FILE PHOTO. A coton de tulear dog.

Image Credit: pixabay.com

A B.C. woman who bred high-end dogs has been found guilty of animal cruelty after 29 dogs were located on her property living in old vehicles, some smeared with feces.

According to a Mar. 25, B.C. Provincial Court decision Judge Joanne Challenger found breeder Neddy Tsin-Minions guilty of two counts of animal cruelty.

The case dates back to 2016 when, following a complaint, B.C. SPCA officers found 29 dogs on her Squamish area property, some living in vehicles in squalid conditions.

All the dogs were then seized by the SPCA.

The decision says Tsin-Minions bred Coton du Tulears, known as Cotons, and had three litters in her house at the time.

The dogs were estimated to be worth $16,000.

Eight other dogs were found in a vehicle inside a garage, and two Old English Sheepdogs were found in another vehicle in the yard.

The windows of the vehicle were only open a few inches.

The judge described the condition of one of the sheepdogs that had feces matted around its rectum and urine burns on its skin as "deplorable."

The Judge said the eight dogs found in a small SUV in the garage were clearly distressed.

"The garage was dark. There was no water or food in the vehicle. The inside of this vehicle had also been clawed and chewed and was soiled with urine and feces. The dogs were also smeared with feces," the Judge said.

Conditions inside the house weren't much better.

"The photographs of the home show it was generally in disarray. There were newspapers on the floor in a number of locations many of which were heavily soiled with urine and dried feces. The home was observed to smell very strongly of urine (ammonia) and feces," the Judge said. "One breeding female and her four pups were located on the main floor in a laundry room with the door closed. The temperature in the room was 27 Celsius. The room smelled strongly of urine and feces. There was no food and the water bowl contained debris."

The decision says some of the dogs in the house were in reasonable condition, however, the dogs found in the vehicle were in much worse shape.

The decision says Tsin-Minions' husband Robert Minion had also been charged, but the Crown later dropped the charges.

In her defence, Robert testified that the eight dogs in the vehicle in the garage belonged to friends, although he couldn't provide the friend's last name.

Minions said he'd left the dogs in the vehicle because Tsin-Minions was going to groom them that day.

He also said he'd left the two Old English Sheepdogs in the other vehicle.

The Judge didn't buy any of it.

"It is beyond a reasonable coincidence that the dogs to be groomed were of similar breeds to that already in possession of the accused," Judge Challenger said. "I do not accept the evidence of Mr. Minions that these dogs belonged to 'friends.'"

The Judge also pointed out that since many of her own dogs weren't groomed, it's unlikely she would volunteer to groom other dogs for free.

The Crown argued Tsin-Minions had put the dogs that were in the worse health in the vehicles in order to hide them if the B.C. SPCA came round.

"Sadly, I suspect this proposition is likely correct," the Judge said.

The Judge continued to say that regardless of whether the dogs were in the vehicles in order to hide them, or as kennels, either way, the dogs were in distress.

"The use of the vehicles as 'kennels' for the dogs deprived them of adequate space, water and ventilation. This is especially so for the eight dogs in the vehicle in the garage. Those dogs were also deprived of light. And, as a result of leaving them there, the conditions became unsanitary."

With that, the Judge said she was left with no doubt that the dogs were in distress and found Tsin-Minions guilty on both charges.

Tsin-Minions will be sentenced at a later date.

READ MORE: B.C. man accused of abusing his dog twice gets it back again

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