No one knows for sure how many puppies Noodle the labradoodle has sired but it’s estimated to be in the dozens, if not hundreds.
The slight, golden-haired dog is one of more than 250 rescued from Tasmanian Labradoodles, a breeder in northern Tasmania and the biggest known puppy farm in the state. An out-of-court agreement with the RSPCA stipulated that 70 animal welfare charges would be dropped if it agreed to shut down its business and immediately surrender all dogs in its possession.
The breeder agreed and the RSPCA began taking away the dogs in late July. Now about 150 remain on the farm. Staff and volunteers are racing to free them to find new homes for the traumatised animals, some of whom have never been touched by a human hand.
“When I took him to the park for the first time he didn’t even know how to run,” says Emilie Harris, 23, who is looking after Noodle as part of a two-week trial with the view to long-term adoption.
“He didn’t know how. We think he’d been so cooped up his whole life, he never developed the ability.”
Other signs of trauma are evident, Harris says. Noodle is thin, at least 5kg underweight, and there are ammonia burns on his paw pads – “from standing in his own urine”. He is head shy, quiet and doesn’t “play with humans or dogs”. At two he isn’t toilet trained and is “terrified” of anything city-related including pavements, commercial buildings and traffic lights.
Andrea Dawkins, the chief executive of RSPCA Tasmania, says the July removal day was “cold, gloomy and wet”. Her team found muddy, overcrowded outdoor dog pens with no bedding or stimulation of any kind. Some animals had never been groomed and health problems abounded, including ear infections, as well as dental, gut and skin problems.
Three cases of hip dysplasia, a sign of over-breeding in labradoodles, have been identified, with more expected.
“They were matted, filthy and they stunk,” Dawkins says. “And they were thin, as light as a feather – just tiny animals.”
Tasmanian Labradoodles came to the attention of the authorities early in the Covid pandemic, when demand for puppies skyrocketed across Australia and rescue shelters were cleaned out of dogs.
The labradoodle breed, a cross between a poodle and a labrador retriever, has frequently been rated the country’s favourite, with waiting lists for dogs months and even years long.
Before it was shut down, puppies from Tasmanian Labradoodles sold for between $6,000 and $7,000 and were often shipped to new homes in the US, Japan and Europe.
“I suspect this started off as a reasonable, reputable business but at some point they lost control of that business, and when that has animals with a beating heart at its core, that becomes really problematic,” Dawkins says.
In a statement released last year by their lawyer, the couple who own the company said: “We have been breeding labradoodles for 20 years and have been feeding our dogs a 100% raw diet, which meets their nutritional needs. This way, we can mate them on every cycle.”
Mentally, Dawkins says, the animals are proving to be resilient and are not exhibiting the anxiety of other, more sensitive breeds, such as staffordshire terriers.
Many foster carers and new owners are treating the dogs “like babies” she says; cradling them by log fires, grooming them and softly stroking their ears.
Of the 250 dogs to be rehomed, more than 100 have been removed from the property. An RSPCA team of four are visiting the farm three times a week to collect the dogs and monitor the welfare of the remaining animals, estimating it will take a three weeks to remove all of them.
The number of applicants wanting to adopt the dogs came a shock to Dawkins and her team, who expected interest – but not the tidal wave that crashed the RSPCA website at one point and far exceeded the number of dogs available.
Requests have also been unusually specific – this age, this sex and this type of coat please.
“People from all over the country wanted these dogs, so I guess it’s testimony to the popularity of the breed,” Dawkins says.
“But we would say to people who are going to miss out … please consider adopting animals from shelters that have been there waiting for weeks, because all dogs deserve the kind of love and attention that these labradoodles are clearly getting.”
The first few weeks of the rescue effort focused on getting adoptable dogs off the farm and into new homes. The coming weeks will prove trickier, with more challenging dogs such as older breeding bitches and geriatric dogs with co-morbidities now emerging.
Although two vets and RSPCA inspectors did a thorough inspection of all the dogs before the removal began – “and no critical issues were identified” – a number of the breeding females have mammary gland problems and are emotionally “somewhat shut down”, Dawkins says.
“I think these are the animals that are going to need the most care and attention.”
A goal to raise $300,000 for the dogs’ care has been met “in record time”.
Dawkins and her team are confident they have shut down the worst puppy farm in Tasmania, with no other breeders “on our radar or of concern”.
After resettling the dogs the RSPCA will continue pushing for reform in the state’s dog breeding sector, calling for a reportable code of conduct and mandatory registration.
For Harris and her family, adopting Noodle was in many ways a chance at redemption.
Eight years ago, when she was 16, Harris and her parents bought a standard labradoodle from Tasmanian Labradoodles. They paid $3,000 for their “wonderful dog Harvey” but Harris and her stepmother, Pene Snashall, deeply regret that they unwittingly gave money to a puppy farm.
“In the back of my mind I knew something wasn’t quite right,” Snashall says. “It was just the multitude of puppies that made me unsure. It was a commodity process and now I get that.”
Noodle has only been with Harris three days but the pair have bonded. He sleeps on her bed at night, allows himself to be carried and follows her around the house. She carries a bag of treats and a training clicker at all times, even while in her pyjamas.
“I honestly feel guilty,” Harris says. “I was the one that showed Dad Harvey and said, ‘I want that puppy!’ I could see on the website how often they were putting out litters but I guess I didn’t understand how a puppy farm operated.
“So with adopting Noodle now, I want to give him my everything.”
