Riverside dog breeder sentenced to probation

By Cheryl Allen

RIVERSIDE

Loren Yoder, a commercial dog breeder who maintained a facility on 540th Street SW, Riverside, entered a guilty plea with Johnson County District Court on Monday, June 10 to five counts of Animal Neglect with Injury. He was sentenced to one year of self-supervised probation.

Yoder was arrested March 6 and charged with 36 counts of Animal Neglect – No Injury/Serious Injury or Death, all simple misdemeanors. This action was a result of an investigation following an August 24, 2023, incident in which 131 dogs were surrendered to Iowa City Animal Services, where they were briefly quarantined after two dogs tested positive for canine parvovirus.

The seizure of dogs occurred during a week of extreme heat. The previous day, the temperature in Riverside reached 100°; on the day of the incident, 99°. When Iowa City Animal Services and the Johnson County Sherriff’s Office arrived at the breeding facility, many of the animals were found in distress. After the dogs were removed, one died, reportedly from heatstroke.

The event sparked a demand for stronger legislation and enforcement. During a legislative discussion on agriculture in Washington County on Dec. 19, 2023, Sen. Dawn Driscoll and Rep. Heather Hora fielded questions from the community about what might be done to put an end to puppy mills, but no new bills were introduced in the following legislative session.

PAWS & More animal shelter in Washington responded to the situation by organizing a grant-funded dog breeder town hall meeting in Wellman on Dec. 13, 2023, at which animal licensing inspectors for the USDA provided education regarding dog kennel maintenance, safety standards and animal care guidelines. The meeting was sparsely attended.

Iowa is a national leader when it comes to regulatory violations committed by pet breeders. In the first quarter of 2024, the state ranked second with 19 federal regulatory violations. In the Human Society’s “Horrible Hundred” report issued in April 2024, 15 Iowa breeders were on the list, including another Riverside dog breeder, BR’s Dobermans, owned by Terry Yoder.

Loren Yoder himself landed on the “Horrible Hundred” list in 2022.

Yoder surrendered his commercial breeding license last year; he will not be able to obtain another as a part of the plea agreement.