Late Friday evening, a brief press release from Weber County announced that the Weber County Animal Services had taken in 33 dogs (puppies and adults, mixed breeds) from a single home and that the dogs were retrieved by Ogden City Police Department after the owner surrendered them.

Lt. John Cox of the Ogden City Police Department told the Standard-Examiner on Monday that the dogs were discovered during a search of a home Thursday afternoon.

“Another bureau in the department was serving a search warrant and found 11 adult dogs and 24 puppies in a home,” he said. “You’re not allowed to have that many dogs in Ogden — you can only have two. Animal Control was called out to deal with all of the dogs.”

He said that the residents at the home opted to keep two of the adult dogs and signed nine adults and all 24 puppies over to animal control.

Cox added that animal control is investigating the case, but he doesn’t expect any charges or citations at this time.

Siri Main, division director of Weber County Animal Services, told the Standard-Examiner in an email Monday that the dogs arrived at the shelter in generally good health.

“The physical condition of the dogs when they arrived at the shelter was very good,” she said. “They did not appear malnourished and there were no noted injuries upon intake. There were no signs indicating any type of physical abuse or neglect. Regarding the behavioral condition of the dogs when they arrived at the shelter, many were shy, not outwardly friendly, with a few redirecting towards staff. However, they have since acclimated well and come out of their shells. One pup we had concerns about is currently in foster and is very affectionate towards her foster.”

She said they are working with several other entities to get the dogs the best care possible.

“We continue to do our best for the dogs as we do with all the other animals in our care,” she said. “Already 12 dogs have been transferred to a rescue group. We will get the remaining dogs through the shelter system as quickly as possible by posting them for rescue, foster, foster-to-adopt and adoption! We are currently in communication with both state and national rescues and expect more dogs to be “pulled” in the coming weeks.”

Main added that rumors have spread about the case but wants the public to know that all efforts are being made to take care of the new additions.

“We are not blind to the fact that there are many untruths and there is much misinformation regarding this case,” she said. “Unfortunately, we are not at liberty to give all the details because it is another agency’s ongoing case. We can, however, do our best to care for the animals. The best we can do is make sure they go to caring, competent fosters and ethical rescues that ensure capacity of care practices are being implemented in trusted homes to further care for their health and overall wellbeing. Although we do our best to care for animals in-shelter, we have never hidden the fact that we would rather get them into loving and capable homes; we are never happy to see animals sitting for long in the shelter.”

She also expressed gratitude for the efforts of the shelter’s staff.

“We are asking our community for support as we get these animals the help they need,” she said. “We would also like to recognize our hard-working staff who went above and beyond to intake and care for 33 dogs in such a short amount of time while still maintaining a high standard of care for the animals that were currently in-shelter.”