Wednesday, April 30, 2008

With her life unraveling after her husband died, a former dog breeder learned a difficult lesson

Clara Garcia News-Bulletin Staff Writer; cgarcia@news-bulletin.com

She knew what she did was wrong, and she knew that she had to be punished. Now Joy Herbain just wants other people to learn from her mistakes.

In March 2007, animal control officers received an anonymous tip about what were described as nasty conditions that several dogs were living in at a property in Highland Meadows. Animal Control Officer John Jaramillo said when he went to Herbain's property; he found more than a dozen dachshunds in what he described as unhealthy living conditions. He discovered several newborn puppies along with three dead animals, including one rat.

"We found that one dog actually ate another one," Jaramillo said. "There was food, but it was thrown on top of feces, which was about two inches thick."

Herbain, who had been breeding miniature dachshunds for more than 10 years, pleaded no contest to 15 misdemeanor counts of animal cruelty. As her punishment, Magistrate John "Buddy" Sanchez sentenced her to 15 days in jail, 400 hours of community service, five years supervised probation and ordered her to pay $2,125 in restitution for veterinarian bills.

"I knew that I needed to be punished, and I knew the judge wanted to punish me," Herbain said. "But I didn't think he would want me to be punished to the extent that I was."

Today, Herbain lives in Albuquerque and no longer breeds dogs — she doesn't even have a single pet. She said she's just not quite emotionally ready to care for another animal.

After serving her jail time and community service, Herbain has a new outlook on the judicial system as well as animal welfare issues. She says what she did wasn't intentional, and it happened at a time in her life when she didn't know whether she was coming or going.

The explanation

"I moved here to Highland Meadows with my husband and children in May 2005 from Roswell," Herbain said in an interview with the News-Bulletin. "I continued to breed miniature dachshunds here, and between all of us, we were all taking care of the dogs. We had never once had a problem before."

But in November 2006, Herbain's entire life changed when her husband unexpectedly died. Between raising her two children, mourning the loss of her husband, working two full-time jobs, finishing a remodeling project in her home and taking care of her animals, Herbain said it all became too much for her to handle.

"Everything fell on me," she said. "My life drastically changed. I was an emotional basket case."

When Herbain realized that there was no way she could do it all, she started placing her animals and finding homes at what she says was a drastic loss. She says she knew she couldn't care for them the way they needed.

While trying to find homes for her American Kennel Club registered dachshunds, she says she handed over the responsibility of taking care of the animals to her children, who were 13 and 17 at the time. Herbain said they were the ones who were responsible for cleaning, feeding and giving the dogs water and washing their blankets. "I had everything that they needed to be taken care of," Herbain said. "They (the animals) were in a big metal barn with concrete floors. We had heating in there during the wintertime and big huge fans set up in the summer."

When Herbain lost her husband and had to take a second full-time job, she depended on her children to take care of the animals. When she looks back at the situation now, she realizes that her decision was a big mistake.

"By the time that I realized what was going on, I should have just stopped everything I was doing and gone out there and cleaned up the area," she says in retrospect. "I didn't; I told them (her children) to, and it didn't get done."

Herbain remembers the day at work that she received a phone call from Jaramillo asking permission to go into her barn. She knew there was a problem, and she knew why he was there.

Embarrassed and ashamed of the conditions she had left her animals in, Herbain granted permission for Jaramillo to enter the structure. She knew what they would find, but she never realized what the punishment would be.

"It was nasty, disgusting," Herbain said of the conditions she left her animals in. "I didn't know it, but one of my male dogs that was aggressive basically ate one of my other little males. That totally blew me away. I knew he was aggressive, but I didn't know he was that aggressive or capable of something like that."

Herbain said it was the same morning that animal control went to her house that one of her dogs had just had puppies. She said that she knew the female was close to giving birth, but she hadn't totally figured out the due date. One of the puppies didn't make it.

"They also found a dead rat in one of the blankets, which I also got a count against me for," Herbain said. "I knew that there was a problem, but I thought they would tell me that I had a couple of days to get it straightened up. I thought they would give me a warning."

