Just Pups Owner Written Up For Several Violations At Missouri Facility

Embattled pet store owner Vincent LoSacco, currently facing hundreds of animal cruelty charges from the New Jersey ASPCA, is now in trouble with the state of Missouri as well.

In addition to his two remaining pet stores in New Jersey, LoSacco owns his own puppy farm in Missouri. The Missouri state Department of Agriculture issued multiple violations against LoSacco earlier this year, ranging from having unhealthy dogs to not maintaining proper health records and failing to have the proper paperwork with puppies.

An inspector with the Missouri Division of Animal Health found several violations of state regulations during an inspection at Just Pups’ facility there earlier this month.

LoSacco used to operate four puppy stores in New Jersey, but two of them were shut down this year amid animal cruelty allegations. He has been the subject of intense criticism from North Jersey residents and animals rights groups since health inspectors found three dead dogs inside a freezer at the Just Pups location in East Brunswick in January.

Inspectors also found puppies inside the store being kept without enough fresh water, and healthy puppies mixed in with very sick, contagious dogs, thus spreading disease.

The East Brunswick Township Council voted to permanently revoke his health license to operate, shutting the store down on March 28.

Just a few days after he lost his East Brunswick license, police found 67 puppies crammed into cages inside a 38-degree van outside his Paramus Just Pups store. That location was also shut down by the town following the discoveries. The Paramus Board of Health will discuss LoSacco's case May 2. It could recommend to the Borough Council that LoSacco's license be revoked.

LoSacco has said he does not abuse his animals and denies any wrongdoing.

Missing paperwork, health records at LoSacco's Missouri puppy farm

An inspector with the Missouri Division of Animal Health found the following violations at LoSacco's Just Pups’ facility on March 3:

• LoSacco submitted a license renewal application for the facility indicating that no puppies were sold, traded, or given away in the previous calendar year. The inspections showed that 302 puppies were inventoried there. Disposition records indicated that the puppies were being “entered into commerce.” LoSacco was required to pay a fee of $1 per puppy that was sold, up to $2,400.
• Multiple health records were not complete and failed to show that various medications had not been given to animals older than two months.
• Twenty-five dogs had “excessively long toenails,” which may cause “possible veterinary issues.” LoSacco was told to develop a “proactive grooming” program that included toenail trimming.
• Flooring in one of the dogs’ housing structures needed to be repaired.
• Twenty-four weaned puppies had no official identification, the inspector said. LoSacco was required to provide a cage card identifying the dogs’ dates of birth, the number of puppies in the litter, or place a microchip in each of the dogs.
• Three, 11-week-old female Havanese puppies being kept at the farm that were acquired from New Jersey did not have the official certificates of veterinary inspection. The documents included with the dogs were not official interstate papers, but were signed by a New Jersey veterinarian. Those dogs were quarantined by the state.
• A female Yorkshire terrier puppy was lethargic, coughing, and had a persistent runny nose. A follow-up inspection on March 22 showed that the dog was treated by a veterinarian and was free of respiratory symptoms March 14.

LoSacco said the renewal application violation was a misunderstanding between him and the inspector. He said the regulation applies to breeders who sell their dogs to someone else. LoSacco said he owns all the dogs and transports them to his New Jersey stores. That's why the dogs were left in the van outside the Paramus store.

“I’m the only one who I know of who does that,” LoSacco said. “I’m raising my own dogs and bringing them to my pet shops. I’m not selling the dogs out to myself.”

LoSacco said all of the violations were corrected. This could not be confirmed by the Missouri Department of Agriculture.

Sarah Alsager, public information officer with the Department of Agriculture, did not respond to questions about the violations by press time.

LoSacco said there is no due process regarding the inspections.

“They’re paid to do write-ups,” LoSacco said. “Just because they find something doesn’t mean that it’s bad. There are things where a breeder could reach out his or her hand during the inspection and fix what’s wrong. The things that they wanted corrected, we’ve corrected.”

State inspectors returned to reexamine the facility March 17 and April 18, but nobody from Just Pups was there to authorize the inspection, reports show.

Missouri’s Animal Care Facility Program regulates breeders, dealers, boarders, shelters, and pet stores to ensure they meet state standards regarding the care and housing of the animals kept at such facilities.

The Humane Society of the United States defines a puppy mill as an “inhumane, commercial dog-breeding facility in which the health of the dogs is disregarded in order to maintain a low overhead and maximize profits.”

LoSacco emphatically denied owning and operating the facility as a puppy mill.

“We don’t do that, we never do that,” LoSacco said. “Our dogs are groomed their teeth are cleaned and they are well cared for.”

More than two dozens complaints against Just Pups in New Jersey have been filed with the Better Business Bureau. People said they spent more than $1,000 on vet bills caring for sick dogs purchased from the stores. One woman said her dog dropped dead just two months after she purchased it.

Email: daniel.hubbard@patch.com. Sign up for Patch N.J. email newsletters here.

Staff writer Carly Baldwin contributed to this article.