Originally posted by Twisterdog
This is indeed a very sad - and unfortunately very common - occurance.

Animal hoarding is a true psychological ailment. The victims are almost always middle-aged women. These women do truly believe, in their heart of hearts, that they are helping. And, at first, they probably are. But they lose the ability to see things realistically in time.

Very sad ... not only for the animals, but for the hoarders themselves, who truly and honestly think they are just trying to help animals, and don't understand why someone would take away their babies.
You are absolutely correct. We just had a case like this in our area. The woman truly believed she was "saving" the dogs, but in reality she was abusing them by making them live in unsocialized and filthy conditions. Very sad. Unfortunately there are more animals needing homes than homes available. Which is why a mandatory spay/neuter program is so necessary. (I know this will offend many people - but when you volunteer in a shelter and see wonderful dogs pts on a weekly basis, you become pretty jaded to any kind of breeding)