I’m a farmer, not a salesman,” Yoder says. “People come out and walk through. They’re like, ‘Are you going to send us a bunch of pictures?’ I say, I’m sorry, I’m not. You just have to see. Seeing is believing.”

RIVERSIDE

I’m out in rural Riverside, watching a beautiful Doberman puppy run around a field of green grass with what appears to be joy in her heart.

“They’re about the most loyal dog in the world,” Terry Yoder tells me, explaining his life-long love for Dobermans. “They’re going to love you just as much as you love them. A wonderful family dog.”

Yoder has been a dog breeder – he operates BR’s Dobermans – for the past 15 years. Now 65 years old, he is retired, but he still raises pups –not because it’s easy or profitable, but because he loves it.

“I’ve had people say, ‘Why in the heck do you raise Doberman Pinschers? They’re absolutely the hardest dog in the world to raise,’” he says. “And I’m like, well, I had golden retrievers as a child, but in 1980 I got my first Doberman, and that’s all I’ve had since.”

The reason I’m at Yoder’s breedery today is because Yoder is expecting inspectors from the Iowa Department of Agriculture and Land Stewardship (IDALS) to come by this morning. His January 2024 inspection was such a debacle, he wanted backup for this one.

*

As an editor for The News, I follow the “puppy mill” storyline through reports, press releases and other media. Iowa consistently ranks among the top five states when it comes to irreputable breeders, and it isn’t uncommon for breeders in our readership area to get flagged for state and federal violations.

The most significant story of late was the August 2023 surrender of 131 dogs by Loren Yoder of Sunset Valley Farm in Riverside; the Johnson County Sheriff’s Office was called to the property, where it found dogs in distress on a 99° day. The dogs were sent to Iowa City Animal Services where they were briefly quarantined; most, but not all, survived and were adopted into homes.

Loren Yoder was charged with 41 counts of animal neglect; he pled guilty to five counts and was sentenced to one year of self-supervised probation in June. He is no longer eligible to hold a commercial breeding license.

I’ve read the Humane Society’s Horrible Hundred annual reports; Loren Yoder made the list of problem puppy sellers three times, in 2019, 2022, and 2023. Burmese Mountain and Newfoundland dogs with missing fur, infected eyes, and matted coats, as well as a prevalence of feces and flies, were mentioned in the reports in the years prior to his arrest.

This year, Terry Yoder made the list.

*

Finding BR’s Dobermans isn’t the easiest thing; it’s rural. When I pull up, the property looks a lot like farmsteads I’ve visited, with an amalgamation of barns and sheds. Marshall Alvarez, who helps feed the dogs and clean the kennels, greets me, and when Terry Yoder joins us, the three of us go up to the kennels to meet the dogs, or as Yoder says, “the girls.”

“They’re all healthy. They’re all AKC registered,” Yoder says, handing me a handful of Milk-bone biscuits to share with the dogs as I meet them. I put my hands between the wires and let the glossy black and brown dogs sniff and nuzzle me while Yoder tells me their names and how they’re bred, with new girls being introduced occasionally to the 20-dog group and absolutely no line breeding.

I ask if I can take photos and Yoder agrees, but before I have a chance, the pair of inspectors arrive. Not wanting to get kicked out, I pocket the camera and try to act cool, but the inspectors still want to know who I am. I reluctantly admit I’m a reporter, which they note, but don’t object to.

*

When IDALS inspectors visited BR’s Dobermans in January, they reported a hole in the floor of one shed that dogs could potentially fall through and find themselves loose outdoors; mouse feces on surfaces throughout the facility; indoor spaces covered in dirt and grime; and incomplete veterinary records. Clutter, grime, and odor was still present when inspectors arrived again in February and March, according to their reports.

These citations landed Terry Yoder on the Horrible Hundred list.

Yoder felt targeted and harassed by the inspectors. He felt they came in associating him with Loren Yoder (the two have no relationship) and thus made a point of finding and overstating violations. Having lived his entire life on the property, he’d “never seen anything like it,” he said.

“Whatever they tell me to do, I do,” he told me over the phone before my visit. The dogs “are actually my pets.”

The hole in the floor was under a pen that he didn’t use. “That’s why we don’t use it,” he said. He didn’t understand how there could be mouse feces everywhere in a space that handymen were updating just days before.

The AKC (American Kennel Club) had given him an A+ rating, he said. “What a wonderful place for a dog,” he told me they had commented.

*

Yoder opens the various sheds and barns for the inspectors, and they walk through and make notes.

What are the IDALS inspectors looking for?

Breeders must clean all surfaces at least once daily and sanitize their facilities at least every two weeks to reduce disease hazards. Dogs must have access to potable water served in clean dishes, and suitable and sufficient food must be provided at least once daily.

