Editor's note: Watch "The Situation Room" at 5 p.m. ET Tuesday for more from CNN's Brooke Baldwin about the dog rescue.



Authorities raided a residence in Laurens County, Georgia, and found dogs scarred and malnourished.



LAURENS COUNTY, Georgia (CNN) -- It was 8 a.m. October 15. Our CNN crew had been up for a while, waiting. We still didn't have an address.



My producer, Susan Brown, and I had several questions: What would the living conditions of these dogs be like? What about the man whose door the Sheriff's Office was about to knock on? He was unaware of the raid that was about to occur in his backyard. Despite all of our planning, unknown variables were at play.



First stop was the Sheriff's Office in Laurens County, which is in central Georgia. Starting with information from a tip line, authorities had uncovered clues that led them to believe they needed to intervene and investigate.



The plan was this: The sheriff would drive to the property to execute the search warrant for particular objects generally associated with dogfighting, and for the dogs themselves.  Watch the dog raid unfold »



Expressing concerns about the conditions at this private residence where dogs were suspected of being bred for dogfighting, Laurens County Sheriff Bill Harrell said, "If anything is going wrong, we want to get it stopped."



Private investigators with Norred and Associates Inc. will work alongside Harrell and his deputies, leading tactical teams. The teams were made up of veteran investigators donating their time, effort and expertise, along with volunteers of the Dublin-Laurens County Humane Society, who would collect and care for the dogs.



All of the team members had experience with animals, particularly pit bulls. Based on information from the tip line, they were starting the day prepared to find as many as 60 dogs chained up in the woods behind one man's house in East Dublin, Georgia. These men and women waited, braced for battle -- only the war they were waging was on animal cruelty.



"I want to thank everybody for coming. It's for a good thing. It's for the dogs." Chuck Simmons, a private investigator and former police chief, was mapping out the search area on a dry erase board.



He was warning his crew about snakes, water from recent rains and nonsocialized dogs.



After loading up crates on several trucks, everyone headed out. With the address of the raid location in hand, our crew joined a convoy of half a dozen cars down several rural roads to our final location. We arrived at a one-story ranch house with several acres of grounds.



The sheriff beat us there. He and his deputies were already roping off this man's front yard with yellow crime tape. Rollin Monta "Monty" Loyd, the property owner, appeared furious. As the teams moved into the woods behind his home, our crew was stuck in front and across the street.



We could not go on the property to get the shots we wanted, because that would be trespassing. We couldn't see the dogs, but we could hear them. The private investigators, who were part of the raid, videotaped the operation.



Half an hour into the raid, reports began to come in. The good news: The dogs were still there; news of the raid hadn't leaked. The bad news: There weren't 60 dogs, as anticipated; there were more. The final count was 97.



Most of the dogs were pit bull terriers; many were puppies. They were found cowering in cages or chained. Some older dogs were scarred -- possible signs of fighting, investigators said. Others were malnourished, simply skin and bone.



Their conditions were atrocious, according to Terry Wolf of the Dublin-Laurens County Humane Society.



"Their chains are too short to reach shelter, those who have shelter. The water that they have seems to be recent rainwater with algae in it, and I've seen no food bowls. Most of them are very timid," Wolf
Who would execute search? Who wants to execute a search warrant? How many dogs were chained? What were the dogs at the private residence bred to do? What were dogs bred for? What was the dog allegedly bred to? What does the Laurens County sheriff plan to execute on the home? How many dogs did authorities find?
The sheriff The sheriff 60 dogfighting, dogfighting, dogfighting, the search warrant 97.
question: Who would execute search?, answer: The sheriff | question: Who wants to execute a search warrant?, answer: The sheriff | question: How many dogs were chained?, answer: 60 | question: What were the dogs at the private residence bred to do?, answer: dogfighting, | question: What were dogs bred for?, answer: dogfighting, | question: What was the dog allegedly bred to?, answer: dogfighting, | question: What does the Laurens County sheriff plan to execute on the home?, answer: the search warrant | question: How many dogs did authorities find?, answer: 97.