I don’t care if you have 1 dog or 98 dogs – you gotta do it right. Now nobody’s perfect and I think it’s reasonable to allow for some variations in quality of care so long as the basics are consistently met – sufficient food, clean shelter, affection, exercise and discipline.
In Pleasant Garden, NC, authorities were receiving complaints from people who had bought puppies from a local breeder operating under the name Rush Kennels. Buyers reported their dogs had multiple health problems sometimes resulting in death. So the sheriff’s office conducted an undercover investigation and bought a puppy from Rush Kennels. That puppy was diagnosed with multiple health problems and ended up dying. This week, authorities seized 98 dogs from Rush Kennels. Two of the dogs required emergency surgery:
“There were some that had been over utilized as breeders and actually had parts of their internal organs that were hanging out.” [Sheriff BJ] Barnes said.
Here is a photo of one of the seized dogs (more photos here):
The owner of Rush Kennels, Sheila Rush, [Note: Check out Sheila Rush on “Wife Swap”] and a dog caretaker, Robert Landreth, have not yet been charged because the sheriff’s office is still gathering evidence, but they say animal cruelty and fraud charges are likely.
Landreth, who works at Rush Kennel, told FOX8 that the seized dogs were healthy and that Rush is working with her attorney to get her dogs back.
That Weimaraner is not “healthy”. For starters, he is emaciated. Compare to a side view of a random Weim I found online who is in normal, healthy weight:
Oh and any dogs with guts hanging out – they do not fall under the “healthy” category either.
Update: Both Rush and Landreth have now been charged with multiple counts of animal cruelty. Read more and see another “healthy” dog’s photo here.