Instead, Jaramillo took nine of Herbain's dogs, including four of the surviving puppies. He did leave seven dogs that were in the yard and which seemed to be OK. Jaramillo had no choice but to charge Herbain with animal cruelty.

"I was very sad; it was very frustrating," Herbain said. "I loved my animals. I knew that I had let them get to a state where they shouldn't be. I was upset with myself; I was upset with my kids."

The pain of punishment

When Herbain was charged and summoned to court, she knew it was serious. She knew she had to be punished for what she had done, and for what she failed to do. In retrospect, Herbain now says she should have retained an attorney.

Before she even went to court, she and Jaramillo were already working on a plea agreement. She says they had agreed that she would perform 200 hours of community service, never breed again and pay restitution. But when she walked into court, Sanchez refused to accept the plea and wanted more information.

"After I was charged, and after everything came out in the newspapers and (television) news, I lost my second job," Herbain said. "Because of the price of gas and all my other bills, I knew I couldn't stay out there (in Highland Meadows) and commute back and forth to work."

Herbain says she had no other choice but to move to Albuquerque — a decision she says that broke up her family. Her oldest daughter, who was 17 at the time, didn't want to live in Albuquerque and moved to Roswell with her older brother. Her 13-year-old son also didn't want to move to the Duke City and stayed in Highland Meadows with family friends.

"There was no way he could live in Albuquerque," Herbain says. "He would end up getting in trouble. He's thriving here, and I'm so proud of him. This whole thing not only got me fired from my job, but I lost my home and it split up my family. I lost everything."

When Herbain went back to court for sentencing, she was shocked at the punishment she received. Sanchez ordered that she spend 15 days in jail — one day for each of the animal cruelty counts — perform 400 hours of community service at the animal shelter and pay restitution.

Herbain says she feels that the judge was trying to make an example of her and that the punishment was too harsh. She admits that while her dogs were living in unsanitary conditions, they were all healthy, free of ticks and fleas and with no medical conditions.

"They were in a nasty, filthy, disgusting environment, but they were healthy," she said. "He (Sanchez) didn't want to hear what I had to say, he just wanted to make a point.

"I don't know if inside I'm trying to rationalize it, but to me the judge was not looking at the complete circle — he was just looking at the center. And from just looking at the center made him give me this unrealistic sentence," Herbain added. "So in that respect, I'm bitter toward the judge and the system. But then I look outside that big circle and I see what I learned, I see the experience that I had, and it may seem weird, but I'm glad it happened because it made me look at things in a different way."

The humiliation of jail

Spending 15 days in the county jail was very hard for Herbain. While every day was different, she always felt humiliated that she had to serve time behind bars.

Before she ever stepped into a jail cell, she was able to make arrangements for work release with detention center officials. For three weeks, Herbain would turn herself in at 5 p.m. every Sunday. She would spend the night and be released at 7 a.m. to go to work and then report back at 6 p.m. When she was released on Friday morning, she could spend the weekend at home and would report back on the following Sunday.

"I was actually sleeping at the jail," she said. "It was so humiliating. The girls, for the most part, were pretty decent people, but there were a few that were not. The first week was fine — but just the fact that I had to do jail time was unbelievable."

Herbain said during the first week, she rarely ate dinner because she reported back to the jail after it was served. It wasn't until the second week that her fellow inmates would save a tray for her.

During her second week in jail, Herbain says some of the girls were found with contraband. And because she was the only one coming and going, she was forced to strip and be searched.

"Not only did I have to totally strip, I would have to bend over with my legs spread and cough," she says. "That was very downgrading. The guards were very nice about it, especially after the second time. They never found anything on me because I wasn't bringing anything in."

Not realizing that things could get worse, Herbain said her third week in the county jail was pure hell. She said it wasn't bad enough that all the beds were full for a few days; someone kept stealing her toothbrush, her pillow and pillowcase.

She didn't feel threatened until the last week when she felt there might be a physical confrontation with another inmate. Herbain would spend a lot of her time jogging in a recreation area of the jail and one day, one of the other girls kept pestering her to sneak cigarettes in.

