Breeder: David J Troyer
Kennel Name: Lone Star Kennel
Address: 31543 W 162nd Ave
City, State, Zip: Bethany, MO 64424
USDA License: 43-A-6903
Date and time of CAPS Investigation: 6/22/26, 1345
Weather at time of investigation: 71°F and cloudy
Number of dogs and puppies noted in a 5/15/25 USDA inspection: 57 dogs and 19 puppies
I spoke to a man who identified himself as David Troyer (Caucasian Amish male, about 38 years old, 6’6”, 180 lbs., with short black hair under a hat, a long black beard, and missing a left upper lateral incisor tooth). He came to speak to me in a yard on his property, far from his kennel, which I did not observe. However, David spoke to me about how he operates his kennel and views his dogs.
Breeder kills all of his dogs
David explained that he sells his puppies to a man named Will Yoder who is with K9 Partners, and who sells David’s puppies to Pennsylvania and Florida. David also said that he is not Canine Care Certified, but his kennel is set up to be. The specific reason he’s not CCC is because CCC requires him to not kill his spent breeding dogs, and David said he can’t find anyone to take his dogs, so he has a vet kill all of them. He explained, “The Canine Care Certification, if anything happens with any adult dogs, and I know anybody gets attached to his dogs, but when you’re raising dogs to sell, you’ve gotta have a little bit of idea you’ve gotta retire and get rid of these dogs one way or another. So, euthanization is not really an option when you’re in Canine Care. And so, you know, now you have to rehome this adult dog, and you may only raise six litters. That’s a Canine Care rule. And so you know a dog’s good for nine litters.”
He indicated that the vet may let him dock tails of his puppies, saying, “And it’s called a program of vet care. And on there you can, if you got a good vet, you can pretty much write on there what you want to write on there. And it says ‘other,’ and you just write on there, docked the tails and whatever you wanna do. And the vet will either cross it out or sign his name at the bottom of the page.”
He explained that he can’t place his spent breeding dogs
David told me that he’s aware that shooting dogs isn’t allowed, and so he has his vet euthanize them. He explained, “You have to pay, it costs right now a hundred and fifty dollars a dog to put a dog down. But on the flip side, if they eat about three dollars a day, and after messing around three or four months trying to get them sold, I might as well get them out of here and put a dog in there that’s eating something good. And doing me good.”
Breeder joked about Canine Care record-keeping
He said CCC requires a yearly fee, which he believed was two hundred and thirty dollars, though it depends on how many dogs you have. He also said that CCC requires dogs to be in play yards every day, but not when it rains and not on weekends, and that notes have to be kept. He added, “So if it rains every day, well you just write down rain,” then he laughed.
