HANGING ROCK — Several dogs are up for adoption after their owner surrendered them Thursday morning.

More than 20 of the animals were taken from a property on Deep Cut Road in Hanging Rock. The dogs’ owners were charged with animal cruelty and ordered to surrender them.

At one time, owners Tim and Laurie Floyd had 60 dogs on the property. Several of the 60 dogs had already been removed from the Floyds’ yard.

“I think they started out with a good heart and then they crossed a line,” said Teresa Landon, director of the Ohio Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals.

The dogs were kept with only minimal shelter in a fenced in area with makeshift cinder block houses with tarp coverings.

Besides the SPCA, volunteers from the Tommorow’s Hope Canine Rescue and Adoption and the Adams County Humane Society and Sacred Hearts Animal Rescue also assisted with the rescue.

Officials were first alerted to the situation when neighbors complained about the sounds of the dogs barking.

The family was living at Lawco Lake when they started taking in dogs that were not being cared for from the area.

“It started out with just one or two that came to the house,” Laurie Floyd said. “No one would take care of them.”

Soon more dogs showed up and the existing dogs had puppies, she said.

The family has been living on Deep Cut Road since July, when the couple moved to a tent. The family was ordered out of the home they rented because of violations relating to the dogs.

When the weather turned colder they acquired a camper, though it has no running water or electricity.

A tearful Laurie Floyd watched as her husband and volunteers removed her pets from the property.

“Any kind of help that anyone could give our dogs — they’re God’s creatures too,” she said. “You look in their eyes and you know they feel stuff too.”

Landon said the dogs were in good condition compared to many cases she has seen.

The problem was that there were simply too many, said Kim Bentley, of Tomorrow’s Hope.

“There’s just way too many for one person and one family to handle,” she said.

The dogs were taken from the property directly to a mobile veterinarian clinic, which was set up on the parking lot of Pick ‘n Save.

There the animals were spayed or neutered, vaccinated and checked for parasites.

“They look better than I was expecting,” said Michelle Gonzales, a veterinarian with the Roaming Animal Sterilization Clinic at Low Cost. She added that the OSPCA has been feeding the dogs since November.

“Overall, I would say that they don’t look too bad,” she said.

The SPCA is looking for new homes for the dogs and also donations so they can go to foster homes in the mean time.

For more information or to inquire about adopting one of the dogs, contact the OSPCA at 740-420-2984 or visit www.ohiospca.org.