"I told her wasn't going to take the chance of getting caught," Herbain said. "The next day, she asked if I had brought anything, and I said no and I wasn't going to."

The next night, her last night, she was out jogging again and the woman walks in saying that she couldn't believe Herbain didn't bring anything in. Again, Herbain told her she didn't want to get in trouble.

"She then tells me 'you deserve to be in here.' That was just the wrong thing to tell me. I just kept running and tried to ignore what she said, but the more I ran, the more mad I got," Herbain said. "By that time, I was just about to explode. She had left, and I just stopped and hit the metal door. It was either hit the door or hit her, so I hit the door."

Herbain said it was just the pressure of everything that was going on and people stealing her stuff that made her react the way she did.

"I took it out on the door and not her," Herbain said. "She later apologized for the comment."

As humiliating as the situation was for Herbain, she said she was more disgusted by the system than anything else. She said the whole process, and having to do any jail time, was something that she thought was totally wrong.

Community service

Joy Herbain recently completed her 400 hours of community service — spending every weekend, both Saturday and Sunday, at the Valencia County Animal Shelter. It took her a total of seven months to finish, a job she says was an experience she'll never forget.

The first day she arrived at the shelter, she spent eight grueling hours pulling and chopping weeds. While she was never afraid of hard work, Herbain said, it was "pretty humiliating." But the whole time, all she could think of was that she was doing it not only as a punishment, but to make amends to the dogs she had ignored.

"I kept saying, 'OK dogs, I'm doing this for you. I'm sorry I did what I did to you, and I'm doing this for you,'" Herbain said. "That made it where I could feel like I was doing something good. The second day, they had me going around spraying the weeds."

In the following weeks and months, Herbain started working inside the shelter. She started out by sweeping and mopping the floors, and cleaning the bathrooms. From that, it just proceeded into taking charge of the cat room. And if something needed to be done, she just went and did it.

She said she felt like part of the team, and after a while, she actually looked forward to going in.

"She was awesome," Jaramillo said of Herbain's work at the shelter. "She learned everything that we had her do there. She cleaned up after dogs and cats, she learned how to hold the animals for vaccinations, and she came in and did it every weekend.

"We all knew what reasons she was there for, but she turned into a decent worker," Jaramillo said. "She was part of the team."

Lessons learned

In the seven months that Herbain worked at the shelter, she saw a lot — more than she thought she would. She said while her work ultimately became a rewarding task, she did see the other side of it.

"You see the animals hurt, and you know that they have to be put down," Herbain said. "That was the hard part."

As a former breeder, Herbain said, after what she's been through over the past year and what she's experienced at the shelter, she's come to the decision that she'll never breed again — not even one litter.

"My dogs were AKC registered, they were adorable lap dogs and they were sweet, smart little critters," Herbain said. "Who couldn't love them? Who wouldn't take care of them? Well, working at the shelter, there were several dachshunds that came through. And what was the sad part was I wondered if they were one of mine."

Herbain spoke about several animals that came through the shelter, including a doberman that had been sold to a former owner for $1,800. She said it didn't matter what breed or how adorable they were, she eventually saw every type of dog at the shelter.

"I don't want to contribute to it," she says. "I truly believe that every single breeder should be required to work at least 60 days in a shelter. It will change their perspective about breeding."

Herbain wants people to know and to see what goes on at the shelter, to see the number of animals that are run through there. She says most people won't believe the condition of some of the animals, and a lot of them don't make it out of the shelter.

Even though Herbain has served her time in jail and has completed her community service, she plans to continue to volunteer at the shelter every now and then. She still has to pay the restitution, but she has been given the option of reimbursing the shelter with items it is in need of such as cleaning supplies, collars and leashes, water and food bowls and blankets.

"The bottom line is, yes, I needed to be punished, but I think the severity of the punishment far exceeded the crime," she said. "I came out of it with a positive attitude and a totally different outlook as far as animals are concerned. It was a hard learning experience, and I think no matter what, I should have taken control of my situation better to begin with. But because I didn't, I had to pay, and I'm OK with that."

* See Herbain, Page 3A

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