Rescued dogs adjusting to new life; some could be up for adoption soon
By Amy Lavalley Post-Tribune correspondent January 13, 2012 5:52PM
Porter County Animal Shelter interim director Jon Thomas checks in on one of the dogs seized by Porter County Sheriff's Department and Animal Control recently at a location where they are staying in Valparaiso, Ind. Friday January 13, 2012. About 80 dogs were seized in the animal hoarding case from a residence in Chesterton Wednesday. | Stephanie Dowell~Sun-Times Media
To donate
The Porter County Animal Shelter, 2056 Heavlin Road, Valparaiso, is accepting the following donations to help in its care of the dogs seized in the Chesterton area this week:
Dog food and treats
Sheets and blankets
Crates for large dogs
The shelter is open from noon to 6 p.m. Sunday, Tuesday, Friday and Saturday, and from noon to 8 p.m. on Wednesday and Thursday. The shelter is closed on Monday.
For more information or to volunteer, call 465-3550; go to portercoanimalshelter.com; or find the shelter on Facebook.
Article Extras
Updated: February 15, 2012 8:07AM
The dogs rescued from the site of one of the worst apparent cases of animal hoarding in Porter County are already being socialized and may be ready to be adopted out in a week, though an undisclosed number of the dogs had to be euthanized because they were feral and could not be socialized.
“They’re starting to do a little better,” Jon Thomas, interim director of the Porter County Animal Shelter, said Friday, standing outside the location where many of the dogs are being kept. “I want to try to socialize them and find them homes.”
Wednesday and Thursday, officers with Porter County Animal Control and the Porter County Sheriff’s Department seized 82 dogs from a home at 190 E. County Road 1400N in Westchester Township, near Chesterton. The dogs belonged to Donna Montoya, 50, who lives at the residence. The case will be forwarded to the Porter County Prosecutor’s Office next week; she could face multiple counts of cruelty to animals, a Class A misdemeanor.
Several of the dogs are already in foster homes and the rest are being kept at a location officials asked the Post-Tribune not to disclose. Seven puppies Montoya surrendered to the shelter last week are already being adopted out.
Thomas regrets that some of the dogs had to be euthanized.
“They were very feral, and some of them in there were quite aggressive,” he said, adding more dogs may have to be put down.
In addition to Thomas, the shelter has two full-time staff, four part-time staffers and numerous volunteers, all of who have been pitching in to care for the dogs. It has been working well, Thomas said, but has been draining, too.
The dogs are kept in crates with blankets for bedding. They each have clean water and fresh food, and the place where they are smells of disinfectant. Some lie in their cages, while others bark or look around.
They get the occasional treat and shelter staff and volunteers take them outside; some have even been allowed to wander around the room they’re in.
Montoya agreed to surrender her dogs to the shelter, though she would like to get around 12 of them back.
“I’m trying to do everything I can to help her,” Thomas said, adding he has a good rapport with her.
So far, none of them have shown signs of the canine parvovirus, a disease that the puppies Montoya surrendered last week had. While the dogs were scared and disoriented when they arrived at their temporary home, Thomas said they are starting to respond to his voice.
Animal behaviorist Toni Bianchi, who also is president of the animal shelter advisory board, will assess the dogs early next week and Thomas said adoptions could begin in a week.
“The way they’ve started already coming around to me gives me great hope,” he said.
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