Breeder: Moeller, Larry
City, State Zip: Salem, IA 52649
Year: 2006
USDA License: 42-A-0889
Date of CAPS Investigation: 2006-09-11
Time of CAPS Investigation: 10:57
On the premises at the time of investigation: 13 dogs.
Breeds: German Shepherds.
The kennel property consisted of the same structures and design as at the Jordan Kruse facility, although at this facility I was able to observe the indoor whelping area as well.
Main building
The main building contained ten indoor/outdoor pens in a row along one side of the building and two pens on another wall of the building. One of these two pens was connected to an indoor whelping enclosure. Each of the outdoor pens was about four feet wide and eight feet long and had six-foot-high chain-link walls and a doggie door accessing the indoor pen. Each housed a single adult German Shepherd weighing about 60 pounds.
Months’ accumulation of feces was washed onto the grass just beyond the concrete flooring, in piles and spread over an area six feet beyond the flooring (3.1(f)-Drainage and waste disposal).
Metal self-feeders were attached to the indoor cage walls. Each inside pen also contained a five-gallon plastic bucket near a chain-link door. All of the buckets contained dark brown water, and the surfaces of the buckets were covered in brown stains and bits of feces (3.10-Watering).
Several days’ accumulation of feces was trampled across the concrete floorings of each indoor pen. When asked how often he cleaned the indoor pens, Larry Moeller said, “I wash this thing down two times a week.” (3.11(a)-Cleaning of primary enclosures )
Whelping pen
The whelping pen contained a pregnant Shepherd. The indoor pen had a wooden ledge along each wall, about three inches high from the concrete floor to provide cover for the puppies. Wooden shavings filled the pen.
There was a concrete floor slab near the corner of the building between this pen and the others. It had a sunken area two foot wide and two feet long through which runoff from the inside pens drained. This concrete draining area was filled with feces and hair (3.1(f)-Drainage and waste disposal).
Tethering
A solitary enclosure and separate dog house, each with a German Shepherd tethered near them (3.6(c)(4)-Prohibited means of primary enclosure), were not in use at the time of investigation. A loose male Shepherd was in the yard.
