LAS VEGAS (KTNV) — More than 20 dogs were taken to Animal Care and Control in Henderson after a residential dog daycare was shut down by the city. Henderson police say it was being illegally operated and was tied to animal welfare cases.
13 Action News spoke to one woman whose two dogs were removed from that daycare.
"Those are my babies," said Nancy Flowers-Hedge. "I don't have kids. Those are my babies."
Flowers-Hedge dropped off her two yellow labs, Boomer and Baxter, last Wednesday for a nine-day stay at Dakota's Doggy Den - a residential dog daycare center in Henderson. For the first few days, everything seemed fine.
"She was sending me nightly photos of the dogs," Flowers-Hedge said of the owner.
That was until Monday.
"All of a sudden I got a call, a messenger message off of her phone saying, 'Kim's been taken into custody. Come get your animals,'" she said.
Henderson Animal Care and Control raided the property, removing 51 dogs. Henderson police said half the dogs were returned to their owners, the others were taken to the Animal Care and Control center on Galleria.
The owner was slapped with three citations - violations of animal establishment permit, too many dogs on the property and illegal crating and boxing. At the property Tuesday, the owner didn't want to go on camera but her friend Greg Itzoe said the shutdown came after she was given a citation Sunday for having too many dogs.
"They gave her a $1,700 citation and said that she has to go to court on July 26th," said Itzoe. "That was where they left it. So she did business, as usual, preparing for court, and the next morning they came back and did this."
Itzoe said the owner lives and breathes her dogs and cares for them like children.
"I know it sounds like a lot of dogs but never any problems, never," Itzoe said.
Henderson is still investigating but for now, Flowers-Hedge is desperate to get home to her pups - especially her 11-and-a-half-year-old Boomer, who she said has weak back legs.
"Boomer is not going to be with us much longer," she said. "I'm hoping that he makes it through this."
