A local woman told WSBT News she bought this English Bulldog, Meanie, from an Elkhart County breeder. Meanie has congestion, violent seizures and is much smaller than an English Bulldog should be. The woman also says she found out the breeder bought the puppy from someone else for $800, then sold it to her for $1,800. (WSBT photo)
Story Created:
Mar 9, 2009 at 5:48 PM EDT
Story Updated:
Mar 9, 2009 at 6:24 PM EDT
ELKHART COUNTY — Your e-mails, comments and phone calls about a puppy breeding facility in Nappanee poured in all day Monday. As we reported on WSBT First Thing in the Morning, the Elkhart County Zoning Board recently granted that breeder a special use permit to have 64 adult dogs. We also found out he sells his dogs to the pet store at University Park Mall in Mishawaka.
A woman contacted us, claiming that same Elkhart County breeder sold her a sick dog.
We aren't naming the breeder or showing his face out of respect for his beliefs. The woman we interviewed Monday did not want her face shown on TV because of her involvement with local animal rescues.
The woman claimed she bought her English Bulldog, Meanie, from the Nappanee breeder two years ago.
"He did not let on that it was from somebody else's [breeding] lines," she said.
The woman said the breeder told her he raised Meanie on his farm. But she said she later found out he bought the puppy from someone else for $800, then sold it to her for $1,800.
She claims the worst part is Meanie has congestion, violent seizures and is much smaller than an English Bulldog should be.
"She weighs about 35 lbs. and she's supposed to weigh between 65 and 75," the woman told WSBT.
She also said another dog she bought from a local pet store, and who was raised by the same breeder in 2006, was sick too. She said a local vet told her that dog had a genetic skin disease.
"He would drag himself down our kitchen counters to scratch his body," she remembered.
The breeder's attorney, Loren Sloat, told WSBT the breeder "had that [dog] checked out by a veterinarian who couldn’t find anything wrong with it. He would’ve been happy to replace that dog if it had a skin disease. But there was nothing wrong with it.”
The attorney also said the woman never paid the breeder the full amount for the first bulldog she bought from him.
Kay Emond manages a veterinary clinic in Plymouth. She said she doesn't know the woman or that Elkhart County breeder, but she is familiar with large breeding operations.
"We see a lot of puppy mill dogs come in," Emond said. "Puppy mills usually have many, many breeds. Or it's just four or five females that they breed constantly. [That] would be a small puppy mill."
Emond said many dogs purchased from the so-called "puppy mills" often have severe health problems.
"Skin problems, temperament problems, poor health. Sometimes they're blind, sometimes they have bad joints, very bad knees," she continued. "They usually have a whole lifetime of health problems."
Meanie's owner said she wished she would have known that before buying her dog.
"You buy a puppy and you bring the puppy home, and you get wrapped up in this puppy and you attach yourself," the woman said.
We should also point out, that Elkhart County breeder is not facing any criminal charges because he hasn't broken any of the three state laws, which require that dogs have food, water and shelter.
He was selling dogs to Pat's Pets in UP Mall without a USDA permit, but he recently obtained that USDA commercial breeder's license.
There is legislation pending in the state Senate that would restrict this breeding operation and many others in our area. The so-called "puppy mill bill," or House Bill 1468, is supposed to be considered by an Indiana Senate committee this week.
We'll have more on that legislation, plus an exclusive tour of another local breeding facility, Tuesday at 6:30 a.m. on WSBT First Thing in the Morning.
WSBT’s Kelli Cheatham and an Indiana humane officer will answer questions about so-called "puppy mills" and the WSBT investigation into some local breeders. Join the chat at 8 a.m. Tuesday.
And on Wednesday, find out where humane officers suggest you should buy a dog to avoid supporting puppy mills.
