Six weeks after dozens of Belgian Malinois pups were rescued from a filthy Queens apartment coated in urine and feces, the young survivors are bouncing back — learning to play, trust and just be dogs.
Among them is Lafayette, the youngest of the 48 dogs pulled from the hoarder’s home. He was just 3 weeks old, toothless and so weak rescuers feared the worst.
“There was a question mark at one point about whether he would survive,” said Rachel Maso, director of animal behavior at NYC’s ASPCA, who assisted in the two-day rescue.
Now, Lafayette and four of the other puppies named after NYC streets — Wooster, Broome, Grand and Rivington — are healthy, playful and finally ready for adoption. The Post was recently given a sneak peak at their progress.
Animal welfare officials, alongside the NYPD’s Emergency Services Unit, responded to Isaac Yadgarov’s seventh-floor Forest Hills apartment on May 8 and found a disturbing scene — dozens of dogs, ranging from 3 weeks to 3 years old, crammed into a foul-smelling, urine- and feces-covered unit, prosecutors said.
Some were stuffed into closets and cupboards with no access to fresh air or sunlight. Three were in such poor condition they had to be euthanized.
The Belgian Malinois is a smart, agile and loyal breed prized for its trainability. Widely used by police and military, they excel in detection, patrol and protection roles and can grow to be 80 pounds.
Of the 48 dogs rescued, 14 of the youngest and most medically vulnerable were taken by the ASPCA. The remaining 31 were transferred to the Animal Care Center in Queens and other partner rescue groups for evaluation and care — and have all since been placed.
“You could smell the apartment in the hallway,” Maso, 39, said. “They had extensive fecal soiling, and . . . you could guess that they didn’t have food, water, ventilation.”
While many of the older dogs came out terrified of humans and unable to walk on leashes, Maso said the puppies showed something else: joy.
“What we saw in the puppies was an immense amount of resilience and excitement and wanting to interact with people,” she said.
Rivington, slightly older and from a different litter, initially was hesitant and refused to let other puppies near his food bowl — a sign he may have had to compete for meals in the overcrowded apartment, Maso said.
“It’s very obvious the conditions of the apartment and the way they were kept impacted their ability to function outside in the world,” she said.
After weeks of socialization, medical care and puppy-safe training, however, Rivington and the other pups have grown, healed and learned to trust, Maso said. Five are now “thriving” and officially up for adoption at the ASPCA’s Manhattan facility, while the other nine have already been adopted.
Yadgarov, 37, faces 96 charges — two for each dog — including animal torture and failure to provide proper care, and could face up to a year behind bars. He was released on his own recognizance on June 2, and the case remains under investigation.
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