Aug 1, 2008 7:01 pm US/Pacific
Bay Area Dog Owner Recalls Accused Breeder
(CBS 5)
Animal services investigators believe dozens of people in the Bay Area may have purchased the puppies a breeder accused of deadly dog abuse was selling.
Stella is a big dog but a gentle one, said owner Jennifer Gogna. A dog who's unaware she's now in the spotlight - because of where she came from: The home of Robert Brunette, a breeder in the Santa Cruz mountains who's now behind bars on felony animal abuse charges. "I couldn't believe it," said Gogna.
CBS5 Investigates first reported on gruesome discoveries made by animal services officers last weekend: Sick dogs, dead dogs, dog skulls arranged in patterns, even a severed dog head and paws, all found on the breeder's heavily wooded property near Boulder Creek.
Officers seized 40 dogs from the property, many malnourished and sick. Yet investigators said Robert Brunette was selling the dogs. "Some of the records that we found showed that he was breeding these for sale in both San Jose and San Francisco," said Todd Stosuy with Santa Cruz Animal Services.
Gogna said she found Brunette's ad in the San Francisco Chronicle. "It said rottweiler shepherd puppies, shots, had shots and then listed the phone number, and said let it ring." So she went to the property to pick up the dog, and met Brunette himself. "He seemed kind of offbeat," she recalled.
He took her $150 dollars, cash. "I thought it was strange that he didn't let us on to his property, he just passed the puppy over the fence," said Gogna. A puppy who she said was shy. "You could tell she wasn't socialized a lot as a puppy 'cause puppies are so happy-going and she was shy and quiet."
And Stella wasn't entirely healthy. She had hip problems, something Gogna said she told Brunette. "I called him back about three months later to let him know that the dogs that he was breeding have genetic problems with their hips and he said at that time, 'well what do you expect for $150? Bring it back I'll give you another dog.'"
But Gogna didn't want another dog. She's keeping Stella, even as hearing about the other dogs makes her stop, and think. "It's sad because I usually try and rescue animals and I kind of feel guilty for getting her from somebody who is breeding," said Gogna. "But I guess in the long run I actually ended up rescuing her in a sense too."
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