AGNEW – After 31 dogs were removed from an Agnew woman’s property, after she passed away last month, and turned over to local animal shelters, we thought we’d check in with the people looking after them and get an update on their condition.

The dogs are an Australian Shepherd/Border Collie mix. All appeared to be reasonably well fed but, as the County’s Animal Control Deputy Tracey Kellas says, these are not your typical pet dogs.

“They’re just frightened. They’ve never been off the property. They’ve never seen anyone other than their owner. And so they were all fairly feral and frightened, but they’re very very sweet dogs, and they’re coming around nicely as far as I know.”

The dogs were rounded up with help of the Olympic Peninsula Humane Society, Welfare for Animals Guild (WAG) and volunteers from Pet Posse. While none of the dogs appear to have any long-term health issues, we’re told some are dealing with things like skin conditions and decayed or broken teeth.

Humane Society Executive Director Luanne Hinkle says the goal is to eventually put them up for adoption but, because they’ve never known anyone but their owner, that’s going to take some time.

“They’re going to take a lot of work. They’re going to take a lot of socialization. And it’s very difficult when a dog has been not socialized to ascertain when that might happen. All we can do is love them and care for them. And right now we can’t even get them on a leash or get them to be able to approach us enough for them to become more socialized. So it’s a very slow go. But yes, our goal is definitely to work very carefully with them and get them to the point that they may be adoptable. But again, that’s very hard to tell what time frame that might be. It’s really up to the individual dogs, and some may come around a lot quicker than others.”

Twelve of the dogs are under the care of Mel Marshall and her volunteers at WAG, and 4 more have gone to Central Valley Rescue.

There’s been some speculation as to how the owner was able to maintain what officials are describing as a hoarding situation without some kind of intervention. We thought that was a question best put to Deputy Kellas.

“Honestly, I wish I could have gotten on this property a lot sooner, but she has the right to privacy. She had specifically let trees and shrubberies over-grow so that people couldn’t see into her property. She would put up things to block people’s view into her property. And there is no anti-hoarding law in Washington state. And there was really…you know…barking dogs. Like I said, dogs without licenses is not going to get me on that property. And it’s sad, but that’s not a crime, you know, and everybody’s like, ‘well we need to make ways that people can get onto these properties’. But for every right that you give someone else to get on that property, you’ve taken away someone else’s. You know, she very much was a private person.”

If you’d like to keep up with the progress of these and the many other animals being cared for, please visit ophumanesociety.org/ and wagsequimwa.com/.

Photo: One of the dogs recovered from the Agnew property and now with the Humane Society.