"But there wasn't a cranky one in the bunch," said a surprised Chris Konetski, director of the Rock County Humane Society shelter, which overextended its capacity by three dozen dogs to accommodate the confiscation.
Konetski and her staff of 15 were tracking potential temporary lodging for the dogs Tuesday.
"Last night our board president got on the Internet looking at all the rescues. We've already had Free Spirit in from Harvard, Ill., to pick up six dogs. More are going out today, which is a blessing, and we might have as many as 20 (dogs) to 're-home' ourselves," she said.
The society's investigator and Rock County sheriff's deputies Monday afternoon reacted quickly to an anonymous tipster who reported that neglected dogs could be found at 3021 S. Highway D, south of Janesville.
Deputies found the dogs in the home, in an attached garage and in an unattached garage, according to a statement from the department. Seven dogs in the unattached garage, blocked off with a plywood barricade, "were standing in two to six inches of feces, sections of which had molded over," the statement said.
"The house was found to be almost as soiled and odorous as the unattached garage, with urine and feces strewn about bare-plywood flooring and smeared on walls and doors," the deputies reported.
The home's occupants, Jerry Talley, 46, and Michelle Talley, 43, were cited for violating crimes against animals laws, including misdemeanors for providing insufficient food, drink and shelter for confined animals.
They were also cited for obstructing, after police say they told deputies there were only 24 dogs at the residence. After Humane Society rescuers made several trips to remove the dogs, a final inspection revealed 20 more dogs in "a variety of locations in the house and attached garage." Seven of them, for example, were found, covered in waste, in a partitioned area of the basement, deputies reported.
Only four or five of the dogs were somewhat clean and had collars.
The Talleys told deputies they were running a breed rescue operation. Rock County Sheriff's Office Lt. Bill Harper said he has seen, in similar situations, well-intentioned people not aware that they have taken over duties beyond their capacities. Konitski said when the dogs were being taken away, dog owner Michelle Talley Monday night "signed over ownership of all the dogs, except for three." She credited humane officer Jim Hurley for firm and sensitive follow-up on the issue at the scene.
"My hat goes off to him, he convinced them it was the best thing to do," she said.
"We will of course be asking the courts not to allow them to get those three back. They were breeding for profit, it appears to be a puppy mill situation," she said.
She believed the two breeders had been at the address for less than a year.
Despite the conditions - deputies noted there was no evidence of food or drinkable water - Konitske described most of the dogs as "wonderful, young, in excellent disposition despite some terrible physical conditions. Not a cranky one in the bunch. They are young and filthy, and most of them are sweethearts," she said.
"They are mostly girls, and some puppies. There are four babies under 5 months," she said.
By the end of Tuesday, she hoped to have placed 15 dogs outside the shelter. Aside from the Illinois group, dogs were being picked up by rescuers in Sheboygan and Plymouth, she said.
The Arch Street shelter is pressed for space.
"We have a huge cat population right now and our kennels have been so desperately full all summer long," she said. "We had to buddy-up these dogs. We have 75 dog cages, and we had 68 filled before these dogs showed up."
Karen Ferreri-Miller has been on the rescuing end of Siberian husky cases - including this one - since 1999 through her Free Spirit Siberian Rescue in Harvard.
She expects to get 15 dogs from this raid, and Tuesday she was vaccinating dogs and arranging for veterinarian service. She had already lined up foster homes and a kennel, and through her Web site, http://www.huskyrescue.org, at least eight people would be attending an "adoption open house" this weekend.
The Janesville dogs the couple had for sale were clean, she said.
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That's just horrible.
I'm glad they got rescued. Stupid people should just be beaten with a brick. 
Hopefully they'll all be adopted and taken care of. 
If I had more room, I'd take all those lovable furballs in. 
