When Mary Woolnough went to meet her puppy for the first time at a well-known Tasmanian breeder, she didn't expect to leave feeling like she had to rescue him.
"We were all a bit shocked with what we saw," she said.
"There were so many puppies, and they were in pens and there was a tractor going around with a person just flinging out raw chicken into the pens.
"That was a bit confronting."
Ms Woolnough still wanted to go through with buying Archie.
"I felt as if I was saving him from that, you know, that he'd been brought up in a pretty awful way."
But, at that point, she had no idea of the issues Archie would bring with him.
Archie was born four years ago at Tasmanian Labradoodles, the breeder in Tasmania's north that was last week shut down over allegations of overbreeding.
Tasmanian Labradoodles operated for more than a decade on a 36-hectare property at Epping Forrest, south of Launceston.
The RSPCA first brought 70 charges for over breeding against the owners, Elizabeth Anne Bartlett and her husband Paul, in early 2023, before last week reaching an out-of-court agreement for the immediate and permanent closure of the facility and the surrender of all of its dogs.
As the RSPCA works to find new homes for the rescued dogs, owners who have bought puppies from the breeder over the past 10 years are speaking up about the extensive health issues affecting their dogs.
Ms Woolnough said Archie's health and wellbeing was significantly impacted.
"He's got one front leg that's very deformed and crooked, which causes him pain and which will get very arthritic when he's a little bit older," she said.
"He's got hip dysplasia in one of his hips and he suffers terribly from nervousness and anxiety."
Archie needs three types of medications daily to help ease his pain and anxiety.
While Ms Woolnough said it was constant work to try to make Archie's life more comfortable.
"I've found it hard because sometimes I feel I can't quite get a break, because I can't leave him with anyone really, it's just not worth it," she said.
"I did try to go away and leave him in a resort place that was supposed to be good for nervous dogs, but he was only there two hours, and I had to go back and get him."
Hefty health bills and heartbreaking conditions
Sydney-based owner Nancy Bartlett estimates she has spent more than $200,000 on her nearly nine-year-old dog Oscar, bought from Tasmanian Labradoodles in 2015.
"He started to have health issues the day that we got him," she said.
Ms Bartlett called the breeder the next day to seek information about why Oscar was experiencing diarrhoea and vomiting.
She said the breeder offered to replace him with a different puppy.
Ms Bartlett declined.
"I felt terrible that I had spent any money," she said.
At nine months old, Oscar's legs stopped working properly and the breeder refunded the $2,500 Ms Bartlett had paid for him.
Oscar now has hip dysplasia, a spinal condition called intervertebral disc disease, inflammatory bowel disease and a thyroid condition.
"He's allergic to all animal protein except crocodile and fish. He had to go on steroids for quite a long period of time so all his joints are incredibly loose," Ms Bartlett said.
Jumping from a height could leave him paralysed.
Their house has ramps to help Oscar access furniture and the swimming pool and the bed has baby panels on the sides to stop him jumping down.
Ms Bartlett said caring for Oscar was heartbreaking.
"It's also incredibly expensive and it's affected my own mental health in the process," she said.
Call for stronger laws
There has been a public outpouring in response to the breeder's shutdown, with many expressing on social media that there should be harsher penalties in place or that the RSPCA should have acted sooner.
RSPCA Tasmania inspectorate manager, Jayden Stirrup, said it took three years to gather evidence and build the case against Tasmanian Labradoodles.
"Our inspectors do the absolute best they can with what they've got to work with but at the end of the day we have to work within the laws that we have," he said.
"We are advocating at the moment for a new animal welfare act to be written which is more contemporary, more in line with community expectations and will ultimately lead to better outcomes for animals across the state."
The agreement for the business to shutdown and surrender the dogs was seen as the best option, as going through the courts would not necessarily have resulted in the farm having to close.
"We had to look at the bigger picture. We wanted that puppy farm to be closed to ensure the welfare of those animals and the best way we could do that was to pursue an out-of-court settlement," Mr Stirrup said.
"The regulations as they are now, the penalties are not what we would like them to be.
"We'll always advocate for heavier penalties and a more contemporary set of regulations."
Tasmania's Minister for Primary Industries and Water, Jane Howlett, said a review of the Animal Welfare (Dogs) Regulations 2016 was currently underway "to ensure legislation is fit for purpose and improves the welfare of all dogs".
The RSPCA said many of the 250 dogs rescued from Tasmanian Labradoodles have had little in the way of human interaction and will need ongoing support with socialisation.
Mr Stirrup said the updated legislation needed to include provisions covering the psychological impacts of harm on animals.
"We get jobs all the time about the psychological impact of certain things that are happening towards animals and the current act doesn't allow us to do anything with that," he said.
Tethering was another area he believed needed to be improved upon.
"We also get numerous complaints around tethering, at the moment, providing certain conditions can be met, a dog can be tethered for up to 23 hours a day and we don't believe that's in line with community expectations," Mr Stirrup said.
"Those are the types of things we'd love to have addressed, get a more updated act so our inspectors can enforce the laws."
Tasmanian Labradoodles has been contacted for comment.
Loading...
Posted, updated
