UNION COUNTY, N.C. -- Eyewitness News tracked down some of the dogs given new homes after this area's largest puppy mill bust.

It's hard to imagine that Tom and Gloria Armstrong's groomed and healthy dogs are some of the same dogs that lived in neglect and squalor two years ago in a Union County puppy mill run by Delores Perez.

"They were terrified. They were undernourished. They were just like little wild dogs," Gloria Armstrong said.

The Armstrongs have kept a scrapbook of the four dogs they adopted after authorities seized 252 dogs from Perez's breeding business.

"She was so terrified that she would just mash herself up against the fence or any tiny place, just to get away from people," said Gloria Armstrong.

The dogs had been abused and neglected. Video from a Whistleblower 9 report, which was later shown to a judge who convicted Perez of animal cruelty, shows dogs held in small cages caked with feces.

Even veterinarians later had trouble telling whether lumps in the dog's coats were tumors or matted hair.

For months, the Armstrongs wondered if the four dogs they took home would ever trust any human again.

"The only way you could handle them was having leather work gloves because they would bite you as soon as you'd get near them," said Tom Armstrong.

Over time, that has changed. Like most of the other dogs seized, these have now settled into a new, good life with adoptive families.

Tom Armstrong now takes his dogs on daily walks across 25 acres he owns in Monroe.

"They were pathetic two years ago. Now they're happy, safe," said Gloria Armstrong.

There are new legal problems now for Perez, who's no longer living on her Union County property.

The judge who convicted 79-year-old Perez of animal cruelty wants her back in court. Perez still hasn't paid almost $40,000 she was ordered to pay to the Humane Society of Union County.

---

Related Stories

9 Investigates: Hundreds Of Dogs Seized In Raid - May 1, 2003
Accountability For Dog Breeders - May 5, 2003
Union County Dog-Breeder Case Continues To Draw Interest - May 19, 2003
Accused Dog Breeder Appears In Court - July 1, 2003
Testimony Continues In Union County Dog Case - July 1, 2003
Guilty Verdict In Animal Cruelty Case - July 3, 2003