Post by AnimalAvenger on Jun 2, 2009 22:20:29 GMT -5
Found this on PETA2 and thougth I'd repost it here.
Hoping to spread the word to many legitimate and wonderful organizations in the area
If you have any stories/suggestions of your own please write me back!
I am attempting to increase public awareness with "Give A Dog A Second Chance" "rescue" shelter located in Oshawa, Ontario. It seems that the lady running it is well known to many in the community, but not in a positive way! Others have written to me with their negative adoption experiences recently.
She used to deal with Petsmart, but she told me that she didn't pay her taxes and that is the reason they refuse to deal with her any longer. I am starting to doubt that is the only reason. She has had run ins/complaints with the Oshawa Animal Control, Durham SPCA(who has never issued an order against her), and many citizens of Oshawa and surrounding cities. Many local kennels, along with legitimate breeders know about this woman's questionable practices. This lady is selling sick/soon to be sick puppies to her own community! It seems this organization is taking advantage and profiting off the lax Canadian animal laws.
Her ad on petfinder is asking for donations, volunteers etc and I hope the money is going only to animal care as she would say it is. Personally, I think she makes a lot of personal profit off both the sale of dogs and any donations. She stated to me that she receives pet food as a donation, and obviously gives some vaccinations herself(hopefully so). She can't be paying out a lot of money for animal care in her home(where her organization is run from), but seems to be making a large profit. She lists her organization as a non profit. Well, where is all the extra money going to?? This place is not listed as a registered charity or registered non profit.
This is my story, but only one of many:
I adopted two puppies from this organization on Monday December 29th. My two sisters and husband joined me, and we all had an uneasy feeling upon arrival. The bottom floor windows were all boarded up, and the place was a mess. We were brought upstairs where there were three black lab pups in one room and two lab mixes in the other. The two poor lab mixes were cowering in the corner, and we did not see any water out for them. Newspapers were scattered everywhere in filth. Cats were allowed to roam all over. We could all hear large, extremely loud dogs insanely barking in a room below the two lab pups. We felt distressed at this scenerio, and instead of me looking to adopt one dog, we took them both instead. I gave her $500 cash, but was not issued a receipt.
The owner indicated that they had been seen by a vet and were in perfect health at the time of adoption. Later over the phone, when I pressed for more formal documentation of vaccinations from a vet, she indicated that they were never taken because her driver's arm was broken!
In talking to her about the situation her stories have constantly changed. First about where she rescued them from, their age as being 7 months(stated 9 months on internet when I later checked), and about another brother that was adopted out. This has all made me doubt that she is even close to a legitimate adoption location. The ultimate question is: Where is she getting all of her animals from??? I truly hope not puppy mills. It seems that she gets some puppies from local or distant rescues, Kijiji and Craigslist, and then re-sells them. Wouldn’t this woman truly be considered a puppy broker? Some dogs are listed as $350, so what does this “adoption fee” include? She is not vetting the animals, vaccinating herself and most adults are not altered, with no future promise of altering the young puppies for that price! This indicated that she is pocketing the money!
This woman is also failing to properly screen the interested adopters. She made me fill out an application over email, never ended up checking my references. There was no home visit, no official interviewing process. I just showed up and adopted the dogs within 30 minutes. Luckily I, along with many others are nice people who love animals. However, what if she has adopted out/adopts out to the wrong people?? No legitimate rescue would do any of these things. She is giving the good ones a bad rap!
On Thursday Jan 1st, four days after coming home, my two pups acquired parvovirus. This is a very deadly virus for puppies, but they have both survived!! This cost me close to $3000 in vet bills for the required immediate medical attention. The pups were in ICU for days on IV drip, one even needing a blood transfusion. I am convinced that they contracted this from her dirty premises, but cannot prove this. As I mentioned, cats are wandering around everywhere and all it would take is for them to step in some dog feces to pass it on. I just don't want to see any other animals or families suffer!
I ended up asking this woman over email to refund all or most of the $500 I paid her for the puppies, to put towards their vet bills. What I received back was an email threatening to take the puppies back, which I know she cannot do! She also stated she would charge me with slander, and said that she has all of my personal information. I took this as a threat, but will not let this intimidate me from speaking out.
Please help this community and help put an end to her harmful practices! If anyone asks you about adopting an animal from her, please inform them of the horror stories!! If you can suggest anything else that will help, please let me know.
