Local News in Brief : Dog Lover’s 60 Canines Given One-Week Reprieve by County

Los Angeles County animal control officials Friday granted a week’s reprieve to 60 dogs impounded since July 11 at the Castaic animal shelter and threatened with destruction.

Dog owner William Long was given the extra time to raise about $4,000 to cover the dogs’ boarding costs and to finish construction of new pens for them at a Saugus kennel, said animal regulation spokesman George Enriquez.

Long owns 87 dogs that have been confiscated by authorities because of a court order stemming from a dispute between Long and the owner of a Newhall-area kennel he previously rented for his pets. Long had faced a Friday deadline to retrieve 60 the dogs impounded by the county to prevent them from being destroyed starting today. The other 27 dogs are being held at a Humane Society kennel and are not affected by the county’s deadline, Long said.

Enriquez said arrangements have been made to move the dogs to the new kennel as pens are completed. Private parties and a church group are helping to pay the impounding fees of $1 per day per dog.

Long, 47, of Newhall, has said he collects strays because “I just hate to see dogs suffer. I can’t turn them away. I spend every dime I get on them. People think I’m nuts.”