Dogs at Center of Lawsuits by Pa. Breeder

STATE COLLEGE, Pa. – Talk about a dog fight: A woman is suing the local Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, demanding the return of four dogs that were among more than 100 seized from her home. But she, too, is being sued by a Milton man who claims she never paid for two of the dogs she wants back.

Caught in the middle is the Centre Hall SPCA, which has placed the dogs in temporary homes until the court says where they should go.

“In a sense, it’s like the SPCA is holding the dogs in escrow until the court can decide who owns them,” said attorney and Wilkes University professor Anthony L. Liuzzo.

The lawsuits filed this week are the latest twists in a case that will soon begin working its way through the Centre County court system. Along the way, the court will have to decide exactly who is the rightful owner of the dogs and why.

Avis Brech, 63, faces a preliminary hearing on Tuesday on an animal cruelty citation. On March 1, 105 dogs and assorted other animals were seized from her farm after the Centre Hall SPCA reported the animals were living in squalid kennels piled high with feces. More than 30 of the dogs had to be put down.

Brech filed court papers this week saying the SPCA had barred her from visiting the shelter to feed her four Great Danes, including two 5-month-old puppies. Now, she wants those dogs back.

Brech’s attorney, LeDon Young, told the Centre Daily Times of State College the four Great Danes were Brech’s personal pets. Moreover, Young said, Brech has made improvements to her property that should allow her to get the dogs back. Young did not return a phone call Thursday from The Associated Press; there was no answer when the AP tried several times to call Brech at home.

Enter James R. Keiser, the Milton breeder who sold the two puppies to Brech and another woman back in January. Upon learning of the pups’ fate, Keiser went to the SPCA to ask for them back, saying he was the rightful owner because Brech never finished paying for the puppies.

The SPCA refused.

“The initial breeder who sold the dogs – for a great sum of money – wants the dogs back? He’s producing a contract saying he wants custody of them? I’m sorry, but I never went to his facility and purchased dogs. I’m simply an officer trying to enact a rescue,” said SPCA officer John Matrisciano.

Matrisciano said Keiser might be eligible to adopt the pups, but under state law he would first have to agree to have them spayed.

Keiser said spaying would decrease the value of the pedigreed, purebred pups. That’s why Keiser, too, has sued both Brech and the SPCA, said Keiser’s attorney, James M. Bryant.

“We asked the SPCA to cough the dogs up, because they shouldn’t care,” Bryant said. “And we’ve also asked the other two ladies to cough the dogs up because they haven’t paid for it.”

Matrisciano said he hadn’t seen the lawsuit, but wouldn’t remove the dogs from their temporary homes without instructions from the court.

“Whether or not he has a legal claim to them … is an issue for the courts to decide,” Matrisciano said.

And it may not be an easy one. Liuzzo, who has written an article on animals and the law, said animals are generally considered to be property, meaning ownership likely would turn on the terms – either written or implicit – of the sales agreement. Was it structured like a new car sale, where the seller typically retains title until payment is complete? Or was it a more simple transaction, where ownership changed hands at the same time the dogs did?

“The first thing the court’s going to have to do is to figure out when did title pass to these dogs? If title has not yet passed, then (Keiser) can get them back from the SPCA without having them neutered,” Liuzzo said. “If title has already passed, even if the woman loses her right to the dogs because of abuse, she still owes him the money in any event. She’ll either get to keep the dogs or she’ll lose the dogs, but she’ll still have to pay the dollars.”

Further complicating matters, one of the puppies died last week while at a temporary home. Authorities were planning a necropsy to determine the cause of death.

With the pups’ mother baying in the background, Keiser said Thursday he was “devastated” by the pup’s death. “There was no need for it,” he said.

As of yet, Bryant said, no decision has been made whether to sue over the pup’s death.