Officials close Owen County puppy store

“Your kennel has parvo, and my dog is dead.”

Those were the words of Beverly van Haaften in a 2006 telephone conversation with Tammy Gilchrist, the owner of Owen County puppy business Kritter Haven.

After seeing local newspaper advertisements, van Haaften spoke with Gilchrist about purchasing a puppy but was told she had to pay in cash and was denied access to the store location.

Van Haaften said she was suspicious of the situation but was assured that the puppy was healthy.

“She basically tossed the puppy in my arm,” she said.

The puppy became violently ill after drinking water the first night, and van Haaften immediately took it to a veterinarian. It was diagnosed with parvovirus, a disease that causes depression, suppression of white blood cells and diarrhea. The disease also can lead to heart problems for young puppies and sudden death, according to
www.workingdogs.com.

When confronted with the issue, Gilchrist claimed that the dog just had an anxiety disorder, van Haaften said.

“It was still an admission that she knew that the dog was not healthy anyway,” she said.

Beverly and her husband Trent van Haaften, Indiana State Representative for District 76, sued Gilchrist in the sudden death of their new puppy and won.

“Maybe we were the beginning of the end for her,” van Haaften said. “Maybe we can do something good.”

The van Haaftens were not the only ones who had problems with Gilchrist and her pet business. Various clients complained that Gilchrist was deceiving and providing sick dogs to customers.  

But Gilchrist has run into other problems with Indiana law. Recently, Gilchrist was permanently restrained from conducting business in Indiana for violating tax laws, with outstanding taxes of nearly $193,000.

Chief Counsel Andrew Swain, who oversees the tax litigation division in the Attorney General’s office, said Gilchrist had numerous aliases and was operating under several different business names, such as Jailbirds.

Swain explained that Jailbirds had been making sales in the state of Indiana since April 2007 and had not complied to the laws like other retailers in the state.

While Gilchrist claimed that she was unaware of the outstanding taxes, Swain said, “Ignorance of the law is no defense.”   

After seeing the puppy store, he said he encountered dogs that were all very scared, cold and non-resistant. One of the puppies had to be euthanized, and 74 dogs and four horses were removed from her control.

“It was great that this tax action got them out of her hands,” Swain said.

Karene Kidwell, a registered veterinarian technician and owner of Delilah’s Pet Shop in Bloomington, said the conditions of the animals at Gilchrist’s store should have been checked out when complaints were first made.

“I think it’s just a travesty of some of the things that go on and some of the things that pet shops do, but it is wrong to assume that all shops treat animals badly,” Kidwell said.

Currently, Gilchrist is trying to have the charges for her consumer case dismissed, which involve fraudulent business practices and poor facility conditions. Her attorney withdrew from the case.