'Designer dogs' caught in divorce

The Labradoodles were turned over to animal control after their breeders split.

The Australian Labradoodles once had their curly coats groomed and ate doggie gourmet meals of raw meat, V8 juice and yogurt. The Labrador-poodle hybrids fetched $2,900 each for their breeders, Angela and Derek Cunningham, until the 47 dogs became victims in the couple's divorce.

The Labradoodles were neglected -- their non-shedding coats matted and covered in sandspurs. Packed into outdoor kennels at the breeding ground in Lady Lake, Florida, some dogs suffered heatstroke, some had sores and others drank slimy green water. When Angela Cunningham took control of the dogs late last month, animal-control officials warned her that the dogs' care and living conditions needed dramatic improvement. The next day she sent 30 dogs, worth at least $75,000, to the pound.

In less than two days, every designer dog was adopted for less than $150 -- a financial casualty in a divorce fraught with accusations. "I panicked," Angela Cunningham said as she stopped to swallow tears. "If I had five more days, I would have spread them out across the country. But I was scared."

Court records show Angela Cunningham tried to take out a restraining order and block Derek Cunningham's access to the property where the dogs lived. Another one filed against Derek Cunningham's girlfriend mentioned that the dogs were packed into kennels and were not being groomed. Derek Cunningham, who did not return calls seeking comment, also tried to block Angela Cunningham's access to the dogs. In the end, DerekCunningham was evicted from the property. Angela Cunningham was given access to the dogs again.

She had the dogs for two days before turning them over to animal control. Unaware of the battle behind the scenes, Labradoodle lovers inundated the Lake County Animal Shelter just before Thanksgiving. "I had a woman from Oklahoma or something calling me from a plane," said Rene Segraves, the county's assistant animal-services director. "I said, 'Ma'am, you better turn around and go back. They're gone.' "

The dogs were dirty, underweight and had been neglected, Segraves said. Leslie Kalwara, former secretary for the Cunninghams' business, spread the word to other Labradoodle breeders that Angela Cunningham had turned over a fortune in neglected dogs. Outraged breeders contacted rescue groups. The messages zipped across Labradoodle chat rooms on the Internet. One nonprofit rescue group named the International Doodle Owner's Group Inc. volunteered to adopt them all, but the shelter declined. The national group patrols Web sites and classified ads across the county looking for Labradoodles or Goldendoodles (golden retriever-poodle hybrids), in shelters.

Most dogs IDOG rescues are tossed aside by backyard breeders who tried and failed to capitalize on the hybrid-breed trend. "They're [the Labradoodles] not coming from reputable breeders, until this big fiasco," said IDOG's Rescue Coordinator Jo Cousins, who said she finds Angela Cunningham's decision baffling. "There are so many people who would have stepped in and helped, and she chose to dump them into animal control."

The Labradoodle world regards the Cunninghams as pioneering breeders. The Cunninghams started their first breeding center called Tegan Park in their native country of Australia in 1992. The couple leased a ranch here in 2005 to transfer their Australian operation to Tegan Park USA, providing closer access to other breeders, who paid up to $25,000 for a Tegan Park stud dog.

But after the divorce, even the most expensive of their dogs went to the shelter, where a deadly virus spread. Canine parvovirus infected at least three dogs as they waited for the surgeon to spay or neuter them. One Labradoodle died, and the shelter euthanized another dog that began showing symptoms. New adoptive owners have quarantined at least a half-dozen other Labradoodles. "It's just a tragic end to those poor dogs," said breeder Peggy McElroy who had leased the Lady Lake ranch to the Cunninghams.

During the divorce, McElroy said, she paid a groomer to help clean the dogs, but only a handful received care before Derek Cunningham ushered them off the property. She said she thought Angela Cunningham would restore the business and take care of the neglected dogs. "It's almost like when a mother kills a child," McElroy said. Angela Cunningham said she's still grieving. She kept two of the 17 dogs she did not send to the pound. The rest are staying with breeder friends who promised to give them back when she's ready to start over.

Read the tragic story in the Orlando Sentinel.