A total of 18 dogs were rescued from a home after the Brownsville animal shelter said their owner was hoarding them.

“You look at some of these animals, you can tell the condition is gonna be a little bit of a journey for them,” Brownsville Animal Regulation & Care Center Deputy Director Antonio Caldwell said. “It looked like [the homeowner] potentially began with good intentions."

Staff with the Brownsville Animal Regulation & Care Center say most of the dogs were malnourished, and one of them had to be euthanized.

Three of the dogs are being separated from the other dogs because they show signs of distemper.

Channel 5 News learned the animal hoarding situation was uncovered after the man's sister emailed the executive director of BARCC.

Caldwell said they believe the dog owner had good intentions and was trying to rescue the dogs, adding that the owner was emotional but agreed to surrender the dogs when the group arrived.

“All the animals were in the living area, bedroom and kitchen — most of them were loose, the rest of them were in kennels,” BARCC Animal Care Tech supervisor Jean Rosado said.

Despite the living conditions, Rosado said all the animals are friendly and did not display any signs of aggression.

"Most of the animals were letting us carry them,” Rosado said.

The homeowner was given multiple citations for spacing and inhumane treatment. Since he’s not facing any criminal charges, Channel 5 News is not identifying him.

A veterinarian is providing wellness checks to the dogs.

Once the animals have been medically cleared, they will be put up for fostering and adoption.

For more information, go to BARCC’s website.