At least 70 dogs rescued from Ohio puppy mill

LOVELAND, Ohio (WKRC) - A local charity is stepping up to rescue more than 70 dogs they said were being kept in deplorable conditions at an Ohio puppy mill.

Volunteers with Loveland-based Paws For Miles said they got a call last week from an Amish dog breeder in Holmes County who was desperate to offload some of the dogs prior to a state inspection.

"They called him and told him that they were coming to inspect," said Aaron Jones.

Tuesday, volunteers made the three-hour trek to pick up the dogs.

Local 12 was on hand when they arrived at the Loveland shelter. Some had matted fur and others were caked in feces.

Volunteers said they found the dogs living in unsheltered cages outdoors.

"They can only move so much when there's 20 of them inside of a 10-foot by 20-foot pen. When you've got 20 of them in there, they're all rubbing up against each other, rubbing up against the chain link," said Jones.

While the conditions were horrifying to rescuers, they apparently didn't concern the dogs' owner.

"He was more concerned about not making money off them anymore than he was concerned about the dogs," said Lisa Hammond.

When asked if the breeder appeared embarrassed by the conditions of the dogs, Hammond responded, "Oh no. He was pretty proud."

Rescuing the dogs is just the first part of the mission. Many will still require medical attention.

"It takes months. They need to be vetted, they need to have all the mattes cut out of them and need to be groomed," said Jones.

Paws For Miles is planning to house the dogs in a building it wasn't planning to open for several more years. But because of the major influx of dogs in such a short amount of time, the shelter said it had to speed up construction.

"We're really one medical dog away from not being able to do this anymore. So what we need is corporate sponsors with, like, $250,000 a year," said Jones.

Not all of the rescued dogs went to Paws For Miles. Several went to the SPCA.