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Investigators release new details about sick puppies sold to Utah families

Posted at 9:27 PM, Mar 07, 2019
and last updated 2019-03-07 23:27:06-05

Investigators in West Jordan confirmed one family has been bringing dogs from Mexico and selling them in Utah through an online ad.

Once sold,the puppies only lived a few days.

Romeo, Teddy and Lucian are all puppies their owners claimed were sold by the same breeder — bought using an online classified ad.

“They seemed really nice,” said Alyssa Jessop, Lucian’s owner. ”Even when I was there they seemed really nice.”

But then Jessop and the other owners realized their puppies were sick.

Romeo and Teddy were diagnosed with Parvo, dying a few days later.

Lucian is still recovering from Giardia.

“It’s really terrible,” said Jessop. ”You spend so much money to keep them healthy. Just to keep them in the hospital for three days is almost like $4,000 with all the treatments for them and there’s no guarantee that they’re going to live.”

Pet owners reported the breeder to police and the West Jordan Animal Shelter found the breeders were bringing the puppies over from Mexico, before the pups should be weaned from their mother.

“In this situation they would be required to have a business license to do that,” said Dan Eatchel, the animal services manager with West Jordan Animal Shelter. “They would in essence be a puppy broker.”

Eatchel said they would never give a business license to sell puppies coming from out of the country.

Although Eatchel said what the breeder did was not considered criminal, it’s something that needs to stop.

“To ensure that actions taken place through notices to ensure that this business does not continue in the future, so that no other people have this experience,” said Eatchel.