OSSIPEE, N.H. — A woman who had dozens of filthy and sick Great Danes living in her New Hampshire mansion was given a suspended 12-month jail sentence Thursday morning.

A judge ordered Christina Fay to pay nearly $800,000 in restitution.

The judge is allowing Fay to choose one of her dogs that has been spayed/neutered to be returned to her care. She originally asked the judge to get nine of the dogs back.

“I’m not going to put Ms. Fay in jail. I don’t think she belongs there,” the judge said.

Eighty-four dogs were seized from Fay’s Wolfeboro, New Hampshire, home in June. Authorities said the animals were living in filth and suffering from health problems.

As for future dog ownership, Fay can continue to keep the one dog. She is prohibited from owning more than one animal of any type for the rest of her life.

In November Fay told the Concord Monitor she started adopting the dogs after her six adopted children were grown and she was alone a lot of the time. “I wanted to laugh. I wanted to have some beauty.” 

At the time of her arrest, she had 75 dogs in her home.

When Fay divorced in 2014, she moved to Auburn where she bought an eight-bedroom house on Summer Street and enclosed a large portion of her yard for up to 35 dogs. According to records of the Androscoggin County Registry of Deeds, Fay sold the house earlier this year.

Fay told the Concord Monitor the move was prompted by her desire for more land, and the need for as much as $300,000 worth of repairs to her house in Auburn.

A New Hampshire judge ordered Christina Fay to pay nearly $800,000 in restitution and allowed her to choose one of her dogs that has been spayed/neutered to be returned to her care. (WGME photo)