Animal control takes 13 dogs, 1 cat from dog trainer's home

DOG GONE- Sandy Espinoza wants her dog Layla back, along with 12 others that were seized by Los Angeles Animal Care and Control officials. Espinoza, a master dog trainer, wants her pets returned to her so she can move to Missouri and train them as working dogs, she said. Sandy Espinoza wants her cat and 13 dogs back from Los Angeles Animal Care and Control so she can take them with her to Missouri.

She and her pets were separated on Aug. 4 when the California Highway Patrol came to her Thousand Oaks home and arrested her for a warrant on an unrelated matter, she said. The warrant turned out to be a mistake and has been dismissed.

But on that day she had more than the legal limit of three dogs secured in dog crates inside her rented home, she said.

The 48-year-old woman said that she is a certified dog trainer. Espinoza said the dogs had been living with various foster families, and she had gathered them up so she could bring them with her to Missouri. She said she believes it is legal to have that many dogs on a temporary basis since she was "in transit" at the time.

Espinoza, who said she is disabled, claims she has a job training search and rescue dogs waiting for her in Missouri, as well as a place to live, complete with dog runs and three acres of land. Since her dogs and cat have been impounded, she has been staying with friends, "living in limbo" and waiting for the return of her animals, some of which are trained working dogs, she said.

CHP called animal control to deal with the animals, which were taken to the Agoura Hills Animal Shelter. After a hearing, a judge determined that seizing the animals was justified for health and safety reasons, said Michele Roache, deputy director of L.A. County Animal Care and Control.

Once it has been established that taking the animals from the owner was legally justified, the owner is responsible for the cost of the animals' care while they are impounded, Roache said.

"I've been told the grooming fees alone have come to $1,300," Espinoza said.

The cost can go higher than that—much higher, Roache said.

If someone loses a licensed dog, the cost of impound, vaccinations and care for one night could be about $60, Roache said. But she said she's heard of impound fees going to $10,000 or $20,000 in a neglect and abuse case involving horses.

"Even if a judge dismisses charges, the owners have to come up with the fees under California Penal Code 597.1," Roache said.

Espinoza said she does not know of any criminal charges against her, nor does she understand why her dogs and cat are being held.

"They say they don't have enough room for all the animals they have at the pound, and here I am wanting my animals back so I can take them with me when I move, and they won't give them to me. I don't mind if they watch me load them up and follow me to the state line," Espinoza said.

Thousand Oaks Detective Darin Rich said a report alleging felony animal cruelty has been turned over to the Ventura County district attorney's office.

"We filed for animal control as a favor for them, because they are Los Angeles County and we are in Ventura County," Rich said.

The district attorney's office is in the process of reviewing the file and has not yet determined how to handle the case, said Karen Wold, senior deputy district attorney.

Wold said that because charges have not yet been filed she could not discuss details about the case.

Espinoza said she loves her large breed dogs and 12yearold cat and used the crates as part of her training routine. She said some of the dogs she's rescued and trained did have long nails, mats in their hair and possibly fleas, but all of them had had their shots. A few had skin conditions she was aware of and had been treating.

She also claimed she has paperwork to prove she took them in for regular veterinary care and recently paid $2,000 for surgery on an 8yearold bloodhound.

"Someone else might have just put her down, but I love my dogs like they were my children," Espinoza said.