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"It’s very important that people know about puppy mills, and Kimbertal is a puppy mill for sure," said Michele Senne of Saylorsburg, Monroe County.
Senne, founder of the animal rights group Voices for Animals, attended along with members of another animal advocacy group, the Lehigh Valley Animal Rights Coalition, in support of unhappy Kimbertal customers.
"Most people think of dirty, filthy conditions when they hear the term puppy mill," said Senne. "This one may look nice, but any one that mass-breeds dogs is a puppy mill."
Many have seen the heart-wrenching images of sad-eyed dogs spending their lives in cramped cages being used almost like machinery, bred constantly to produce litter after litter of puppies often taken from their mother too soon to be shipped off to pet stores.
Those images contrast sharply with the attractive Kimbertal Kennels setting, with its white picket fences, historic buildings and immaculate grounds. But Senne said that at least in this case, appearances can be deceiving.
Bob Yarnall Jr., manager at Kimbertal, owned by his father Bob Yarnall Sr. was shocked to learn the protesters were calling his kennel what he considers to be a "defamatory term."
"At Kimbertal, we only breed a female for one to two litters in a lifetime, and all of our puppies are born in homes with families" who have adopted their mother under a breeder’s contract, said Yarnall.
"Puppies can’t be raised in the kennel environment, they have to be raised in a home environment," he said.
Yarnall said that under the terms of a breeder’s contract, a family adopts a female free of charge with the agreement the dog will be bred with one of Kimbertal’s males and will give birth to one to two litters to be returned for sale at the kennel.
But Senne and local protest organizer Kathy McBride of Boyertown charged Kimbertal is no better than a puppy mill, engaging in questionable breeding practices they claimed turn out defective dogs.
McBride pointed to what she said were her own experiences with Kimbertal and those of several others to outline the group’s grievances against the kennel off Pughtown Road -- mainly that Kimbertal cost many customers broken hearts and broken wallets because of poor breeding practices.
McBride said her problems with the kennel center center around Kido, a male Rottweiler she’d purchased from Kimbertal who died at just 2 years old.
"On July 1 he suffered a heart attack while we were walking along the beach," she said.
An autopsy done by local veterinarian Dr. Charles Koenig concluded Kido’s "sudden death" was "due to heart failure. Heart unable to respond to light exercise on the beach." McBride charges the heart failure was caused by a genetic defect caused by close breeding.
"The experience was quite traumatic for me, seeing my baby carried off the beach on a day that was supposed to be fun for him," she said.
Tara May of Trevose said she was also traumatized by the deaths of two Doberman puppies purchased at Kimbertal.
May said she spent more than $2,000 trying to save the first, who she said died at 9-weeks-old from what she claimed was a genetic defect. Her other Doberman, she claimed, also had several congenital problems including hip dysplasia, and generalized demodectic mange.
Others like Bob Vendetti of Oaks object to Kimbertal’s training practices, which he claimed included inhumane beatings; Marcie Stoudt of Boyertown claimed she learned too late her dog, Chief, was born with dwarfism, also genetic; and John LePerre of Swedesboro, N.J., who claimed inbreeding caused his Kimbertal Rottweiler to become so out of control he had to give up the animal.
"We would like to see the place closed down for one because yes, it’s a puppy mill, and secondly because I have found way too many people who have had way too many problems like these, so obviously there is something wrong at Kimbertal," said McBride.
Yarnall disputed McBride’s claims and those of the others, however, saying problems they may have had with dogs from Kimbertal have been the exception and not the rule.
"We sell hundreds of dogs a year and we have thousands of customers from over 37 years of being in business and when you are dealing with Mother Nature, you are going to have a couple of percentage points where you miss perfection," said the younger Yarnall.
"We fly worldwide for bloodlines, we have (male) dogs, top champions from all over the world we use for breeding, but even with using the top dogs in the world you don’t have control fully over the chromosomes," said Yarnall, who named several celebrities he said buy his dogs and who has been written about in national publications.
Yarnall said Kimbertal also goes above and beyond by offering a lifetime guarantee whereby the kennel will take a dog back if the customer is not satisfied "for any reason at all, we’ll give them a full replacement."
McBride said that statement illustrated perfectly her point, and that trying to be made by others who plan to continue their protest efforts.
"One fact will always remain -- Kido is gone, and he cannot be replaced," she said.
