Amboy Shepherds Enjoy Their First Snow
Ache and Princess play tug
Heidi smelling snow
King of the hill.....
Princess chasing snow
Princess loves the snow!!
Princess Snow-nose!!!
Puppies in the snow
Puppies in the snow
Young, snow-drunk shepherds march toward the house.
Donjuan in the snow Donjuan and Princess wrestle in the snow

 

Wisconsin Golden Retriever Rescue bringing us TONS of stuff
Early in this potential disaster, members of GRRoW (Golden Retriever Rescue of Wisconsin ( http://www.grrow.org/ ) sent news that they were coming down to give us a mountain of stuff collected by their members for these poor shepherds. We were amazed and thrilled at the generous spirit of these kind people who work to rescue another breed. We post some of the photos here as a testimonial to the understanding and compassion that rescue workers can have for one another. Many, many, many thanks and countless wet kisses from these shepherd puppies to Dr. Sue, Dawn Christenson, Dee Atwood and the other GRRoW volunteers who braved a blizzard to deliver blankets, towels, toys and food (yes, the essentials). You folks are the greatest!!!
GRRoW volunteer braves the blizzard to bring donations to the Amboy shepherds.
GRRoW members bring in food, toys, blankets, towels and crates gathered by their members all over the state of Wisconsin
And they said they couldn't "collect much" on such short notice..... Yeesh!! What could they have done given a month or so??? Wow!!
And after a job extraordinarily well-done, everyone comes inside to warm up. Thank you, GRRoW!! You all have huge hearts!!
The Amboy Shepherds

Arrest warrant issued Published: 12/20/03 in Sauk Valley Newspapers BY CLARK KELLY SVN NEWS REPORTER DIXON - link to story HERE.

A warrant has been issued for the arrest of T. Anne McCoy, 1329 Sleepy Hollow Road, Amboy, on 12 counts of cruelty to animals.

The complaint was filed Friday by Gwen C. Stewart of the Illinois Department of Agriculture.

Eight of the counts are class A misdemeanors while five are class B misdemeanors. Class A is punishable by a fine of $2,500 and up to one year in the county jail.

The eight class A counts charge that McCoy "cruelly treated and starved animals B through F by failing to treat the dog for an infestation of parasites and failed to provide an adequate amount of appropriate food so as to prevent the dog from death by starvation."

Each count describes the type of dog identifying it by color and sex.

The five class B counts allege that McCoy failed to provide a sufficient quantity of good quality, wholesome food and water; that she failed to provide adequate shelter and protection from the weather; that she failed to provide adequate veterinary care and she failed to provide humane treatment for approximately 191 companion animals she owned or was a companion animal boarder for.

The 191 dogs were found in life threatening conditions Monday at 1329 Sleepy Hollow Road, according to the Illinois Department of Agriculture spokesman Jeff Squibb.

Squibb said the dogs were kept outside without adequate food, water or shelter.

Nine dogs were reportedly dead and autopsies discovered the dogs were emaciated, had worms and there was no evidence of food in the stomach contests - only sand and dirt.

The live animals have been impounded and most have been taken to shelters in Lee and Whiteside counties and Chicago.

As shocking as the above story is nothing was as shocking as our first sight of these dogs in the shelter. Animal Welfare League had called us to take as many as we could of the first shepherds to arrive at the shelter. We saw row after row, two to a cage, of 6 to 8 month old shepherd and malinois puppies, a few Great Dane puppies and only one adult shepherd, 51 dogs in all.

The stench was unbearable.....all the dogs were coated in filth, all were emaciated with sunken eyes and visible ribs and hipbones. The strangest thing was the silence......not one barked.....they were too weak to care. Over the next two nights we took 13 of the 15 or 16 shepherds and put them into our foster homes.The 2 or 3 other shepherd puppies were in foster with AWL volunteers so we believed that the situation was being brought under control.......when the next round of 160 dogs began to arrive. We have never witnessed anything so heartbreaking......nor have we witnessed anything like the efforts of the AWL staff that night. Oxygen tents, incubators, IV lines and most important, fluids were administered to the incoming dogs. Everyone there fought the tears back and went to work saving these survivors of a living hell. And they have done a wonderful job......unfortunately, the dogs' abuser would not sign over these 160 dogs and they remain under impoundment at AWL. We won't know their fate until a judge decides it. We can't imagine any judge so cruel that s/he would return these dogs to their abuser and we're praying for a quick end to their impoundment. We are committed to doing whatever AWL needs us to do to care for these remaining shepherds once the order is lifted.

In the meantime, here are some photos of the survivors.. ..... amazingly, they are wonderful shepherds!!!

Here's the wonder dog, Jake. Jake is about 7-8 months old and is a stunning all black longcoat
Roman is a stunning teddy bear of a puppy and he is enthralled with his first Christmas tree.
The very handsome Roy......what do you think? Siegfreid's brother?
Siegfreid poses for the camera.
Well, it might be January.....but Heidi's still a little warm
Suzy-Q is the only sable shepherd in the first group.

 

The Amboy Shepherds are available for adoption on the Dogs Available page.

Please fill out an adoption application if interested.