Breeder: Adams, Dora
Business name: Briarpatch Kennel
Address: RR D H C 63 Box 69
City, State Zip: Caulfield, MO 65626
Year: 2004
USDA License: 43-A-1496
USDA Inspector: Sandra Meek, ACI
USDA Inspections: 2003-07-10
Date of CAPS Investigation: 2004-09-27
Approximately 32 dogs and three puppies. Breeds: Yorkshire Terriers, Jack Russell Terriers, Shih Tzus
Dora Adams’ kennel consisted of two sections. The primary facility was a barn with indoor/outdoor cages.
Kennel barn – one side
The barn structure was about ten feet wide and thirty feet long. It had cages on each of its long sides and doorways on each of its shorter sides. The building had plastic siding on three of its walls, cinderblocks with no covering over them on its rear wall facing away from Adams’ house, and a peaked roof that extended out over its outdoor pens.
One side of this kennel barn had outdoor cages raised about two feet above the dirt ground on wooden stilts. There were about 16 cages on this side of the barn, each about two feet long, two feet wide, and about 1.5 feet high. One cage housed three adult Yorkshire Terriers, three cages each housed one to two adult Shih Tzu, and the remaining cages each housed one to two adult Yorkshire Terriers. Several of the Yorkshire Terriers had thick mats in their fur (2.40-Vet Care).
The cages were made of thin-gauge, untreated galvanized wire for the walls and roofs (3.6(a)(xii)-Primary enclosures) and treated wire for flooring. The cages had untreated wire doors on the outside, and all of the untreated wire of the cages was rusting (3.1(c)(1)(i)-– Surfaces).
Each cage had a doggie door with a rusting metal frame around it (3.1(c)(1)(i)-Surfaces) that led to the inside pens. These doggie doors were simply an opening with no windbreak on them (3.4(b)(3)-Shelter from the elements).
The plastic back walls of the cages were covered in oil and feces build-up (3.11(a)-Cleaning of primary enclosures). These walls extended below the cages to the dirt ground and were covered with feces stains (3.11(a)-Cleaning of primary enclosures). Below the cages more than two weeks’ accumulation of feces that was mixed with sawdust (3.11(a)-Cleaning of primary enclosures).
The indoor enclosures were also about two feet long, two feet wide, and about 1.5 feet high. These enclosures were made of wood painted white; the paint was rubbed away in several areas on the walls inside each cage (3.1(c)(2)-Maintenance and replacement of surfaces). Oil and feces buildup was on the walls (3.1(c)(3)-Cleaning of primary enclosures).
The cage walls that faced inside the barn had doors about a foot wide and 10 inches tall, hinged at the bottom. These doors were opened up, with a section of thin-gauge, galvanized wire behind each door. The wire sections had been painted white, though most of the paint had been scratched away by the dogs inside the cages, revealing rusty wire underneath (3.1(c)(1)(i)- Surfaces). Each cage also had a hinged wooden door in its roof to allow access to the dogs inside and a heat lamp on top of the wire roof. One cage housing a Shih Tzu had loose wire on the roof door and more than a dozen pieces of wire protruding into the pen (3.6(a)(2)(ii)-Primary enclosures). Several cages had one-gallon plastic jugs on top of the roofs. Most of the jugs appeared to contain water while one contained a brown liquid (3.1(e)-Storage).
Kennel barn – other side
The opposite side of the barn had about 15 indoor/outdoor cages. The outdoor cage closest to Adams’ house was about five feet long, five feet wide, and four feet high. The other cages were about five feet long, 2.5 feet wide, and four feet high. These cages were made with thick-gauge wire for the walls, and the doors consisted of a combination of wood and thick-gauge, galvanized wire.
Each cage was on the bare ground and had more than two weeks’ accumulation of feces mixed with saw dust on the ground (3.11(a)-Cleaning of primary enclosures). Doggie doors connected these cages to the indoor cages; again, the doors had no windbreaks on them (3.4(b)(3)-Shelter from the elements).
The indoor cages were about 2.5 feet wide, three feet long, and three feet high. These cages had wooden walls and wood-frame doors with thin-gauge galvanized wire. All of the wood and wire was painted white. The wooden walls inside the cages had paint worn away from them 3.1(c)(2)-Maintenance and replacement of surfaces) and oil and feces buildup on them (3.1(c)(3-Cleaning). The cages were on concrete flooring and covered with dirt, feces, and saw dust (3.11(a)-Cleaning of primary enclosures). Each cage housed two adult Yorkshire Terriers.
Each indoor cage contained a section of carpet about ten inches long and eight inches wide and plastic and metal food and water dishes on the flooring. The food dishes were not placed so as to minimize contamination by excreta (3.9(b)-Feeding). About 20 one-gallon plastic jugs were stored on top of the cages (3.1(e)-Storage). Two bottles of bug spray and a can of Raid pest spray were on the ground next to the doorway facing the direction of Adams’ house and within about six inches of a Yorkshire Terrier cage closest to this doorway (3.1(e)-Storage).
Kennel barn – other pens
On the same side of the barn as the Yorkshire Terrier cages described above was a cage containing three Shih Tzu puppies about six-weeks-old. The cage was about ten feet from the rear door of the barn. It was about three feet long, a foot wide, and 1.5 feet high. The cage was positioned against the wall and raised four feet above the floor. It was about eight inches above another cage against the wall. Newspapers were on top the lower cage (3.1(b)-Condition and site), which was made of treated wire and had a wire door on its long side facing away from the wall. The flooring of the pen had a section of carpet about a foot long and wide, a metal water and food dish, and two rubber balls.
The center of the barn had a row of about a dozen plastic and metal trash cans and a stack of about ten feed bags. There was also a table next to the trash cans with several items stored on top, including a plastic cup and bowl and several small hand tools (3.1(b)-Condition and site) (3.1(e)-Storage).
Outdoor pens
There were four outdoor pens next to each other in a row on the side of the barn away from Adam’s house. These pens had thick-gauge, untreated wire walls three to four feet high. There were one-foot-high sections of galvanized wire at the bottom of the pens and chain link gates. The pens had dirt floorings. Two pens each housed an adult Jack Russell, which Adams said she had acquired from another party and would give away. The other two pens each housed an adult Shih Tzu.
Each Shih Tzu pen had a single plastic dog house about two feet wide, 2.5 feet long, and two feet high with no windbreak on the entrance (3.4(b)(3)-Shelter from the elements). The Jack Russell pens were about 15 feet wide and 15 feet long each with a dog house about three feet wide, four feet long, and three feet high. It was not clear if these houses had wind breaks on the doors. Each pen contained metal food and water dishes set on the dirt ground, and the food dishes were not placed so as to minimize contamination by excreta (3.9(b)-Feeding). The water and food dishes in the Shih Tzu pens were completely empty except for a thin layer of loose dirt in each (3.9(a)-Feeding) (3.10-Watering). The dishes were covered with a thin layer of caked-on dirt (3.11(b)(1)-Sanitization of food and water receptacles).
