DENVER -- The owner of an Aspen-area sled-dog operation vows to make changes after getting international criticism over shooting some of his dogs in the head.

Dan MacEachen, owner of Krabloonik, billed as "the nation's largest dog-sled operation," said he will change the way he euthanizes old sled dogs or pups that are not healthy. For the last 30 years, his practice has been to shoot them in the head with a .22-caliber rifle and dump them in a pit filled with dog feces.

"What we're doing is distasteful, but it's perfectly within my legal grounds to do it. However, that doesn't change the thought that this hasn't been portrayed totally honestly," he told the Aspen Times. "We do find homes for dogs. Can we do more of it? That's what I'm going to explore."

MacEachen said he will begin contacting sled-dog rescue groups in an effort to get unwanted dogs adopted from now on. The Pitkin County Animal Shelter said it was also willing to take dogs scheduled for euthanasia and will work to adopt them out.

Revelations of Krabloonik's practices set off a firestorm of controversy this week from Pitkin County residents to national humane societies, to international visitors. While using a gun to dispatch a dog is legal in the state of Colorado, operators of similar operations in the United States -- some larger than Krabloonik -- said it is no longer practiced by most kennels.

Much of the criticism of Krabloonik has come from Harry Portland, who worked at the Snowmass Village operation for nine years, until 2003.

Portland told the Aspen Daily News that on one occasion he witnessed dogs still moving, hours after they were shot and thrown into a large pit used to hold dog carcasses and dog excrement.

"You'd be dumping (feces) all through the day and you'd see the dogs in there," Portland told the News. "Some of them would be kicking and moving a little bit -- occasionally you'd see their eyes moving."

MacEachen denies any knowledge of shot dogs surviving in the pit and has no idea what Portland is talking about. Efforts by the newspaper to find corroborating witnesses were unsuccessful.

Portland said as many as 30 dogs were shot in one year, a figure MacEachen disputes as "too high," but David Shinn, another former employee, said he was personally involved in the shooting of 27 dogs at Krabloonik in one year.

People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals said it has been inundated with calls and e-mails from people, worried about the welfare of the dogs at Krabloonik. A spokeswoman for PETA said "people are outraged" at the treatment of the dogs, and called the practice of culling by shooting "barbaric."

MacEachen told the News earlier in the week that he ties to put his unwanted dogs up for adoption, but he is unwilling to do so in the Roaring Fork Valley. He said he could be held liable if dogs adopted out from his kennel attack wildlife.

"I don't need a bunch of dogs running around out there with (their owners) saying that they came from Krabloonik," MacEachen told the News. "That does not represent me."

On Tuesday, MacEachen changed his tune, and said, "I am addressing concerns of people and expanding upon my policy of finding homes for dogs."

The Krabloonik center in Snowmass Village charges tourists up to $295 each to be pulled on a sled by dogs through the mountains. The center also features a luxury restaurant, where people can dine afterwards, and look out at the sled dogs.