LEXINGTON, Ky. — Debby, Fiona and Chloe were so happy to be around Kiara Tuggle, she could hardly get anything done.

They frolicked, rolled around, pounded on toys and jumped up Tuggle’s small frame. So, of course, she had to stop cleaning out kennels and tell them how beautiful they were.

The three 6-month-old, mixed-breed puppies had just arrived at Paws 4 the Cause, a rescue operation on Newtown Pike in Lexington. They’d come all the way from the Estill County Animal Shelter, where they had been squeezed in with 90 dogs in a space that should hold 35, said Anita Spreitzer, the Paws general manager.

“When we first got them here, they were so upset,” Spreitzer said. “They come in broken and defeated, and when they get here, they just blossom into someone’s pet.”

The eight dogs now at

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