33 distressed Boston terriers seized from urine-soaked Kingston home

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When authorities seized 33 Boston Terriers from a Kingston, Ont., home last November, the dogs were in distress and the smell of urine was so powerful it made an inspector’s eyes burn.

In the owner’s appeal of the seizure, Animal Welfare Services Inspector Christina Haaima told Ontario’s Animal Care Review Board she visited Joshua LaPointe’s home on Oct. 10, 2024.

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“The inspector testified that upon entering the residence she observed one Boston Terrier type dog later identified as Lincoln on a couch with several open lacerations and wounds as well as a protruding left eye, and thinning fur on its paws and legs,” Mark Sraga, the adjudicator, wrote in a recent decision.

Haaima found a “very large number of Boston Terrier type dogs of various colours, ages and sexes being housed in the small attic/loft space of the residence and that some of the dogs were crated and others were roaming free,” Sraga said in his decision dated March 28.

“The inspector also testified regarding the unsanitary and inadequate living conditions that she found the dogs in. This included urine-soaked wood floor resulting in high ammonia smell levels that caused a burning sensation in her eyes, nose and throat and made it difficult to breath, inadequate bedding and excessive fecal accumulation in the dog crates, inadequate lighting, no potable water available for the dogs, inadequately sized crates, (and) three litters of puppies.”

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Haaima had tried to inspect the home last August, after fielding complaints about a large number of dogs living there.

But “despite multiple attempts over several weeks” LaPointe wouldn’t let her in, said the adjudicator.

When she eventually got inside the home last October for an inspection, Haaima ordered LaPointe to get Lincoln, the dog with lacerations and eye issues, examined by a veterinarian that same day.

She also ordered him to “take action to rectify the unacceptable living conditions for the dogs and their health concerns.”

That included getting them to a vet for external parasite and flea treatments, as well as making sure they had enough water.

The inspector ordered LaPointe to clean up their attic living space. If kenneled, Haaima ordered LaPointe to make sure the crates were “appropriately sized” so the dogs could move freely.

The inspector also stressed the dogs needed “adequate daily exercise.”

When LaPointe asked for more time to get the terriers seen by a vet, Haaima gave him until Nov. 28, 2024.

She also tacked on a new requirement to ventilate the attic space where the dogs were housed to reduce ammonia to a safe level by Oct. 22, 2024.

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When she returned Nov. 5, 2024, the inspector found LaPointe had not taken action.

Three weeks later, when her orders still hadn’t been followed, Haaima “determined that the dogs were in distress and issued a notice of removal for all 33 dogs,” Sraga said.

During that visit, the inspector spotted “multiple dogs fighting, several dogs with multiple open puncture wounds, as well as several dogs with ocular issues including bulging and cloudy eyes that appeared ulcerated,” said the adjudicator.

Dr. Kyle Goldie, a vet with Animal Welfare Services, who was on hand for the Nov. 26, 2024, inspection, “testified that he observed many hazardous conditions including exposed electrical cords (chewing hazard), protruding nails, broken furniture, risk of fall due to unprotected opening from attic area to floor below and staircase,” said the decision. “Dr. Goldie also testified that he witnessed many loose dogs fighting and dogs with apparent bite wounds.”

When the vet examined the 33 terriers, he found 13 of them were underweight and needed intervention, 11 had “scars and lacerations most likely caused by fighting,” and 17 “had evidence of ocular disease in at least one eye, most likely caused by trauma, congenital malformation and irritation caused by chronic exposure to high ammonia levels and that some of the eyes were so severely affected that they would require removal.”

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Goldie’s “opinion was that the injuries/wounds and other ocular issues to the dogs were chronic and the result of unaddressed treatment by (LaPointe), not the result of fighting that occurred during inspections by AWS inspectors,” as their owner suggested.

LaPointe did not testify, but in a written submission “he states that he provided proper care for the dogs which included providing them with food, water, exercise and stimulation along with maintaining a clean, safe and comfortable living space.”

LaPointe also indicated that he took the dogs for regular vet appointments, but he couldn’t back that up with any documentary evidence.

The adjudicator found “that the dogs were in distress on November 26, 2024, and it was necessary to remove them from (LaPointe’s) care to alleviate their distress.”

Their owner’s “ongoing refusal to comply with the orders issued by Inspector Haaima and not providing a sanitary and hazard free living environment, providing appropriate food, water, and necessary veterinarian medical care placed the dogs in distress,” Sraga said.

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