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Number of Holmes kennels nearly double since ’99
By ZACH LINT,T-R Staff Writer




In 1999, Holmes County issued 254 kennel licenses.

This year, the county may issue as many as 500.

Yvonne Earney issues and tracks kennel licenses for the Holmes County Auditor’s Office. She said dog kennels accounted for more than 7,000 dog licenses in Holmes County as of mid-October, and that number surely will grow.

“There are a lot of kennel operations,” Earney said. “We’re finding they’ll have 50, 60, 80 dogs in their kennel.”

The recent spike in the number of dog licenses issued by Holmes County coincides with the rise in the popularity of the Buckeye Dog Auction, which began at Berlin’s Amish Flea Market almost two years ago.

So far this year, Holmes County has collected $28,000 on 462 kennel licenses. It also took in an additional $4,766 by selling supplemental tags to kennels at $1 apiece.

Each kennel license costs breeders in Holmes County $60.

“Those numbers apply strictly to the licenses the kennels use,” said Joe Patterson, Holmes County’s dog warden. “It used to be we didn’t even push the extra tags. We saw what some other counties were doing with their dog tags and thought it might help increase our revenue.”

State law requires that any dog 3 months or older be licensed.

Patterson said the Dog Warden’s Office tries to be self-funded. He has hired an extra deputy dog warden to help out with increasing demand in Holmes County.

By comparison, Tuscarawas County has issued 436 kennel licenses in 2005.

“We’ve been pretty steady over the years,” said Tuscarawas County Auditor Matt Judy.

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Couple advises dog lovers beware of shady breeders
By ZACH LINT,T-R Staff Writer




Sue Welfley of Magnolia and her husband Gary went to Holmes County in search of two West Highland White Terriers.

“What we got has a mix of a little Jack Russell or maybe some miniature collie,” she said. “We’re not sure.”

Sue Welfley and others are warning dog lovers to beware before they buy a dog from a backwoods breeder.

“I had a co-worker who got his dogs from a breeder in Holmes County, and he said we should look into it,” she said. “I know I should have been leery after we asked to see their mother, and they said it was too muddy for us to go back there.”

On their first trip to the breeder, the Welfleys put down a $200 deposit after holding the pups in their arms.

“Oh my God did they stink,” Sue Welfley said. “Even after we left, our coats stunk like they lived in a chicken coup. It was horrible.”

They asked the breeders to wash the dogs before they took them home.

The Welfleys were to pay $600 total for their purchase, but the price was increased another $100 at the last minute because the dogs were female.

“I had a list of things I wanted to ask,” she said. “Then she (the breeder) handed me a Zip-Loc bag of cat food and I was like, ‘OK?’”

“They never had any social contact before we brought them home,” Welfley said. “We put them in the grass, and they didn’t know what to expect because they had never touched the ground and they were almost 3 months old.”

As they watched the dogs in the yard, it became apparent there was a problem. The dogs were eating each other’s feces.

A veterinarian explained that dogs are attracted to something in cat food that goes undigested.

“We took them to puppy kindergarten and were told to put some yogurt on their food to deter their fondness for feces,” said Welfley. “It worked.”