One dog lost, and within a three day time span, two dogs died at an unlicensed kennel in Polk Township. It looks bad, but the owner of the business says her side isn’t being heard.

Autumn Dempster of Kunkletown, who prefers to go by her maiden name Robbins, said she didn’t consider her business a kennel. That’s why she didn’t pursue getting a license for it.

Dempster said her dog sitting business started about eight years ago when she took care of dogs that belonged to friends. She thought it was a good way to give her dog, Perseus, opportunities for socialization, and helped her friends, too.

She discovered she liked providing the service, so she made a business out of it from her home in Tobyhanna - Perseus Pocono Pet Sitting. After a divorce, she moved her business to Polk Township.

Working with animals wasn’t new to Dempster. She has experience working in kennels and as a veterinary assistant at animal hospitals in New York. She knew what kennels are like and how they are run, and her business wasn’t like that. Kennels kept dogs in crates or cages. That’s not the direction Dempster wanted to go in. Instead, any dog that stayed with her lived with her family and slept on the couch or with her children, just like most pets do.

“They were part of the family,” she said. “I’ve never seen it as a kennel.”

Still if a dog’s owner wanted his or her dog in a crate or cage and brought one for the pet, then Dempster said she followed their wishes.

At any point in time, Dempster cared for about five dogs at her home, along with her own dog and sometimes her mother’s dog. It was while she was pet sitting an Old English bulldog in June that her problems began.

One of her sons decided to go outside. When he opened the door, the dog ran out. Her other son went running after the dog, but it took off.

“That’s the worst thing you could possibly do, because you running after them incites fear in them and makes them run faster. They don’t know where they’re going to go; they’re just running,” she said.

She and her family looked for hours, but couldn’t find him. Later, friends, the dog’s owner and volunteers joined in the search and a camera was put up for two weeks, but the dog never turned up. The owner filed a complaint with the Monroe County Dog Law Enforcement Office on June 21.

No license

Dog Law Enforcement Officer Jason Bell discovered that Dempster did not have a license to run a boarding kennel, so on June 30 he served her with a cease-and-desist notice.

“I explained to Robbins that I will be filing a citation for operating an unlicensed kennel and that there is a possibility of civil penalties, as well as criminal,” Bell said in the incident summary.

Polk Township’s Zoning Officer Tracy Herman came to the house with him. Herman told Dempster that the township zoning ordinances do not allow her to run a kennel in that area, but offered to help her find another location in the township for the business.

“After everything was explained to Robbins, she was asked if she had any questions or concerns. Robbins had nothing else to offer at this time,” Bell said.

A nontraffic citation was filed with the magisterial district judge regarding the operation of a kennel without a license and was officially received on July 9.

Shannon Powers, a press secretary for the state Department of Agriculture, said the magisterial judge will decide if Dempster will be fined. Fines for civil cases of this nature range from $2,000 to $20,000, she said.

Dempster said she did abide by the order and contacted the owners of the dogs that were staying at her home at the time. She also completed the paperwork for a license and submitted it to the state Department of Agriculture and started looking at a couple other locations for her business. It wasn’t too long before she decided to resume pet sitting again, even though her license wasn’t issued yet.

Dream coming to end

As far as why she took dogs in again, Dempster said, “In my heart, I was broken, because this is literally my dream and it’s coming to a crash. Just the thought, I have to stop something I love.”

Dempster’s sons also blamed themselves for her losing her business, although she told them it wasn’t their fault.

More problems were coming.

On July 2, Dempster took in two dogs, a 3-year-old golden retriever/yellow Labrador mix and a 2-year-old Labrador mix. One of the dogs was male and the other a female. The owner wanted them crated at night, and Dempster said she did that. Then at bedtime on July 6, she put them in their crate, The male dog was nipping at the female, so she removed the female from the crate and let her sleep on the couch.

The next morning, the male woke up, acted strange and urinated on the floor. She took him outside, and then brought him back into the house. The dog collapsed and became unresponsive. Dempster said she put the dog in her car and drove to Creature Comforts Veterinary Hospital in Saylorsburg. On the way there, the dog died in her car, but the staff at the veterinary hospital tried to save him. She said she doesn’t know why the dog got sick and died, but the veterinarian told her that he had a hemorrhage in the stomach and some blood in the lungs.

The owner filed a complaint on July 19. By that time, it was the fourth complaint against the business.

According to this complaint provided to the newspaper by the state Department of Agriculture, the owner, whose name was redacted, said his dog was cremated without his consent or knowledge. Dempster said she did not give consent for the cremation.

“Only the owners can do that,” she said. “I can’t give consent.”

The owner also said in his complaint that his other dog was lethargic and not acting normal when he picked her up from the business.

Dempster said she thought the female dog was acting fine. Being tired after boarding is normal. She said she always tells owners that their pet will probably sleep a lot for a couple days when it comes home. The stress of being in a different environment and with unfamiliar dogs can wear them out.

More complaints

Being lethargic cropped up in another complaint.

On July 6, the day before the Labrador’s death, the owner of a border collie and a blue heeler were brought to the business, as well as a 15-month-old Norwegian elkhound from another owner.

The owner of the collie and blue heeler said the dogs were dirty and lethargic when they were picked up on July 10, and filed a complaint on July 13, after reading an article about the missing bulldog.

Dempster said she doesn’t think there was any illness going through the dogs, such as distemper. She requires that owners provide proof of vaccinations and asks that the dog be seen by a veterinarian a week before staying with her. She said she is careful to keep cleaning agents and anything else that could be harmful to pets locked up.

The same day the two dogs left, July 10, the Norwegian elkhound died. The owner filed a complaint on July 15.

It isn’t known why the dog died, but Dempster said she thinks the dog had a seizure. She said the elkhound and another dog took a nap with one of her sons. When he woke up, she found the elkhound dead on the floor. She noticed bite marks around its mouth, which can happen when a dog has a seizure. Again, she took the dog to Creature Comforts.

“I cried all the way to the vet,” she said. Norwegian elkhounds are known to have seizures, but she was young, Dempster said. “The whole thing just didn’t make sense to me.”

The owner of the elkhound said in the complaint that he took his dog to Animal Welfare Society of Monroe the week before boarding and no health concerns were found. He said he contacted Creature Comforts and asked for a necropsy to be done, but the dog’s body had been frozen.

Ag Department press secretary Shannon Powers said that due to the additional complaints, another citation could be filed.

Licensing kennels helps to ensure that they are safe, clean places for animals.

“The law holds them to high standards,” she said.

Kennels are inspected every two years by the Department of Agriculture.