An accused Vallejo “puppy mill” proprietress has been barred from ever breeding or having dogs in her possession again after an animal rights group took her to court and won a permanent injunction against her.
Susan Brashear Anthony has spent years boarding her “Carolina” breed dogs on her property, located on, coincidentally, the 900 block of Carolina Street in Vallejo. A long history of complaints and citations allege a nightmare scenario not only for her dogs, but for the people who lived around her, according to several sources and documents.
The Times-Herald began following this story after a lawsuit was originally filed against her in 2017 by the nonprofit Animal Legal Defense Fund, at the behest of the Caru SPCA.
Judge Alesia Jones ruled a final judgment on Nov. 17 in favor of the ALDF’s arguments that the facilities Anthony provided for the dogs were kept in unsanitary conditions. The judge also ruled that Anthony did not provide adequate nutrition nor potable water for her animals, that she did not provide sanitary rest boards or floor mats for the dogs to sleep on, and did not provide veterinary care when needed.
The original complaint filed by the animal group alleged that her property “generated numerous complaints of strong odors, flies, dog bites, unsanitary breeding conditions, and dogs running at large.”
Reports filed by Sheriff’s animal control officers as well as neighbors describe alarming levels of flies and rats on her property. When asked about this by the Times-Herald in October of 2017, Anthony said that the flies were due to a secretion a cactus excreted in her yard that attracted bugs.
She has had multiple complaints and citations against her, going all the way back to the year 2000.
“I have a master’s degree in cleanliness,” Anthony told the Times-Herald in 2017. “Maybe I even have a condition called compulsive disorder. I clean up trash all day long at the car wash, I keep my yard (clean), I clean up every day several times a day.”
Anthony owns the Squeaky Clean Car Wash on Benicia Road.
She has been accused of having as many as 50 dogs at a time on her property (the Vallejo statute allows a maximum of four). Her house is on the corner of the street, but is a regular-sized parcel that you would find in most residential neighborhoods in town. The smell of dog feces could be overwhelming at times, neighbors have reported. The judge also agreed with the charge that dogs on the property were not held in sanitary conditions. A neighbor alleged to the Times-Herald that dogs are held in a crowded, hot trailer or other enclosed structures, causing them to cry and bark all hours of the day and night.
Anthony’s attorney, Ira Leshin, says his client is a good, responsible dog breeder and he has filed appeals to the decision.
“These are healthy dogs,” he told the Times-Herald. “They are not malnourished or mistreated.”
Leshin asserts that the judgment against Anthony was done by default, after she lost her first attorney and therefore missed a discovery date while she was no with representation.
“The ruling was a technicality, not based on evidence,” he said.
Christopher Cherry, an attorney for the Animal Legal Defense Fund, disagrees. He said that Anthony was told by the court that even though she didn’t have an attorney at the time, she would have to comply with court deadlines. He also says that ALDF provided ample evidence in their case, including statements and reports from multiple neighbors and law enforcement officials.
Leshin maintains that he looks forward to the appeals, and that the dogs are in “excellent health” and “this whole thing has been blown out of proportion.”
Anthony has a history of disregarding orders from the court or city authorities. In 2018, Judge Jones ordered an injunction against her that said she must surrender her animals until the case against her came to its conclusion. She did not. Earlier, In 2015, the City of Vallejo ordered her to stop her unlicensed dog breeding business. She ignored it, and the city had neither the resources nor recourse to seize her dogs.
“That’s why it is important to have nonprofit animal protection organizations,” said ALDF attorney Berry. His organization had the financial resources to stick with the case for three years, something he said the city would not be able to do. He also said he is grateful that California has laws in place to protect animals in situations like these in the first place, something that some other states do not.
Anthony told the Times-Herald in 2017 that when she has surrendered dogs, they have been euthanized, so she refuses to do so. The Times-Herald has not been able to verify that any dogs were put down, but has been in contact with members of a Carolina rescue group who have taken the dogs in.
Whether or not the law will prevail in this case and the dogs will be successfully taken away from her remains to be seen, but Cherry says that if she is found with any dogs on her property or in her possession, she will be breaking the law. Anthony does have the opportunity to “show good cause that the order should be modified” in the future, but for now, she is barred from “owning, driving, keeping, possessing, or having charge or custody” of any dog.
The ALDF says its next steps will be to try to assess how many dogs she currently has, seize them, and then find foster homes.
Anthony did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