Stacked kennels must be secured so they won’t fall, and waste cannot fall from a higher kennel into a lower one. Wire flooring must be in good repair so that it can be sanitized and won’t physically harm the dogs.

There must be exercise spaces for dogs that are large enough for such, and dogs must be allowed out at least twice in a 24-hour period. No more than 12 adult dogs can be kept together in a group enclosure, and they must have enough space to move and be comfortable.

Supplies and equipment must be stored properly, out of the reach of dogs and protected from contamination/infestation. Indoor and outdoor spaces must meet temperature requirements – cooled in summer, heated in winter.

And then there is the paperwork: Certificates of Veterinary Inspection for each dog, to be completed at least once every 12 months; distemper, parvovirus, and rabies vaccination for dogs four months of age and older; a written program for disease prevention and control; and records on each dog indicating where it came from, where it went, and the medical care it received while with the breeder.

Simply put, they are looking out for the dogs’ well-being.

*

The inspection goes smoothly, with just a few recommendations for Yoder. The most significant thing he’ll have to do is provide additional paperwork for his new puppy, Crystal, who was purchased in another state and still needs a rabies vaccine.

Twenty minutes after they arrive, the inspectors depart.

“Easiest inspection in history,” Yoder says. “No taunting, no threats.”

While I followed along a few yards behind them, looking around the facilities myself, I observed nothing but a cool professionalism from the inspectors. They didn’t seem out to get Yoder, nor did they overlook the obvious – there were a lot of cobwebs in one building, for example, and they noted that.

Although the morning was temperate, they may have been aiming for a hot day; the day before the high was 94°, the kind of day when distress would be apparent in dogs. But all of Yoder’s Dobermans had access to airconditioned cabins if they wanted them, so that did not seem to be a concern.

“I’m speechless,” Yoder says. “This is how it should be. It’s fun again. . . Today was fun for me. I guess, expect the worst and pray for the best, and today, that’s the only way I can describe it.”

*

Puppy mill: a commercial farming operation in which purebred dogs are raised in large numbers and often in substandard or poor conditions.

It would be hard to describe BR’s Dobermans as a puppy mill as there are currently no puppies. Yoder has knee surgery scheduled soon, and as a result, he stopped breeding for a time. Alvarez will look after the girls while he’s laid up, and once he is recovered, he’ll go back to raising a few litters as usual.

“I don’t know a puppy mill in the world that’s going to stop breeding their dogs for a while,” Yoder says. “They’ve got to run them through as quick as they can. They go in and wash a building, and by night, its full again. We’ve got four buildings that are empty.”

He feels fortunate to have Alverez, who he describes as “the best helper I ever had.”

“I’m going to have surgery. I wouldn’t just leave my dogs with anybody,” he says.

So far this year, Yoder has bred and sold 30 Doberman puppies. When a litter reaches the appropriate age, the puppies are housed in a single building so that prospective pet parents can walk through, meet them, and select the right pup for them.

“I’m a farmer, not a salesman,” Yoder says. “People come out and walk through. They’re like, ‘Are you going to send us a bunch of pictures?’ I say, I’m sorry, I’m not. You just have to see. Seeing is believing.”

It doesn’t take a lot of work to reason that 30 puppies in eight months is not a great number. With the property to maintain, buildings to heat and cool, dogs to feed, veterinarian to consult, and employee to pay, if Yoder sold each puppy for the average price of $1,500 for a pet-quality Doberman (I did not ask how much he charges), the resulting $45,000 would not go very far.

Those IDALS inspections, that Horrible Hundred report, took a toll.

“They ruined my sales,” Yoder says.

In addition, “Puppy prices are poor right now. There’s a lot of backyard breeders that are going to get out because they’re not going to do it for nothing, right? Whereas I will. The money’s not the main thing,” he says.

*

Delving into the topic of dog breeding is tricky. We all have our biases.

There are some who believe every breeder is a puppy mill, and that in a world of too many homeless dogs, every pet adoption should occur at an animal shelter. There are others who believe in the unique attributes of purebreds, refined through selective breeding over thousands of years to bring out their very best traits in terms of beauty, service, and temperament.

We have biases when it comes to regulation and animal welfare. Where some might see kennels and cobwebs as cruelty, others see a typical farm, only for animals who will be family pets, not family dinner. Where some see the words ‘Petland’ and ‘AKC’ and think trusted source, others think profit first, animal wellbeing last. When some see the USDA or IDALS inspectors out, they think, here to protect me; others think, out to get me.

And then there’s Terry Yoder, out on his property in rural Riverside, gazing at the wall inside his whelping building where he has painted a bright, tropical beach scene with sunrise and palm trees. This is the horizon he scans while sitting in the recliner, stroking the newborn pups, believing it the closest he will get to retirement in Florida.

“We do the best we can with what we have,” he says. “That’s called excellence.”