Son of woman who died along with dozens of dogs in Phoenix house fire says she was professional breeder

Evan Pauley was supposed to visit his mother in Phoenix in a week when he received a call from Valleywise Medical Center Saturday. His 86-year-old mother’s home had caught fire and she wasn’t expected to make it.

Nearly half of her body had third-degree burns and her organs had started shutting down. The doctors estimated she had between six to 18 hours to live, of which they would keep her unconscious lest her final moments be in excruciating pain, Pauley said.

Pauley, an only child, asked the doctor what he would do if it was his mother, and was recommended to put in a do not resuscitate order.

“I would treat this like an incurable disease,” Pauley recalled the doctor telling him. “I would DNR her. I would get here when you can and honor her and remember her the way you last saw her.”

He did so, and Marilyn Pauley died Sunday morning, 12 hours later.

The story: Phoenix house fire kills elderly woman and dozens of dogs housed in metal cages

As he grappled with the sudden loss of a mother he cherished, Pauley said he noticed news stories popping up about the fire that took his mothers life, along with many of the 37 dogs she bred professionally. Some initial reports had painted his mother as a hoarder whose negligence caused dozens of dogs to burn to death.

Phoenix police previously told The Arizona Republic that Marilyn Pauley owned dozens of dogs simply because she loved dogs and wasn’t a kennel or breeder.

In an interview with The Republic, Pauley said that his mother bred toy poodles — many of which won awards in dog competitions — for decades. Pauley pushed back on any insinuation that his mother was a hoarder, and described her as a mentally sharp caretaker who loved her dogs dearly.

He also pushed back against those who would criticize his mother for having 37 dogs at her age, arguing she had decades of experience raising dogs and had help from friends and neighbors if a task was too difficult for her.

"You should judge by the quality of what was done with these animals and the care that was given to them by this amazing lady," Pauley said. "Not because she was my mom. But amazing at what she did for multiple, multiple decades. That's what you should judge by in my opinion. To do any less is dishonoring all the good work that this lady did."

Pauley said his mother cooked meals for the dogs herself, mixing dog kibble with pasta, and likely gave them better treatment than some children.

Until recently, Pauley said his mother spent four months of the year in her motor home and showed dogs across competition circuits. She also sold dogs for a living, though Pauley said his mother was quite discerning when deciding whom to sell a dog to.

He added that his mother cared deeply about the health of her dogs and, if one developed a condition that barred them from competing, she would give it away to a loving home if she herself couldn’t keep it.

He said his mother planned on slowly dwindling the number of dogs under her care before moving back to Kansas.

“This is the person whose house burned down Saturday,” Pauley said. “And who stood in the hallway of her home with the firemen telling her ‘get out, get out’ and she held on to her walker and said ‘I am not leaving without my dogs — save my dogs.’”

Pauley described his mother has having a wry sense of humor, and recalled her once mailing a letter that simply said "EP phone home" after he hadn't called her in a month.

One of his favorite memories of her was when he was around seven years old while she was in the U.S. Coast Guard Reserve performing a motorboat examination. Pauley said he noticed his mom had missed something and pointed it out to her.

"She looked at me, looked down and realized she missed it, looked at the boat owner and said 'That's my kid. He's my quality-control specialist,'" Pauley recalled.

Sgt. Brian Bower, a Phoenix police spokesperson, said on Tuesday that nine of the 37 dogs had been rescued and were with the local humane society.

Pauley said he hadn’t been told where the remaining dogs were or how he could retrieve them. He also hasn’t had the chance to remains of his mother’s home or retrieve his mother’s remains, which were still being held at the Maricopa County Medical Examiner.

He said it was too early to discuss funeral arrangements, but noted he planned to have his mother buried next to his father in Topeka, Kansas.

Reach the reporter Perry Vandell at 602-444-2474 or perry.vandell@gannett.com. Follow him on Twitter @PerryVandell.

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This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Elderly woman who died in fire with dogs was a breeder, son says