Apparently, an Orange County ordinance passed in 2021 banning puppy mills didn’t send a strong enough message. A proposed “commercial kennel” in Orlando has raised suspicions among neighbors that the facility might house a dog breeding and puppy selling operation, if built.

The proposal is set for a public hearing on May 4 in the Orange County Board of Zoning Adjustment. The kennel’s location is in northeast Orlando near the border of — no joke — the town of Taintsville. Looking at the cover letter description written by the property owner, listed as Juan David Valencia, people in the area have reason to be wary of the project.

At first glance, some of its details seem admirable. The owner wants to build a “state-of-the-art commercial kennel” with 44 dog runs and a 1,250-square-foot indoor playground. Note, in this case, that we’re not talking about a traditional kennel where people bring their dogs. The facility will only include dogs owned by Valencia. And much less appealing in the kennel’s description is the “nursery room with 10 dog runs (8’ x 3’) [and] a puppy room with 5 runs (8’ x 3’)”. Valencia says he keeps about 80 dogs at a time but wants to build this kennel to host up to 100 dogs. Hoist the red flags.

My years of volunteer work as a foster for special needs rescue dogs gives me a unique insight to this travesty. There have been many a time where a breeder has taken dogs to near death and called our rescue to announce, “come and get them or they will die”. Ironically, my wife and I are fostering a little chihuahua named corona. Corona was part of an owner surrender after a man died who was running a breeding operation out of this house. The surviving wife called us and surrendered 4 dogs that were in terrible shape.

Here is sweet little Qorona who sadly had to spend 6 days and nights in an oxygen tank while our rescue held our collective breath to see if she would even survive.

Thankfully, after a stint at the vet, she is doing well. Unfortunately, our rescue is saddled with a vet bill that is quite large.

If only for modern medicine, Qorona survived and is living in the lap of luxury at the Lilley Pad. The word of the day is recovery comfort and lots of love. Here are a few pics a few days after we brought her home…