From squalor to safety: The spaniel learning to trust again

"She was very timid and completely shut down," Sue Kairies says, as she thinks back to when she first met Sprite.

The springer spaniel dog had been found in April by RSPCA officers at a home in Doncaster, where animals covered in faeces and urine were left to breed by themselves.

Sue has taken her into her home in Lichfield, Staffordshire, but admits Sprite has struggled to adjust to her new surroundings and would "hide behind the bushes for hours and hours on end".

"Her coat itself, although the RSPCA had cleaned it, there were tinges of yellow that took a number of months for us to wash out the urine," she remembered.

After searching the rural cottage where they found 84 dogs, two cats and a chicken, RSPCA officers described it as "the worst they had encountered during their careers".

Sprite's new owners had to go through a painstaking transition with "a lot of patience and a lot of understanding" to get her to trust them.

"Nobody could come into the house without her coming straight out the house, " Sue added.

"We were lucky we had the cat flap which gave her confidence to come and go and provided her with an escape route for herself. "

The squalor she was previously forced to live in continued to haunt her when she slept, Sue said, and Sprite became visibly distressed when footage of the conditions in Doncaster was played.

"She just lay in the middle of the living room and started crying", her new owner said

"We had to turn the video off straight away for her because she just found it too upsetting."

Sue and her husband Jason have kept in touch with other people who have taken on the pups and have plans to reunite all 84 in a year.

Sprite now has two cats as her companions and Sue says she loves being outdoors, in the garden, park and dog field.

Children's social worker David Parkes was found guilty of failing to ensure the welfare of the animals, which were kept at the home he shared with his family.

He had denied animal welfare offences, claiming his wife, Delphine, and son, Sam, were primarily responsible for the dogs' care due to his heavy workload.

However, the 61-year-old was found guilty following a two-day trial at Barnsley Magistrates' Court.

Delphine Parkes, 60, and Sam Parkes, 28, pleaded guilty to the same offences at a hearing earlier this year. All three will be sentenced on 9 December.

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