Merced animal rescue tries to deal with 20 dogs unloaded there

MERCED — Sitting in a shaded kennel, Pam Moody was surrounded by dogs.

Poodles, cockers and a fuzzy little black puppy mobbed her, wanting to be petted.

Moody is a volunteer at the Last Hope Cat Kingdom, a rescue organization in Atwater that finds homes for cats, dogs and large animals. Moody said that on Aug. 22, a moving van filled with crates packed with little dogs arrived at the rescue organization.

"The dogs were stuffed two and three dogs in tiny carriers in the van," Moody said. "They were encrusted with filth and feces."

The van was driven by a woman Moody believes is a hoarder.

Animal hoarders are people who keep a higher than usual number of animals as pets without having the ability to properly house or care for them.

"She told us she had about 40 dogs, and she wanted us to take some of them," Moody said.

The rescue, which is run by Renate Schmidt, took in the 20 dogs, all of them small. Some are purebred — there are cocker spaniels, Chinese cresteds, Boston terriers, poodles — and others are mixed breeds.

"All of them are less than 20 pounds. One of them is a Labrador retriever and German shepherd mix, that one is still very young."

Moody said that as soon as the animals were out of the crates, they all got bathed, and five of them were groomed professionally at PetSmart in Merced, which donated the groomings to the rescue organization.

Moody said all the dogs seem to be well-socialized, and although some have health issues, none was thin or malnourished.

The woman who dropped off the dogs then went to a residence in Stevinson, and animal control was called out to investigate.

Rick Blackwell, animal services manager for the Merced County Animal Shelter, said one of his investigators went to the Stevinson residence last week and although no citations were issued, he said the investigation is ongoing.

The woman, whose name wasn't released by county animal control, supposedly left the area Sunday with 22 dogs, Blackwell said.

A county investigator was back at the Stevinson residence Monday and found no dogs.

At the rescue in rural Atwater, volunteers were working Monday to try to place some of the animals with other rescue organizations.

"They all have to be spayed and neutered before they go," Moody said. "They are all doing really well. They are really very nice little dogs."