A CHOW RESCUE MAY BE FACING FELONY ANIMAL CRUELTY

[Guest]

I think I might have adopted 2 of your puppies. What color were the 6 puppies that you had?

[Guest]

Mina,

I adopted 2 puppies from Lisa and I'm wondering if they might be 2 of your 6. What color where yours?

zilla

[mina]

See pics of my pups in the photo gallary under "My Negra's puppies."

[Zilla]

I'm really confused. I adopted my 2 chows from Lisa Duniphan. She was sweet and very helpful. She had gotten 6 backyard puppys from the same litter. She said they were 4 months old and she had only had then maybe 2 weeks. This was Dec. 2008. We met at the park and she brought them we picked one out. She is the cutest girl ever. We named her Kiki. She wasn't socialized too well and was very timid but I took her out on walks around my neighborhood and park 2-3 times a day. I socialized and socialized her with neighbors, strangers, other dogs, kids. She was such a great dog but she looked a little lonely. So my husband was like "lets see if any of her siblings were left". So I called Lisa again. She said a all black brother and an all white sister were left. I asked to see them again. By this time it was Feb. We chose the black boy. He was a mess though. So we named him Goober. He had giaredia, and hook worms. He had diarrhea gushing out of his butt. And he was so skinny you could feel his ribs and bones. Lisa thought he was going thru and growth spert (he has huge paws). She said it might be worms b/c he has gotten out of the ranch and drank really bad water. So I did 2 treatments agains the worms and giaredia. Then we found he had tapeworms also. SO 2 more treatments for that. Finally his diarrhea is gone and he is starting to fill out into the big boy that he is. I had them both tested for heartworms and they were both negative so I give them the pill every month. He is much more timid then Kiki and not socialized enough in my opinion. I don't even think he has fully bonded to me or my husband. He really loves his sister though. I believe both doggies have entropia in both eyes. We will have to do the surgery when they grown into their faces...maybe another 5-6 months. I had then both spayed and neutered. But Lisa disclosed of this info about their eyes and their health from the beginning. She said they hadn't has all their shots so I took care of all of this. But Lisa also barely charged us for the dogs b/c she said she couldn't garentee their eyes to grow out of the entropia and b/c I had to do s/n and shots myself. She seemed much more concerned with finding them a great home rather then takign my money. She has also told me how to clean their faces and what to do to help their eyes in the mean time. She counciled me on what type of food to get them so their skin doesn't itch...the first 2 I tried made them itch really bad. I'm just shocked to read about all of this. I saw the pictures of the condition of those dogs...it made me sick. I can't see Lia treating her dogs like this. I know that when I got Goober he smelled like cow sh*t. So foul it took like 5 baths to get him so smell nice. He was covered in mud or poo but she said that he was on a ranch and he and his sister got out and drank dirty creek water and rolled in mud right before she brought him to us. She didn't even want to drive them up before a bath but I was too impatient and wanted my new doggy dirty or clean didn't matter. But after seeing those pictures and reading the article I wonder in thats what he was living in? I just can't imagine such a nice and sweet person who seems to love dogs so much to treat them like that.

[mina]

I'm sorry to hear about that. My puppies came from Whittier, Ca. in the Los Angeles county. A Kathi Duran picked up my pups from my home & drove them up to that chow rescue in grass valley. Did you look at the pics I have in the photo gallery under "My Negra's puppies" I posted them in the being of May of 2008.

