Ohio family's 17 dogs die in Thanksgiving Day fire
BROOKFIELD, Ohio (KDKA) -- An Ohio family is mourning after they lost their 17 dogs and everything inside their home to a fire on Thanksgiving Day.
The family from Brookfield, right over the Ohio-Pennsylvania border, told CBS affiliate WKBN that they were at a relative's house about an hour away with their 8-month-old daughter celebrating Thanksgiving when they got a call from a neighbor.
Jessica Schlumberger and her fiance Sherman Holbrook said they lost everything after a fire started in the basement of their home on Stewart Sharon Road, WKBN reported.
The family lost all their dogs, including a litter of eight puppies and another adult dog that was pregnant, according to WKBN.
"These were more than just pets, they were our life. They were our livelihoods, they were a part of our income, they were a part of our family. Everybody who met any one of our dogs loved them," Holbrook told the TV station.
According to a GoFundMe set up for the family, Sherman is a K-9 handler.
Schlumberger said they're "very blessed and very grateful" for the support they've received from friends, family and even strangers after the tragedy.
"Hopefully, we can financially recover from this and go back to doing it. Something we love to do is the rescue portion of it. We like taking dogs from bad situations and trying to get them into a better light," Holbrook told WKBN.