“The smell ... was horrible;” Neighbors react after more than 30 dogs rescued from Miami Co. home

MIAMI COUNTY — Neighbors are sharing their reactions after more than 30 dogs were rescued from a home in their community.

The Miami County Animal Control removed 32 dogs from a home in the 500 block of Union Street Tuesday.

The Miami County Health Department inspected the home and found it in “horrible condition” after a formal complaint was filed in March.

On Tuesday, the health department placed condemned signs on the home’s front and side doors. The signs will remain there until the home has been cleaned and reinspected.

Nathan Dudte has lived across the street from the home for over two years and said he only thought the homeowners only had a couple of dogs.

>>PHOTOS: Animal control agents remove over 30 dogs from Miami County home

Dudte does remember an odd encounter with one of their dogs.

“The upstairs window .... I came back one night and it was open and [ the dog] just hopped out of the second-story window and they never came and got it .. by the time that I came back out at least,” he said.

Corrie Phifer has lived in the neighborhood for four years and said the smell coming from the home was “horrible.”

Phifer watched as animal control removed the dogs from the home Tuesday.

“It was sad because the first couple were on a leash,” she said.

She, like Dudte, said she was unaware of how many dogs were actually in the home.

“The only ones I saw were like four other smaller ones and like puppy…that was last summer,” she said.

The property has been condemned and the homeowners will have an eviction hearing Wednesday.

This is a developing story; we’ll continue updating this story as we learn more.

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