Breeder loses 7 neglected dogs, fined $10K

First reported at JConline.com

A judge on Tuesday took steps to finally shut down a dog breeder who evaded repeated efforts by Tippecanoe County officials to stop him from neglecting the border collies he kept in "deplorable" conditions.

Tippecanoe Superior 6 Judge Michael Morrissey permanently severed breeder Thurman "Randy" Sanders Jr.'s ownership of seven dogs rescued in February from an unheated barn where they were suffering in filth.

"The conditions that I heard of today are deplorable," Morrissey said Tuesday at the end of a two-hour evidentiary hearing.

Heather Baker, a veterinarian who examined the dogs taken from Sanders, testified that they had a body condition of 1 out of 5 (on a standardized veterinarian scale).

"A body score of 1 is considered emaciated," Baker said.

When they were rescued, the dogs were covered in feces and had skin conditions caused from lying in their excrement and urine, Baker said. The animals were infested with worms, lice and suffered from other maladies.

Two dogs suffered from painful ailments — one had hip dysplasia and the other had a melting cornea causing blindness and glaucoma-like symptoms. These dogs immediately required expensive medical attention.

"Imagine your cornea melting. It's incredibly painful," Baker said of the 8-month-old pup that had his left eye removed the week he arrived at Crystal Creek Kennels.

"I would say Mr. Sanders was very negligent in the care of these animals," Baker testified.

Morrissey severed Sanders' ownership of the dogs, clearing the way for Crystal Creek Kennels to turn the dogs over to Hull's Haven, a border collie rescue facility in Canada. Hull's Haven agreed to rehabilitate the seven dogs, which are skittish around humans and continue to foul their sleeping areas.

David Barnes, a friend who testified Tuesday as Sanders' sole defender, disputed that the dogs were in poor condition when they were rescued from Sanders.

"I watched them take these dogs out — there were no manure on these dogs," Barnes said.

The judge indicated that ending Sanders' ownership of the dogs was just the first step.

"He can't own or possess a dog, except for Spud," Morrissey said, referring to one border collie still in Sanders' possession. The judge barred Sanders from allowing Spud to breed.

Morrissey set a July 14 hearing to determine if the court has the authority to bar a person from owning a dog. At that hearing, Sanders' continued ownership of Spud will be determined.

Sanders and his dog-breeding operations have been a thorn in the county's side for nearly a decade, forcing animal control officers, county officials and the courts to repeatedly review his operations.

In 2013, Sanders was acquitted on criminal animal neglect charges and a list of ordinance violations fell by the wayside, never pursued after the acquittal, according to Tuesday's proceedings.

But 30 ordinance violations stemming from the February seizure of Sanders' dogs hit the rural Stockwell breeder in the wallet. He was fined $24,600, but Morrissey noted that the court's jurisdiction limited the assessed fine to $10,000. Collecting the fine, however, is far from certain.

Sanders already owes nearly $50,000 in fines from the county's successful court action taken last fall to restrict him to keeping no more than three dogs — a court order he was violating at the time the seven dogs were rescued in February. Sanders has not made a single payment toward that fine.

He is scheduled to be back in court April 20 to explain how he plans to pay those fines.

Previous stories about this breeder and his animals: