Man who found homes for puppies must make improvements to store
By Nancy Needham nancy@theacorn.com

When someone is punished for doing a good deed, things can get complicated.

It seems L.A. County's Agoura Animal Shelter, which serves Thousand Oaks, reported a Ventura County store owner, who saves the lives of puppies, for not complying with laws governing pet stores.

Enforcing those ordinances to protect animals could mean Josh Pasewaldt would have to abandon puppies that were facing almost certain death.

Pasewaldt, the owner of Newbury Park Feed and Pet Supply, has been rescuing puppies at Kern County animal control shelters and finding them homes in Conejo Valley. He sells the dogs for $60, the same fee he pays to rescue them, he said.

According to Agoura shelter officials, that puts him in the pet store business, which means he must follow the same laws as those who sell purebred puppies for profit, Pasewaldt said.

To keep from being shut down and his dogs taken back to a shelter, Pasewaldt has had to raise more than $4,000 to comply with regulations that include the installation of a fire control panel with smoke detectors.

Pasewaldt is in the process of installing such a safety system due to the generosity of people who've come forward to help.

He's currently waiting for the Ventura County Fire Department to approve the system so the contractor he's hired can install it, he said.

He was originally given 30 days to comply, then given an extension of several weeks until April 8. Pasewaldt hopes he can get through the red tape in time, he said.

If not, animal control authorities can take the dogs and fine him for each violation, he said, but he doesn't know exactly what constitutes a violation- each unsatisfied regulation or each dog. The maximum fine for each violation is $1,000, he said.

"The problem I have is when I think I've got everything right, they change the rules," Pasewaldt said.

In another twist, the animal shelter is located in L.A. County and his pet supply store is in Ventura County. The city isn't sure, he said, which county regulations should be followed.

Officials at the Agoura Hills shelter are not able give comments on ongoing cases.

Meanwhile, Pasewaldt missed one of his weekly trips to the shelters in the Bakersfield area, where dogs were waiting to be picked up and brought to his store in Newbury Park.

"These are the dogs nobody else wanted. I get them after all the other rescues (fail) and their time is up," he said.

Customers come to his store and choose the dogs they wish to take home as pets.

"I missed Tuesday's pickup because of all of this political drama. I hope that doesn't mean (any pet) is going to be put down," Pasewaldt said.

He'd like to make his rescue efforts into a nonprofit, but that takes about six months to two years, he said. Until he can do that, he's paying taxes on the donations that come in to help him, he said.

Unlike other nonprofit animal rescues, Pasewaldt doesn't do home inspections or credit checks. He knows his customers and takes people at face value, he said.

For the dogs, he said, it's either death- - or hopefully somebody else adopts them.