Breeder: Burkholder, Keith and Marlene
Business name: Conestoga Kennel
City, State Zip: Ephrata, PA 17522
Year: 2005
USDA License: 23-A-0133
Date of CAPS Investigation: 2005-02-26
Breeds: Two mixed breed puppies

The only kennel observed on the property was an outside pen about 10 feet long and five feet wide that was made of six-foot-tall chain link fencing. It had a snow-covered dirt flooring. There were two mixed-breed puppies in the pen, each weighing about five pounds.

There was no roofing over the enclosure. A blue tarp covered one five-foot-long wall and extended about three feet over the top of the pen. A plastic igloo-type dog house, about 2.5 feet wide and high, was in one corner of the pen. This dog house lacked a windbreak at the entrance, which faced away from the tarp (3.4(b)(3)-Outdoor housing facilities). Although the temperature was less than 50 °F, there was no bedding in the dog house (3.4(b)(4)-Outdoor housing facilities).

The chain link doorway, rusting at its bottom pole (3.1(c)(1)(i)-Surfaces), was broken at a bottom corner (3.1(a)- Structure; Construction).

Plastic food dishes on the pen flooring were not positioned in a manner that would minimize contamination by excreta or pests (3.9(b)-Feeding). Plastic water dishes on the flooring were full of ice (3.10-Watering).

There was several days’ accumulation of feces in the pen (3.11(a)-Cleaning), mixed with mud and snow across the entire pen.