Matt Gentry | The Roanoke Times

Ashes and rubble are all that remain after a fire destroyed Dogwood Kennels in the Amish community of Byrnes Chapel.

It was about 1 a.m. Wednesday when Philip Schmucker went to check on the dogs.

The 21-year-old walked out of his house, a traditional log cabin in the Amish community of Byrnes Chapel, and tramped the short distance to the 3,000-square-foot kennel where he, his brother and his father kept the puppies. Most of them were small dogs -- little yelping furballs representing at least 15 breeds.

"We sell mostly to brokers or to pet stores," Schmucker explained. "There's one in New York, one in D.C., and one in Beckley, West Virginia."

The Schmuckers' puppy-breeding business, Dogwood Kennels, is set in Bland County's bucolic countryside where many Amish families make their living making furniture and growing vegetables.

The Schmuckers grow puppies.

"We started last February," Philip Schmucker said, explaining that the idea was generated by him and his older brother. Their father, Ivan Schmucker Jr., helped them get the business started with 10 dogs.

The elder Schmucker said he supported the business after visiting other puppy-breeding operations he called "disgusting."

"What I set out to do was raise puppies in a humane, healthy way. We've got respect for dogs and we try to raise them as humanely as possible."

So at 1 a.m. Wednesday, when Philip Schmucker saw that his dogs were fine, he went back to bed.

Several hours later, Ivan Schmucker Jr. arose for morning prayer. He heard barking, looked out the window and saw flames rising from the huge kennel.

Soon, volunteers from the Bland, Hollybrook and Rocky Gap fire departments were speeding to Byrnes Chapel Road.

James Belcher, the county's animal control officer, said crews were alerted at 4:38 and fought the fire until 9 a.m.

"A kerosene lantern may have sparked the fire," he said. "They were using it to keep the puppies warm."

Belcher said the fire resulted in an estimated loss of $85,000 -- $35,000 for the structure and $50,000 for the dogs.

Ninety puppies and 77 adult dogs died, he said.

Philip Schmucker said when the family saw the fire, "the first thing on our mind was getting the dogs out, but it was impossible." Flames were leaping from the windows.

The family took some comfort in the fact that dogs in runs outside the kennel were spared.

With smoke still puffing from the rubble Wednesday afternoon, the Schmuckers and their friends were trying to clean up the site.

"We had to accept it," Philip Schmucker said. "We know God does all things for good."

Belcher said Dogwood Kennels had all the permits required to run the puppy-breeding business, regulated by the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

"The animals seemed to have been well taken care of," he said. "Everything was clean."

But local animal welfare activists were shaking with revulsion and anger when word of the fire got out.

"It is all over the Internet," said Gerri Glass, co-founder of Pound Pals of Radford, a group that works with the Radford Animal Shelter to place adoptable pets.

Glass, along with others, called Dogwood Kennels a "puppy mill" where dogs "are bred until their insides fall out producing puppies."

"Dogs that come from pet stores are a result of puppy mills," she said. "Amish puppy mills in Pennsylvania are notorious. The industry supposedly regulated by the USDA is not properly regulated. They're under the radar."

Pennsylvania is where 5 percent of all puppies sold to pet shops are bred. Time magazine and other publications have published stories citing the Amish as the top puppy producers. Virginia, however, has just 21 businesses licensed by the USDA to sell to pet shops. Dogwood Kennels is the only one in Bland County and the Schmuckers said no one has ever complained about it.

Wednesday's fire changed that.

"It's outrageous. It's horrific," said Lila Borge Wills, president of the Virginia Partnership for Animal Welfare and Support. "The tragic deaths of these poor animals will hopefully bring to light the horrors of the puppy mill industry. The public should demand that these injustices stop before more animals die."

"I'm sure it wasn't done deliberately," Wills added, "but the fact that [the dogs] are in a situation like that where there is no possibility of saving them is wrong."

Philip Schmucker said he wishes the people speaking out would have visited his kennel before condemning it.

"We're all for raising healthy pets," he said. "Don't people realize someone has got to raise them? We're not against VA PAWS at all. We support them in that we cannot tolerate inhumanely treated animals."

As the one charged with enforcing animal welfare in Bland County, Belcher said he believes Dogwood Kennels was an exemplary operation.

But that doesn't wipe out the memory of what he saw Wednesday.

"A hundred and seventy burnt dead dogs is something you won't soon forget," he said.