Montana Update With Video

From the Billings Gazette:

A representative from the National English Shepherd Rescue said Tuesday that officials and volunteers working with dogs seized from a Ballantine woman by Yellowstone County Sheriff’s Office in December are doing a good job but that much work remains.

Heather Houlahan, the NESR’s behavior and training coordinator, arrived Monday in Billings to assist in the rehabilitation, training and care of the nearly 200 dogs taken from Linda Kapsa’s Shady Lane Kennels.

[…]

Houlahan, who works as a dog trainer in Pennsylvania, said another NESR member crunched some numbers and determined that the dogs seized in the raids may represent as much as 5 percent of the world population of English shepherds.

She said the largest operation the NESR had seen previously was a similar situation in the early 2000s, in which about 15 dogs were seized. The group has “been aware of Ms. Kapsa for a long time,” she said, and has been communicating with the county since the December raids, but even it was surprised at the number of dogs on the property.

“We thought 30 to 40 would be the worst-case scenario,” Houlahan said. “The numbers just floored us. There’s never been this many (English shepherds) in one place, ever.”

[…]

Officials said Tuesday that a few dogs may still be on Kapsa’s property.

“We knew the day of the seizure that we had a 10-hour warrant,” said Catherine Schaeffer, manager of the temporary shelter. “We knew there were still dogs running free.”

John Flemming, animal control officer for the Yellowstone County Sheriff’s Office, said about three dogs weren’t collected but that there may have been a few more hiding on the property. The remaining dogs could not be corralled within the warrant’s time allocation.

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