Breeder: Yoder, Allen and Mary
City, State Zip: Coalgate, OK 74538
Year: 2007
USDA License: 1020 RR 5
Date of CAPS Investigation: 2007-02-27
Breeds: Golden Retrievers, Huskies, Shih Tzu, Dachshunds, Yorkshire Terriers, American Eskimos
On the premises at the time of investigation: approximately 100 dogs and 20 puppies.
This facility included a building that housed whelping dogs and their puppies and small-breed breeders. It also had outdoor runs with whelping boxes and outdoor breeder pens.
Kennel building
The kennel building had cages on two sides. Along each of these walls, one row of cages was set above another, with ten cages per row. The cages were made of treated wire, and there was plastic sheeting below each row of cages to catch feces and debris. These cages had plastic self-feeders and automatic water spigots. Metal doggie doors allowed access to outdoor cages. Each cage housed two small-breed dogs, or a whelping mother and puppies. Two cages each contained two Shih Tzus, all of which had thick mats in their fur, particularly on their undersides (2.40-Vet care).
Outdoor pens
There were about ten outdoor breeder pens, which were large areas of dirt surrounded by wire walls. Each contained a wooden dog house lacking a windbreak (3.4(b)(3)-Shelter from the elements) and holding three Huskies or Golden Retrievers.
Husky whelping pens
Two of the outdoor whelping pens consisted of wire runs with plastic whelping boxes accessible via doggie doors. The boxes were about three feet wide and high and four feet long. Each housed a nursing Husky and six to seven puppies.
The mothers were each about four feet long from the tip of the nose to the base of the tail and were unable to lie down without being in contact with the box walls (3.6(a)(2)(xi)-Primary enclosures).
The boxes were in complete darkness, visible only because Allen lifted the plastic ceiling off the boxes to view inside (3.2(c)-Lighting). The plastic floorings and carpet sections over them were covered in fecal stains (3.1(c)(1)(3)-Surfaces).
