Breeder: Watts, Larry and Tony
Business name: Watts Kennel
Address: 888 S Carbon City Road
City, State Zip: Paris, AR 72855
Year: 2004
USDA License: 71-A-0638
USDA Inspector: Henry Baughman, Jr., ACI
USDA Inspections: November 04, 2003
Date of CAPS Investigation: August 21, 2004
Approximately 50 dogs and 25 puppies. Breeds: English Setters, Chihuahuas, Miniature Dachshunds, Boxers, Rat Terriers, Boxers
General structure
Larry and Tony Watt’s kennel centered around a structure about 100 feet long and 20 feet wide with concrete flooring and a peaked metal roof with wooden trusses. A whelping building was at one of the 20-foot-wide ends, and outdoor pens containing English Setters and Boxers were along the 100-foot-long wall away from the Carbon City Road that accesses the property.
The structure was open on the other two sides. The long wall closer to the road had numerous objects stacked near the wooden beams supporting the roof, including cages, dog houses, water hoses, and tool boxes. Inside the entryway, about 20 feet from the whelping building and outdoor pens, were several gas cans sitting on the concrete flooring (3.11(c)-Housekeeping for premises).
Outdoor pens
There were about eight outdoor pens, each about five feet wide and 20 feet long, with six-foot-tall walls of thick-gauge wire and chain link. The roof of the structure covered about half the length of the pens. The two pens closest to the whelping building were on concrete flooring, while the others were on dirt flooring. About six of the pens contained two adult English Setters, while the other two each contained two adult Boxers.
Each pen had metal water buckets and metal self feeders hanging about a foot high on the wire walls. Each pen contained a wooden box about three feet tall, three feet long, and three feet wide. These dog houses were not large enough to allow both dogs in each pen to lie down in a normal manner or turn about freely (3.4)(b)-(Shelter from the elements). One English Setter was able to stick its head completely through one of the openings of the thick-gauge wire towards the center of the roofed structure (3.1(a)-Structure; construction).
Whelping building
Watts said that the whelping building, about 60 feet long and 20 feet wide, was previously used for handling cattle. The building was a single-story structure made of cinder blocks with a peaked metal roof and concrete flooring. It contained a trench about four feet deep and four feet wide with a stairway at each end. There was debris build-up about an inch thick in the crevices of the stairway leading to the English Setter pens from this area; this debris build-up appeared to be from feces blown out of the cages (3.11(c)-Housekeeping for premises).
On either side of the trench there were about five chain-link pens against the painted cinder block walls. Each pen was about five foot wide and five feet long with five-foot-high walls. Each of these pens had a window about a foot tall and 18 inches wide, about eight feet above the ground. These windows were ineffective in letting sunlight in, as the building was completely dark before Watts turned on the lights when entering (3.2(c)-Lighting).
About four of the pens contained either a nursing Rat Terrier and her puppies or a nursing Chihuahua with puppies. Inside each these pens was the bottom half of a plastic dog house, about two feet wide and three feet long, with one-foot-square sections of carpet set into the dog houses. Each pen had a drain with a metal cover in one corner, a metal self-feeder hung on the pen’s wire wall, and a water dish on the concrete flooring. All of the floorings of the pens were wet (3.11(a)-Cleaning of primary enclosures).
The other pens held banks of empty cages, some of which contained metal and plastic food and water dishes. Most of these pens, even those containing dogs, had plastic and metal food and water dishes and plastic self feeders, carpet sections, metal buckets, and the bottom halves of plastic dog houses stored on top of their wire roofing (3.1(b)-Condition and site).
Near the doorway near the above described cages were three cages made of treated wire, each about 18 inches tall, 18 inches wide, and about two feet long. Each cage contained three to four two-pound Miniature Dachshund puppies (3.6(c)(1)(i)-Primary enclosures).
On the other side of the doorway, near the Miniature Dachshund cages, were three cages made of treated wire, each about 18 inches tall, 18 inches wide, and about two feet long. The middle cage contained four two-pound Miniature Dachshund puppies (3.6(c)(1)(i)-Primary enclosures). The cage had a plastic water dish placed on its flooring and plastic self feeder set on one of its cage walls.
Across from these cages were two sets of empty treated-wire cages stacked three high, some of which contained empty metal and plastic food and water containers (3.1(b)-Condition and site).
There was a metal door in the wall closest to the road, near the end of the building with the Miniature Dachshund puppies’ cage.
Second bank of outdoor pens
Against the outdoor wall of the whelping building away from the road, adjacent to the outdoor pens containing Boxers, were eight more pens measuring about five feet wide and twenty feet long. A slanted metal roof extended about five feet over the pens from the whelping building. These pens were made of five-foot-tall thick-gauge wire supported by metal beams and had concrete floorings. Each housed about four adult Miniature Dachshunds.
The metal beams were spray-painted silver. The paint was peeling (3.1(c)(2)-Surfaces) and rust was evident on several areas of the beams (3.1(c)(1)(i)-Surfaces). Each pen had metal self-feeders and water buckets attached to the wire walls and contained plastic, igloo-type dog houses about 2.5 feet tall, 2.5 feet wide, and 2.5 feet long.
Two of the Dachshund pens were separated from the others by a concrete walkway that extended to a chain link gate at the far end of the pens. Near these pens, a crack extended across the width of the concrete flooring of the whelping building (3.1(a)-Structure; construction).
