GILPIN COUNTY, Colo. — The Gilpin County Sheriff's Office is investigating after dogs at a boarding facility were left abandoned without food or water.
Deputies from both Gilpin and Jefferson counties were called Sunday morning to the "Just Like Home Dog Boarding" facility. A warrant let deputies inside where they found 13 dogs on the property.
"They were able to enter the home. They found six dogs, I believe it was outside, and seven dogs inside – all kenneled. But none of the dogs had any access to water or food," said Cherokee Blake from the sheriff's office.
Deputies quickly got to work to remove the dogs and gather what limited information they could find to contact owners.
"Jefferson County came up, they were very helpful and sent up two or three trucks to transport the dogs to Foothills Animal Shelter where they were kept," Blake said. "Even on scene, our deputies were able to contact several owners and reunite the puppies with their owners right there on scene.”
Bre and Corey Tonjes got a call from deputies that day.
"The deputy just said are you the owner of Odin and I'm like, 'Yes, what's going on?'" Bre said.
Corey said they typically rely on family to look after their dogs when they're out of town. But when a family member cancelled, they looked to find a kennel that could board Pixie and Odin.
"I decided to go online on one of my breaks at my job and found the place on Craigslist. Normally, I wouldn’t do anything from Craigslist but we saw he had a website, there’s really good reviews on the website. I text him right away and he said he could help us out,” Corey said. “We dropped them off on Thursday and we got called on Sunday. So they were there for a good three days."
When deputies called them, Bre said they explained that their dogs would be taken to Foothills Animal Shelter in Golden and they could pick them up. The deputy also told them their 120-pound Alaskan Malamute, Odin, and their Corgi, Pixie, were found together.
“She did explain once I’d talked to her a second time that they were both kept in a plastic crate together. And I know plastic crates, they only come so big, even XL ones are pretty small for this big guy," Bre said. "She even said at the animal shelter when we’d picked them up that it was small enough that Odin couldn’t turn around and that Pixie was shoved in behind him."
They were able to come pick up their dogs quickly and get them home, relieved they were both OK but frustrated over the conditions the dogs were all kept in.
"They’re like our kids, we’ve had them for a long time. I would never have my children treated like that and I definitely would not want that for my animals. It was aggravating," Corey said.
“Yeah, it was pretty upsetting,” Bre added.
9NEWS went to "Just Like Home Boarding" near Coal Creek Canyon Tuesday afternoon, no one was there. We also emailed the owner, Brady Rose, to ask why the dogs were left alone without food or water. He has not yet responded.
But Rose did respond to both the Tonjes and another dog owner with different responses on why he wasn't caring for the dogs.
Gilpin County said they want to talk to Rose, too.
"It's under investigation and there are pending charges based on what we uncover," Blake said.
But the sheriff's office said he was running the dog boarding facility as an unlicensed facility. Blake said the property itself was concerning to deputies.
"Looking in the yard, there was some things that was a safety concern for the puppies you know, nails laying in the yard, sharp objects that could have potentially hurt the puppies,” Blake said.
Bre and Corey said they want answers about what happened there and hope all the dogs that were boarding there can be reunited with their owners soon.
"You don't want that to happen to any animal, it's just cruel," Bre said.
The Foothills Animal Shelter said they still have two dogs from the boarding facility staying with them. They're hopeful they can soon reunite them with their owners.
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