Dog breeder confronts FOX 2 reporter in odd exchange on rural highway

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Lucille Barrett
Lucille Barretthttps://bloggingkits.org
Future teen idol. Hardcore tv lover. Social media guru. Zombie aficionado. Travel scholar. Biker, shiba-inu lover, audiophile, Mad Men fan and proud pixelpusher. Working at the junction of minimalism and elegance to answer design problems with honest solutions. I'm fueled by craft beer, hip-hop and tortilla chips.

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(KTVI) – Along a rural highway in Curryville, MO, a sign welcomes you to Cornerstone Farms.  The sign says ‘Where Children Are a Blessing from the Lord.’

We wanted to see their breeding operation, so we drove out to the property.  Nearly 500 dogs live in the back, according to Missouri Agriculture inspection reports.

On a Friday afternoon at 11:30 a.m. we stopped about a quarter of a mile away to see the kennels in the distance.  Someone spotted us, leading to an unexpected meeting with the farm owners.

A man who did not immediately identify himself pulled up to us and pointed, ‘Is that recording?’

To understand why we’re here, meet Kylie.  Cornerstone Farms sold Kylie to Kristin Akin for $1,250.00 in June.

Akin said, ‘We met in a parking lot down in the Chesterfield Valley area.  At the time it didn`t dawn on me.  Shame on me.  They said `Oh we`re meeting two other families so we`ll bring her out to you because we`re bringing some other dogs out.`  So it just seemed like oh wow, how convenient.

Akin said she`s spent another $3,000 getting her dog healthy.  Akin said, ‘She had horrific infections in both ears, really severe. And she was just itching non-stop all over.  So she had open sores on the back of her front legs.’

Akin says Cornerstone Farms gave her two different birth records for Kylie.  She fears both records are wrong.  The first record stated Kylie was born this past January.  When Akin questioned if her puppy was really six months old, she was given new paperwork that said the dog was born last November.  Akin found a picture online of the puppy she thought she was bought.  At the time of our interview, that photo was still posted on a Cornerstone Farms website called ‘Designs by Janai.’

Akin said, ‘That is her picture so is she still available?’  Akin laughed then continued, ‘I`m not sure because she`s sitting on my lap.’

Back to the encounter in the road, breeder Debra Ritter showed up, surrounded by some of her children.

Ritter told me, ‘Maybe in your walk in life you`ve never made a mistake but we did.  We actually gave Ms. Akin the papers and the information for a puppy in a different litter, Oko, by accident, totally by accident.  When she called us and said her vet said something was wrong with it, I looked into it myself because my daughters, these are my daughters and my daughters do all my paperwork for me.’

Ritter told me she has 26 kids, many adopted, ten still living at home.   She said they are all caring for the animals.  She would not allow me on the property to see for myself.

Ritter said, ‘They are not in little wire cages like all the animal rights people want you to believe.’

I asked, ‘Without seeing it, we wouldn`t know for sure.’  Ritter continued, ‘Our USDA inspectors and our state inspectors know.’

In 2015, Missouri Agriculture inspectors wrote violations ranging from:

Inadequate bedding with a ‘temperature at the time of… 33 degrees’

A “(dog) housed in an enclosure that did not provide six inches of head space’

And a ‘(puppy) observed with all four feet passing through the wire flooring.’

Ritter explained, ‘It was an animal rights person who worded it incorrectly and people who are journalists who don`t really know the facts because they don`t find out, they just listen to what animal rights people say.’

 

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