Breeder: Johnson, Ruth
Business name: Luva-Pup’s Kennel
Address: 5514 E Hwy U
City, State Zip: El Dorado Springs, MO 64744
Year: 2004
USDA License: 43-A-0430
USDA Inspector: David Courtwright, ACI
USDA Inspections: 2003-01-09
Date of CAPS Investigation: 2004-09-26
Approximately 60 dogs. Breeds: Poodles, Shih Tzu, Scottish Terriers
Ruth Johnson’s kennel consisted of several different buildings and outdoor enclosures. Mr. Johnson did not allow me complete access to the kennel. There are about a dozen outdoor enclosures on the property that were spaced within four to 15 feet of each other; all of them were behind and within 200 feet of Johnson’s house.
Two of the enclosures were about eight feet long and eight feet wide, and each contained four pens adjacent to each other and in a row. They were about eight feet long, two feet wide, and two feet high. These pens were raised about two feet off the dirt ground with metal stilts that connected with metal beams running along the edges of the enclosures. The back of each pen consisted of a wooden box about two feet wide, two feet long, and two feet high and painted white. Some of the boxes contained doggie doors while others did not and had no wind/rain breaks at their entrances (3.4(b)(3)-Shelter from the elements). The remainder of each pen was made of treated wire with a metal frame surrounding it. The pens were covered by slanted metal roofing.
The other enclosures also were about two feet wide, eight feet long, and two feet high and arranged in two rows. They were made of metal beams and wood painted red to support the corners and edges of each pen, had slanted metal roofing, and wooden stilts that raised each pen about a foot above the dirt ground. The walls and flooring of each pen were made of treated wire, and the back of each pen had a wooden box about two feet wide, two feet long, and two feet high. Some of the boxes contained doggie doors while others had no windbreaks on them (3.4(b)(3)-Shelter from the elements). There were three pens of this type closest to Johnson’s house. The remaining pens adjacent to each other in a row directed away from the other three.
It was clear that one of the pens lower to the ground and closest to Johnson’s house contained Scottish Terriers, and the sets of pens raised higher off the ground contained Shih Tzu and Bichons. A row of six pens lower to the ground and set adjacent to each other in a row directed away from Johnson’s house appeared to contain various breeds, although I was only able to observe that the first two pens contained Bichons.
All of the pens had plastic and metal food and water dishes placed on the pen floorings, and the food dishes were not placed so as to minimize contamination by excreta (3.9(b)- Feeding). All of the pens had more than two weeks’ accumulation of feces mixed with saw dust beneath them (3.11(a)-Cleaning of primary enclosures). The feces mounds were about two feet wide and six feet long (the same size as the dimensions of the wire floorings of the outdoor enclosures). In places these mounds were up to four inches high (3.11(a)-Cleaning of primary enclosures). Flies covered the feces mounds under the pens (3.11(d)-Pest Control). A plastic food container was on the metal roofing of a pen containing Scottish Terriers (3.1(b)-Condition and site).
