LA PINE, OR -- A La Pine woman faces dozens of charges after the Deschutes County Sheriff’s Office seized 37 young dogs from her home on Wayside Loop. "Over the course of the last 18 months, our agency has been dispatched over 40 times to this address," Deschutes County Sheriff's Sgt. Jason Wall tells KBND News. "The calls for service were specific to dogs at large, dog nuisance, dogs living in unsafe conditions, and then dog bites." In one case, a deputy was bit.

Wall says 48-year-old Dessie McIntire was arrested on unrelated charges in December, leaving more than a dozen dogs with her elderly roommate, "He didn’t have the ability to care for, did not want to care for, but was given no other option."

On December 21st, deputies took 11 dogs to the Humane Society shelter in Bend. Wall says a second visit on the 29th led to the discovery of more dogs, including a one-week-old puppy. "And in fact, it was only upon the Humane Society letting us know, ‘Hey; one of these dogs is lactating; it must have puppies.’ And then upon going back to the home we did find more puppies." On that second visit, Wall says McIntire surrendered more than 20 animals. They were taken to the Brightside shelter in Redmond.

Wall says the dogs are between the ages of one week and three years old. "Some don’t look like they’re in terrible shape. That being said, one had to have a tracheotomy because of a throat infection." Wall adds, "We have open sores, we have them living in their own fecal matter, their own urine." He says all suffered some sort of neglect, "We have malnourishment. We have living in terrible, terrible conditions. We have basically just minimum care not being met, which is: food, clean water and shelter."

Many of the dogs are aggressive, "When they’re mistreated, they start to revert back to their instincts, which is, ‘I need to take care of myself. I need to take care of my own food, my own shelter.’ So they almost - they get a little bit wild."

McIntire is charged with three felony counts of animal neglect, 29 counts of animal abandonment and 13 counts of having an unlicensed dog. Under county ordinance, dogs must be licensed if they're over six months old or have their permanent canine teeth.