Stillwater Police Find Dog Abandoned in a Locked Bedroom Full of Feces, With No Food or Water

Two people may face animal neglect charges after Stillwater police found a dog locked in a bedroom with inadequate ventilation and no food or water, living amongst piles of feces and dog urine.

Police responded to a welfare check in the 2800 block of Woodridge Lane June 5 and allegedly found that a 6-year-old German Shepherd-Springer Spaniel mix was "basically abandoned" for days.

The resident, a 24-year-old Stillwater woman, allegedly left town May 30 (not planning to return until July 4) and left her dog home alone without proper care. The woman allegedly asked her ex-husband, a 28-year-old Stillwater man, to watch the dog but didn’t give him money for gas, so he only came to the residence one time since May 30.

Police referred possible charges of animal neglect against the man and the woman to the Stillwater City Attorney for review.

According to the police report:

While on patrol, a police officer came across a tall-grass ordinance violation, and noticed that newspapers were piling up in the driveway. The officer knocked on the door of the home several times with no answer. The officer then heard a dog barking, but the sound wasn’t coming closer to the door.

The officer then spoke with a couple of neighbors who stated they hadn’t seen the 24-year-old woman since the week leading up to Memorial Day. The officer then went around the back of the home where he found an unlocked door, announced his presence and went inside.

While walking through the home, the officer noted that the house was “very messy, dirty, (and) large amounts of dishes and food were left out on the counter and sinks,” the police report states. The officer also saw baby clothes strewn throughout the living room and music was playing upstairs.

As the officer walked through the home, he heard the continuous barking from a dog coming from the upstairs area, the report states. The officer went upstairs where he noticed a door that appeared to be chewed and a “strong pungent odor” of feces and dog urine.

The officer noted several piles of dog feces in the middle of a child’s bedroom that appeared as though it was still being used, the report states. The officers then opened the door where the dog was being contained.

“As we opened the door the aroma of dog feces and urine immediately filled the air,” the report states. Inside the room, the officers found the dog, which “appeared to be in good spirits” locked in a room that was “well over 100 degrees” with about a “week’s worth of dog feces,” urine-soaked carpet and what appeared to be vomit, the report states.

The officers let the dog outside where the canine immediately relieved itself twice, the report states. The dog was transported to the St. Croix Animal Shelter.

Police attempted to contact the 24-year-old woman, but the calls went unanswered, the report states. The officers then called the woman’s ex-husband.

The man told police his ex-wife expected him to watch the dog while she was gone, but didn’t give him money for gas or food to watch the dog, the report states. The man told police he did go to the home on June 3 to give the dog food and water and attempted to clean up the feces.

The man told police that the odor was “unbearable, but because of the fact that he didn’t want to jeopardize or cause any problems for his ex he listened to her demands and placed the dog in that very bedroom,” the report states.

The man allegedly told police that he didn’t think the conditions were healthy for the dog and that he suggested his ex-wife get rid of the dog several times because she was not able to take care of it.

The man told police that he saw feces in his daughter’s room about a month ago, but told police the toddler stayed with him 99 percent of the time. “Knowing now what lies inside the house," the man told police, "he is most likely not going to have (his daughter) back there until the house is clean, if at all,” the report states.