Just Pups Owner Auctioning Off 450 Dogs In Missouri

BERGEN COUNTY, N.J. — Embattled Just Pups owner Vincent LoSacco is auctioning off more than 450 dogs, including mothers with their puppies, in Missouri next week.

Southwest Auction Service & Marketing will auction off 30 pure breeds and 12 cross breeds of dogs, including 37 bichons frises, 24 golden retrievers, and 23 toy and miniature poodles. Mother dogs and their puppies will be sold together.

More than 90 percent of the dogs have been raised on the property and have been “hand-selected for superior quality,” according to the auction flyer.

Southwest Auction Service & Marketing did not return a phone call seeking comment. LoSacco refused to comment.

LoSacco and his Just Pups stores have been at the center of controversy for months since inspectors found three dead dogs inside a freezer at the chain’s East Brunswick location in February. LoSacco faces 267 counts of animal cruelty from the NJSPCA in connection with that inspection.

Police found 67 puppies in near-freezing temperatures in a van outside the Just Pups Paramus store early in the morning April 3. Some of the dogs were crammed three or four to a cage and couldn’t stand up, police said, and some were covered in urine and feces.

Authorities said LoSacco’s brother Leonard drove the dogs from LoSacco’s puppy farm in Missouri and left the dogs in the van for hours. It was 38 degrees inside the van when the police found the dogs.

LoSacco and his brother were each charged with 134 counts of animal cruelty stemming from the Paramus incident.

“This is a very smart man, if he used his smarts for good, everybody would be singing his praises,” said Carol-Araneo-Mayer, vice president of the National Puppy Mill Project, a non-profit that works to end puppy mill breeding and the inhumane ways dogs are treated as breeding stock. “This is the most lucrative cash business in the country at this point. There is no end to how much money you can make doing this if you have no conscience.”

The Just Pups East Hanover location is the only remaining store LoSacco has.

LoSacco, a 50-year-old Emerson resident, and his landlord mutually agreed that he wouldn’t renew his contract to keep the Paramus store open. The East Brunswick Town Council voted to permanently revoke LoSacco's health license March 28 and shut the store down. LoSacco also closed down the Emerson store.

Acting Attorney General Christopher S. Porrino and the state Division of Consumer Affairs are seeking to permanently ban LoSacco and Just Pups from selling animals in New Jersey. They allege LoSacco misled customers about the health of his puppies he sold to customers. He faces up to $320,000 in civil penalties for the 32 violations mentioned in the complaint.

LoSacco was written up earlier this year for violating Missouri state code regarding the keeping and sale of dogs and puppies. The violations ranged from having unhealthy dogs to not maintaining proper health records. He denies running a puppy mill and doing anything wrong.

One puppy died two months after it was purchased from one of LoSacco’s stores. Other customers racked up up more than $1,500 in veterinarian bills as a result of purchasing sick dogs from Just Pups stores.

Araneo-Mayer said that it is important groups like hers work to shut down puppy mill stores permanently.

One reason why people might purchase a dog from a puppy mill store is because they may think they are rescuing that animal from a bad situation.

“You’re emptying a cage and he’s filling it again. It’s supply and demand,” she said. “We really want to see the dogs that are breeding these puppies, those are the ones we really want to see rescued.”

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

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