Last weekend, a breeder from Country Boys Pets in Indiana was caught by local authorities, having crammed over 60 dogs, some just a few weeks old, into a minivan to transport the dogs to Pennsylvania.

RELATED STORY: What Are Puppy Mills?

Like some kind of twisted clown car, the dogs were found stuffed 4 or 5 to a crate. "In one kennel alone was a Cavalier Charles Spaniel, a Rottweiler, a Lab and then another large dog," said paula evans, a humane society>

In a lucky turn for the dogs, the van broke down during the trip, forcing the breeder to pull into the parking lot of a Red Roof Inn in Heath, Ohio, where the minivan was reported by a hotel employee.

"[The dogs] were stuffed from the bottom to the top. By the time we got them into our care it had almost been 24 hours that they had been in the van," said Lori Carlson, Executive Director of the Licking County Humane Society.

A prime example of the abhorrent conditions in puppy mills, these dogs were found covered in cuts and filth, fearful of people, and physically damaged by their pitiful living conditions. Many of these dogs now have splayed feet due to spending their life walking on a cage floor, and some don't even know how to lay down, having never been given enough room to do so.

A New Beginning

Thankfully, these dogs were rescued from whatever awaited them on the receiving end of their arduous journey. Now these dogs are the grateful residents of two Ohio animal shelters where they have room to spread out, and staff and volunteers are putting in extra hours to help find these pooches loving homes.

If you're in the area, the Licking County Humane Society can use all the help they can get, as they are now well above capacity. Contact the Humane Society to inquire about adopting one of these dogs and give them a loving home today -- they've more than earned it.

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