[KasperKisses]

I realize this is a very old post but I'm hoping that anyone that is checking up on Chow Chow Rescue of the Sierra Foothills will read all the way to the end since I'm trying to clean up the internet mess that has been created for them.
First of all the players: Chows+ is Karl, a disgruntled ex volunteer with them. Since I lived at the house where the kennels were and took care of all the dogs there and he was the one person who abused their kennels the most, for him to be posting ANYTHING is suspect. Karl would pull dogs and drop them off even after I told him that he better not because there were TOO MANY dogs there already. At one time I had more than 30 dogs that I was taking care of by myself for the most part. He also tried to get me to pick up dogs from LA in a Uhaul trailer, even though I told Tim and Lauren that it was ILLEGAL to do so. He was the master of "pull and dump" as I called it, which a LOT of rescues get into. Pulling dogs just to get them out of the shelter and then not giving a dang about them after that. Karl felt he had Tim and Lauren in his back pocket and let me know it. Once the U Haul incident came up and his position with them was in jeopardy, he told Tim and Lauren that I was rescuing puppies behind their back and placing them and keeping the money. That, combined with the fact that they wouldn't reel in all the people pulling dogs, ended our time together. There were dogs that had medical treatment that was put off simply because they had SO MANY and only so many could be done at a time. Were there ever any dogs in danger? No. Were there dogs that didn't get treatment as quickly as they should have? Yes....at the time, Tim and Lauren trusted far too many people to do what was right and many of those people took advantage of it, Karl being the worst.
Lisa in San Diego...yes, she pulled dogs under their rescue, again someone they trusted to do what was right and didn't. Clearly, they found that out the hard way also. If she pulled 3 dogs under their rescue and then got another 20 by other means then yes, they are partially responsible and have learned (again the hard way)not everyone can be trusted.
Mina is correct, Chow Chow Rescue of Sierra Foothills did take her puppies and took care of, and placed them. Her personal dogs should have ALSO been taken care of at that time and weren't. I know that at this time, Sierra Foothills will not place puppies unless the parents are also turned over for spay and neuter. Mina knows that on the second litter she had, this is how it was handled because I handled it personally.
Sierra Foothills has had many fosters that were not taking care of dogs properly. They try to work with the fosters to make sure that doesn't happen but if it continues, they are no longer fosters.
Mystery Mutts was formed because many of their fosters couldn't handle the temperament of the Chows so they formed Mystery Mutts simply to be able to do all breed rescue. There was never any attempt to "hide" that they were a Chow rescue and both have always been listed on their site.
Taking adoption fees and not giving people their dogs? Didn't happen. Rescuing dogs from the shelter and selling them to labs? Never happened.
At this point, they are still a chow rescue but rescue very few chows. Mainly because they have quit trusting people to do what is right and ENSURE that the dogs are taken care of properly, or they just don't take them. A fact that irritates a lot of people I'm sure, everyone wants a dog out of the pound but they have learned to say "no" unless they can ensure that the dog will be taken care of properly. Hopefully this clears up any questions about Chow Chow Rescue of the Sierra Foothills.

[Sarahloo]

It is always a disgruntled ex-volunteer and a squeaky-clean rescue. Oh, if only life were that simple! Many rescue organizations go through volunteers like a hot knife goes through butter. They treat people like garbage whenever they feel like it, as if they were disposable and as if kind and caring animal lovers grew on trees.

I KNOW NOTHING WHATSOEVER ABOUT THIS THREAD, THIS ENTRY IS COMPLETELY UNRELATED TO WHAT IS SAID IN IT! I just wanted to share a painful observation that I have had to make this year.

You've got to be so careful who you trust these days. It is a sad, sad world. When you've found a decent rescue (and I'm sure there are quite a few), you have got to hang on to it with your teeth!

[KasperKisses]

You might want to re read the post. There was no indication of anyone being "squeaky clean", the rescue takes full responsibility for their part in every situation. The ex employee was more than willing to point out their errors but certainly didn't admit to his part. The point is, since it IS their rescue everything is their responsibility. What's sad is, the result is very few dogs get rescued anymore but they have learned the hard way that it's the way it has to be.

[Boogie and Linda]

Thank you for the clarification. It sucks that originally everyone had the same intention, saving chows, but the ideas of how to do it and the thought processes were all different. It sounds like it spiraled out of control. In the end, it is Lauren and Tim who are legally responsible so I can definitely understand that they need to make sure everyone is doing as they need to do for their own protection.

Unfortunately, my last foster for them (who came from San Diego), Fozzie, passed away last year right before Christmas.