if you’re able to get her to invite you into her house you can smile again…there is a third camera in her kitchen…it’s in the smoke detector. I hope you’re current on your tetanus shots.
I’m a current employee of Chris’, so please keep my identity private. I realize it won’t be hard for her to figure out since I’m the only employee right now, but I still would like to try and keep this anonymous. I’m hoping that she will think it’s a past employee that has been giving her problems…I’m not the only one concerned for the dogs. I took some pictures of the dogs in their kennels today. The film hasn’t been developed yet but if you’d like to see them, or if you have any questions you can reach me at: (###) ###-####
Thank you,
Erica
P.S. If you find that this situation is severe enough to remove the dogs from Chris I know someone who would really like to adopt Rhett.