Breeder: Larry Albrecht
Business name: Coldwater Kennel
Address: 12059 Camp Comfort Rd.
City, State Zip: Greene, IA 50636
Year: 2014
USDA License: 42-A-1212
Date of CAPS Investigation: 07/09/14
Approximate number of dogs observed at time of investigation: approximately 300 dogs.
Breeds: Teddy Bears, Bichons Frises, Shih Tzus, Poodles, Mountain Curs, Maltese, Yorkshire Terriers, Havanese, West Highland Terriers, and mixes of these breeds.
Building 1
When I arrived at Coldwater Kennel, Larry first showed me the puppy room. There was a row of mesh-bottom kennels on each side of this room. Kennels on the right side of the room housed puppies, while kennels on the left housed the whelping mothers. The puppy kennels had feces accumulation on the ground below (Sec 3.11 Cleaning, Sanitization and Pest Control (a) Cleaning). The kennels holding the mother dogs had thick metal covers to prevent the dogs from looking out; as a result, there was insufficient light allowed in the kennels (Sec. 3.3 Sheltered Housing Facilities (c) Lighting).
There were two open boxes in the middle of the room to hold the puppies Larry showed me. He pulled out a male Maltese puppy from the puppy pen by its elbow (Sec 2.131 Handling of animals (b) (1) Handling).
After looking at a few puppies, he took me to a room housing more puppies. There was a strong smell in this room and flies throughout (Sec 3.1 Cleaning, Sanitization and Pest Control (a) Cleaning (f) Pest control). Here there were six puppies in a kennel (Sec 3.6 Primary Enclosures (c)(1)(i) Space requirements). Two kennels had rusty cage wires (Sec. 3.1 Housing facilities (c)(1) Rust).
We then started toward his office to identify the pedigree of some puppies. On the way there, we passed outdoor kennel runs, measuring four feet by eight feet, that held from four to eight dogs each. Sec 3.6 Primary Enclosures (c)(1)(i) Space requirements identifies space requirements as follows:
(Length of dog in inches + 6) x (length of dog in inches + 6) = required floor space in square inches.
Required floor space in square inches/144 = required floor space in square feet.
There was a single, plastic dog house in each of these kennels. A few of the kennels had no protection from the elements (Sec. 3.4 Outdoor Housing Facilities (b) Shelter from elements). USDA cited this violation on 08/14/2014.
As we walked, Larry stated he also bred Mountain Curs. There were about six Mountain Cur adults tethered in the yard by big chains anchored into the ground (Sec 3.6 Primary Enclosures (c) (4) Tethering). There was a single, igloo-type dog house. One male Mountain Cur had scabs on his ears and was covered with flies (Sec 2.40 Attending Veterinarian and Adequate Veterinary Care (b)(2) Veterinary care).
Building 2
We then went into another indoor area with small kennels, each housing two adult dogs (Sec 3.6 Primary Enclosures (c)(1)(i) Space requirements). It was nearly completely dark in this room (3.3 Sheltered Housing Facilities (c) Lighting). The smell was very strong, and there were flies all over this room (Sec 3.11 Cleaning, Sanitization and Pest Control (a) Cleaning).
On the way back to the puppy room where we started, we walked past a row of outdoor kennels each housing five dogs and containing one plastic, homemade dog house. These kennels also had only one feeding container and one water bowl (Sec 3.9 Feeding (a) Sufficient quantity).
