A Perth man has been sentenced to nine months in prison after leaving 105 dogs without sufficient food or water at a puppy farm during temperatures above 40C. Twenty-two of the animals were later euthanised.
Jia Xu Dong, 41, was sentenced in Perth Magistrates Court on Wednesday after being found guilty last July of 36 animal cruelty offences.
The RSPCA WA uncovered the conditions at a property in Canning Vale in December 2024, after several dogs escaped while Dong was reportedly away in Albany for 10 days.
The dogs included groodles, golden retrievers, corgis, French bulldogs, cocker spaniels and various crossbreeds, according to the RSPCA.
Many were suffering from injuries sustained in fights, dental problems, severely matted fur and untreated medical conditions. They also displayed fearful behaviour consistent with prolonged neglect.
On another occasion, Dong travelled to China for two months. During his absence, 65 puppies were reportedly born at the property.
The RSPCA said the rescue revealed that many of the animals were deeply withdrawn and terrified of people, likely because they had experienced little or no positive human contact.
The dogs displayed signs of severe psychological distress, including staring at kennel walls for hours, resisting handling and, in some cases, chewing through the concrete walls of their enclosures.
Jia Xu Dong has been sentenced to nine months in prison
Some of the dogs spent hours staring at kennel walls
Dong initially refused to surrender the dogs unless the RSPCA paid for them
Physically, the dogs were found with severe matting, embedded grass seeds, skin lesions, abscesses, ruptured eardrums, dental disease, dehydration and gastrointestinal illnesses.
The RSPCA said about 80 per cent of the dogs that survived have since been placed in new homes.
Dong, a Chinese national who moved to Australia at the age of 13, received the nine-month prison sentence after his conviction on the 36 cruelty charges.
He was also fined $5,000 for breaching court orders by selling a golden retriever puppy that he had been ordered to forfeit in August 2025.
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Magistrate Sandra De Maio described Dong as a “devious and dishonest individual”, saying his conduct was “abhorrent and undoubtedly cruel”.
“His story changes like the tides. I simply do not believe a word he says,” she told the court, according to ABC reporting.
Magistrate De Maio said Dong had portrayed himself as a “hapless lover of dogs” who merely sold puppies that had been born accidentally, when he was actually operating a large-scale puppy farm.
The court heard that Dong may have bred more than 390 puppies over a four-year period, generating as much as $1.17 million in sales.
RSPCA workers provide care to one of the rescued dogs
Many of the rescued dogs have now been rehomed
More than 100 dogs were left without adequate food or water in temperatures above 40C
De Maio said Dong had left the animals to endure “appalling conditions”, showing no concern for their welfare and indifference to their suffering.
She said he had “failed them entirely in all aspects of their care” and that the dogs had suffered greatly for much of their lives.
The court also heard that Dong treated some injuries with honey and initially refused to surrender the animals unless he was compensated, 7News reported.
Speaking outside court on Wednesday, RSPCA senior inspector Jayde Palin said it was “heartwarming” that some of the dogs had been saved.
“When you walk into a house and see a mass number of dogs suffering, particularly desirable breeds that people pay a lot of money for, you would expect them to be properly cared for,” she said.
Palin said knowing that 70 to 80 per cent of the dogs she had helped were now living in homes where they belonged made the work worthwhile.
Dong has also been permanently barred from owning or breeding animals.