Thanks for your attention,
If you have any stories/suggestions of your own please write me back!
I am attempting to increase public awareness with "Give A Dog A Second Chance" "rescue" shelter located in Oshawa, Ontario. It seems that the lady running it is well known to many in the community, but not in a positive way! Others have written to me with their negative adoption experiences recently.
She used to deal with Petsmart, but she told me that she didn't pay her taxes and that is the reason they refuse to deal with her any longer. I am starting to doubt that is the only reason. She has had run ins/complaints with the Oshawa Animal Control, Durham SPCA(who has never issued an order against her), and many citizens of Oshawa and surrounding cities. Many local kennels, along with legitimate breeders know about this woman's questionable practices. This lady is selling sick/soon to be sick puppies to her own community! It seems this organization is taking advantage and profiting off the lax Canadian animal laws.
Her ad on petfinder is asking for donations, volunteers etc and I hope the money is going only to animal care as she would say it is. Personally, I think she makes a lot of personal profit off both the sale of dogs and any donations. She stated to me that she receives pet food as a donation, and obviously gives some vaccinations herself(hopefully so). She can't be paying out a lot of money for animal care in her home(where her organization is run from), but seems to be making a large profit. She lists her organization as a non profit. Well, where is all the extra money going to?? This place is not listed as a registered charity or registered non profit.
This is my story, but only one of many:
I adopted two puppies from this organization on Monday December 29th. My two sisters and husband joined me, and we all had an uneasy feeling upon arrival. The bottom floor windows were all boarded up, and the place was a mess. We were brought upstairs where there were three black lab pups in one room and two lab mixes in the other. The two poor lab mixes were cowering in the corner, and we did not see any water out for them. Newspapers were scattered everywhere in filth. Cats were allowed to roam all over. We could all hear large, extremely loud dogs insanely barking in a room below the two lab pups. We felt distressed at this scenerio, and instead of me looking to adopt one dog, we took them both instead. I gave her $500 cash, but was not issued a receipt.
The owner indicated that they had been seen by a vet and were in perfect health at the time of adoption. Later over the phone, when I pressed for more formal documentation of vaccinations from a vet, she indicated that they were never taken because her driver's arm was broken!
In talking to her about the situation her stories have constantly changed. First about where she rescued them from, their age as being 7 months(stated 9 months on internet when I later checked), and about another brother that was adopted out. This has all made me doubt that she is even close to a legitimate adoption location. The ultimate question is: Where is she getting all of her animals from??? I truly hope not puppy mills. It seems that she gets some puppies from local or distant rescues, Kijiji and Craigslist, and then re-sells them. Wouldn’t this woman truly be considered a puppy broker? Some dogs are listed as $350, so what does this “adoption fee” include? She is not vetting the animals, vaccinating herself and most adults are not altered, with no future promise of altering the young puppies for that price! This indicated that she is pocketing the money!
This woman is also failing to properly screen the interested adopters. She made me fill out an application over email, never ended up checking my references. There was no home visit, no official interviewing process. I just showed up and adopted the dogs within 30 minutes. Luckily I, along with many others are nice people who love animals. However, what if she has adopted out/adopts out to the wrong people?? No legitimate rescue would do any of these things. She is giving the good ones a bad rap!
On Thursday Jan 1st, four days after coming home, my two pups acquired parvovirus. This is a very deadly virus for puppies, but they have both survived!! This cost me close to $3000 in vet bills for the required immediate medical attention. The pups were in ICU for days on IV drip, one even needing a blood transfusion. I am convinced that they contracted this from her dirty premises, but cannot prove this. As I mentioned, cats are wandering around everywhere and all it would take is for them to step in some dog feces to pass it on. I just don't want to see any other animals or families suffer!
I ended up asking this woman over email to refund all or most of the $500 I paid her for the puppies, to put towards their vet bills. What I received back was an email threatening to take the puppies back, which I know she cannot do! She also stated she would charge me with slander, and said that she has all of my personal information. I took this as a threat, but will not let this intimidate me from speaking out.
Please help this community and help put an end to her harmful practices! If anyone asks you about adopting an animal from her, please inform them of the horror stories!! If you can suggest anything else that will help, please let me know.
Thanks for your attention,
