On the afternoon of May 2, just a few minutes before closing time, a man pulled up to the Fauquier SPCA with a pair of sickly, emaciated dogs in the back of his truck. The dogs, he said, were strays that had been going through his trash.
Alex Vacek, the shelter manager, said she was horrified by what she saw. The two dogs, a hound and a boxer, were dangerously malnourished, she remembered, and covered in sarcoptic mange — a skin disease “caused by parasitic mites that burrow just beneath the surface of the skin.” Both dogs were so weak that they had to be carried into the building, Vacek said.
The boxer’s condition was especially worrisome, said Vacek. In her career working with animals, she had never seen a dog so emaciated. “For dogs who look like that,” she said, “it’s all hands-on-deck.” The SPCA staff got to work documenting the dogs’ injuries and beginning treatments.
Vesemir (then called Paz) on the day he came into FSPCA care. Alex Vacek, the shelter manager, said she had “never seen a dog so emaciated” that was still alive. He also had a serious case of mange.
When Devon Settle, executive director of the FSPCA, came into work the following morning and heard about the new arrivals, she began looking through veterinary records to find their original owners. She found out that the dogs, in fact, weren’t strays but belonged to Jamie Dovell of Bealeton; the same man who had dropped them off the previous day.
Settle notified the Fauquier County Sheriff’s Office of what she felt was a case of criminal neglect. When a Fauquier Sheriff’s deputy spoke with Dovell, he admitted that the dogs belonged to him and his girlfriend, Amber Cloninger. According to the criminal complaint, Dovell also admitted that “he did not take the dogs for vet care despite the dogs losing weight quickly and having almost no fur.”
Both Dovell and Cloninger were subsequently charged with two counts of animal cruelty.
To Vacek, it was clear that “they had just given up on these dogs.” Wanting to give them a symbolic fresh start, she changed the hound’s name from Razor to Raisin, and the boxer’s name from Taz to Paz.
Milo (then called Raisin) on the day he was dropped off at the FSPCA, severely malnourished and suffering from mange.
For the next two months, the dogs remained in FSPCA care while staff worked to rehabilitate them with steady meals and a range of medical treatments. “The process was slow,” said Vacek, but both dogs eventually showed signs of improvement.
By the end of June, “the giant scabs on Paz’s shoulder blades and rump had fallen off and the skin beneath them was healing,” said Vacek. Both dogs had gained weight and were growing fresh coats of fur. They were able to run in the yard, where they had barely been able to stand just a few weeks before.
Their health regained, Paz and Raisin were put up for adoption.
Around the same time, Brenda Hottle, a Warrenton native who now lives in Washington, D.C., decided to spend a day volunteering at the FSPCA shelter. Raisin immediately caught her eye, and she adopted him on June 22.
“I’d been wanting a dog for a while,” said Hottle, who changed his name (again) to Milo. “When I met him, he was truly the perfect dog for me. He’s the perfect city dog: relatively mild, loud noises don’t bother him.”
Hottle said that Milo has continued to gain weight and that his health issues have largely disappeared.
“I’m so shocked how trusting he is around people,” she added. “He’s truly so well-behaved for all the trauma they’ve been through.”
Paz, whose condition had been more serious, required a bit more time to recover. But he was eventually adopted by James and Carolina of Centreville on July 3. (The couple has requested that only their first names be used in this article). They renamed him (again) Vesemir.
Vesemir was adopted by James and Carolina of Centreville. “He has such a good temperament,” said Carolina. “I’ve always loved boxers.”
“We’ve only had [Vesemir] for a month, and it’s been amazing seeing his personality come out, like he wants to experience everything,” said James. “It’s like he finally gets a life.”
Vesemir continues to struggle with hip dysplasia. It was caused, according to his current vet, by a past leg injury that went untreated. “It makes his legs stiff now,” said Carolina, “so we have a harness to get him up the stairs.”
Like Hottle, James and Carolina were shocked that their dog was so trusting of humans, “considering his background.”
“The rescuers did a great job of loving on this dog,” added James.
On July 19, Dovell and Cloninger stood trial at the Fauquier County General District Court. Each was eventually found guilty of one count of animal cruelty: generally, according to court documents. Each received a sentence of 30 days in jail, suspended.
Regarding the animal cruelty charge, Ann Thayer, Dovell’s defense lawyer, later said, “My client Jamie Dovell and his [girlfriend] were trying home remedies for chiggers for the dogs. They thought that was what the dogs had … In my opinion, it is sad he was charged when they were experiencing hardship due to COVID, had no intent to harm the dogs or have them suffer, and they did the right thing in surrendering them.”
Marie Washington, Cloninger’s defense lawyer, did not respond to a request for comment.