Lab puppies rescued from Wis. breeder now up for adoption

People awaited in line for hours so they could get dibs on the special goods. But, it was not Black Friday. The goods were puppies.

The Animal Humane Society put about 36 yellow Labrador retrievers up for adoption at noon on Monday. As the doors to the Golden Valley, Minn. shelter opened, some of the people entering had waited three hours to make sure they were able to walk away with a lab.

"I've wanted one for a long time. I want somebody to play with everyday, sit down. Dogs are awesome," said Kevin Hoger, a Coon Rapids boy who was second in line with his adult sister, said. He walked away with a puppy named Olivia.

The dogs were seized from a breeder in Pierce County, Wisconsin, and were nurtured back to health by staff and volunteers.

"It was really horrendous. A lot of the dogs were crammed, adult dogs, multiples, in one crate without access to food, water, or outdoors. Inside, it was just filth," Zach Nugent, a spokesperson for the Humane Society, told Fox 9.

As of 3:00 p.m. Monday afternoon, all but a few of the dogs had been adopted. However, many more are expected to be put up for adoption in the days and weeks ahead. The dogs will be posted at this site when available: animalhumanesociety.org/labs

"Really to see them come full circle from those conditions to today is -- we're actually going to see some of these dogs go home -- it's an amazing experience," Nugent said.