One of the 37 dogs seized by Deschutes County Sheriff's Office deputies from a home in La Pine. 

A La Pine woman is facing charges of animal neglect and abandonment after police seized her 37 dogs, many of which were living without ample food, water and shelter.

Dessie C. McIntire, 48, of La Pine, was cited and released Tuesday on two counts of felony second-degree animal neglect, 29 counts of animal abandonment and 13 counts of owning unlicensed dogs.

Over an 18-month period ending in December, the Deschutes County Sheriff’s Office responded to 40 animal-complaint calls from a home where McIntire lived on Wayside Loop in La Pine.

The complaints involved dogs roaming unchecked, noise, dogs living in “unsafe conditions” and “several dog bites,” a press release from sheriff’s Sgt. Jason Wall said.

A deputy was bitten while arresting McIntire for an unrelated matter, Wall told The Bulletin. Court records show McIntire was indicted on Oct. 26 on a felony charge of tampering with a witness.

McIntire, meanwhile, was cited nine times for violating Deschutes County code for her dogs.

On Dec. 21, while McIntire was in the Deschutes County jail, sheriff’s deputies went to the Wayside Loop home after receiving a complaint about loose dogs. The homeowner, an elderly man, was there with 14 of McIntire’s dogs, including adults and puppies that were only weeks old, Wall said.

The dogs had no food or clean water and were living mostly outdoors, the press release said. Many were “highly aggressive” and had not been vaccinated or licensed in the county. The homeowner, who was not identified by the sheriff’s office, “was not able to care for them and had not agreed to do so.”

Deputies seized 11 dogs, took them to the Humane Society of Central Oregon and began to investigate, the press release said. Authorities then seized more dogs as they responded to additional calls about dogs loose at the property.

By Dec. 29, McIntire had been released from jail and deputies contacted her at the property, Wall said. They found 20 more dogs “still living at the property in very poor conditions.” McIntire surrendered the dogs willingly and authorities took them to BrightSide Animal Center in Redmond.

All of McIntire’s 37 dogs have been taken to shelters.

Court records show she has not been charged with a crime.

This is the second La Pine woman to be accused of neglecting to care for a large amount of dogs.

In April, deputies seized 17 dogs from a La Pine woman who was accused of neglecting to care for them in a rescue operation she ran in her home.

Last week, a Bend woman was convicted of criminally negligent homicide after her three dogs mauled a man to death in the Juniper Ridge homeless encampment in July. She had also previously been convicted of animal neglect.