Puppy farmer jailed after more than 100 dogs found in 'horrendous' conditions

In short:

Perth puppy farmer Jia Xu Dong has been sentenced to jail and fined after pleading guilty to a string of animal cruelty offences.

The offences date back to 2024, when more than 100 dogs were found in appalling conditions during the height of summer.

The RSPCA says several were put down, but up to 80 per cent were saved.

A Perth puppy farmer who kept more than 100 dogs in appalling conditions during the height of summer has been sent to prison, as a magistrate called for the practice to end.

WARNING: Readers are advised that this story contains details of animal cruelty, which some people may find distressing.

Many of the dogs, discovered at a Canning Vale property in December 2024, were found to have major health issues and the RSPCA had to put some down.

However, as many as 80 per cent have now been re-homed by the animal protection organisation.

The canines had been abandoned by Jia Xu Dong at a time when temperatures were exceeding 40 degrees Celsius.

Magistrate Sandra De Maio sentenced Dong to nine months in prison and fined him $5,000 for breaching orders.

"The practice of puppy farming should be abolished,"she said.

Dong had pleaded guilty to 36 charges of animal cruelty, and two charges of breaching a court order.

'Horrendous' conditions

Magistrate De Maio said Dong had claimed he was a "hapless lover of dogs who sold puppies accidentally born".

She said he was most definitely involved in selling puppies.

"I simply do not believe a word he says," she told the court.

"His story changes like the tides."

She noted that Dong, who had lived in Australia since he was 13, had an interpreter in court but hardly used him.

Dong had kept the animals at a Canning Vale property in conditions the magistrate described as "deplorable" and "horrendous".

Puppies were sold at a Como house which the magistrate described as a "showroom".

Dogs put down

A City of Canning ranger told the RSPCA of the situation in December 2024 after dogs had escaped.

RSPCA inspectors found puppies and adult dogs, including cocker spaniels, corgis, French bulldogs, golden retrievers, groodles, and other mixed breeds.

There was a build-up of faeces, while some dogs had recent wounds from fights, and about 15 had dental issues.

Others had matted coats, embedded grass seeds, conjunctivitis, ear infections, or were malnourished.

There were dogs with psychological issues.

About 20 per cent had to be put down.

The court heard Dong had abandoned them "in the heat" and gone to Albany.

During an earlier two-month trip Dong made to China, 65 puppies were born, the court heard.

Magistrate De Maio said Dong was "uncaring of their welfare and indifferent to their pain," and "he'd failed them entirely in all aspects of their care".

She said Dong, who had been treating wounds with honey, would only allow the RSPCA to take the dogs if they paid for them.

The magistrate said Dong had concocted psychiatric symptoms to explain his behaviour and had even "professed a desire" to start a dog refuge in China.

The court heard Dong bred 366 live puppies between 2021 and 2025, although the RSPCA's estimate was 390.

The RSPCA had estimated Dong could have made $1.17 million from puppy sales.

Puppies saved

Speaking outside court, RSPCA senior inspector Jayde Palin welcomed the prison sentence.

"Where you walk into a house and there's just a mass number of dogs that are all suffering, desirable breeds, that people pay a lot of money for these dogs, you would expect them to be well cared for," she said.

She said it was "heartwarming" that most of the dogs could be saved, and it was important to see accountability for their treatment.

"Knowing that there are 70 to 80 per cent of dogs that I have helped that are now in the homes they've deserved ever since they were born, living their best lives or trying to live as normally as possible, I think that makes the job worthwhile," she said.