Seventy puppies rescued from a puppy mill in late July have all found new homes.
Twenty of those dogs spent time at the Central Nebraska Humane Society in Grand Island before their adoptions.
Central Nebraska Humane Society Executive Director Laurie Dethloff says when the puppies arrived, they were in poor condition.
"They were covered in feces, they had allergies, their teeth were in horrible shape, which also doesn't make them feel very well, their skin was matted," Dethloff says.
She says many of the dogs required extensive dental work, but have since seen tremendous improvements in their health.
Danita Thomas adopted two of the dogs about two months ago-- shortly after they were rescued.
"They're fine, their weight is good, you can't even tell the little one's a puppy anymore, he's getting so big," Thomas says.
Humane Society officials say the toughest part of adopting one of these dogs is helping them adjust to a new lifestyle.
"It's a total trust thing, and some of them acclimated really well to being around and having more space and then some were very timid," Dethloff says.
Thomas is still working with her two dogs to build that trust.
"The older one, I had a hard time with her. She was so scared, she would go hide in a corner and just would not come out," Thomas says.
While most shelter dogs take about a month to adjust to their new homes, Dethloff says most of the animals rescued from this puppy mill will take six months to a year because of the conditions they were living under.
"The people that take the puppy mill dogs are phenomenal because there's no socialization, so they have to basically learn how to be dogs," Dethloff says.
Prior to their rescue, the dogs were living in a concrete building with no access to the outdoors.
Thomas says it breaks her heart to animals treated that way.
"I just wish people would stop doing that. If they can't handle it, then don't do it, it's just sad," Thomas says.
Shelter officials say they're thankful people stepped up so quickly to adopt the dogs.
The Central Nebraska Humane Society purchased new kennels and cleared its educational room to make space for 20 of the rescued puppies. The others were divided among Hastings, Kearney and McCook shelters.
