Something New to Worry About

For most of us dog lovers, purchasing and/or placing a dog is a big, serious task.  We are careful about who we seek out as a puppy or dog seller, we are even more careful about the people with whom we place our beloved dogs and puppies.  While most of us are aware of the ‘Puppy Mill’ issues that still cause many dogs of all breeds to suffer needlessly, while being foisted on an unsuspecting public, there is now a “new wrinkle” about which we want to inform you.

If you have ever read about people who make money by purchasing homes, renovating them and then reselling them at a profit, you know the basic principles behind ‘flipping’. Well, now we have ‘dog flipper’ right here in our area.

Working out of Shelby Township as well as other sites further north, this person has been getting his hands on purebred dogs from owner surrenders, shelters and other sources, housing them in poor conditions without medical care, then reselling the poor dogs on places such as Craigslist for a healthy profit.

Hiding under the guise of being a ‘rescue’ operation himself, this unscrupulous person has been persuading people to surrender their dogs to him, getting shelters to release dogs to him, and then selling them to the public, all the while claiming that he is just ‘doing rescue’.  When queried about providing medical care, vaccinations, etc. for dogs he sells, he tells the prospective buyers that all this has been done-but it hasn’t.  There are several cases of his having taken money for dogs and not actually produced a dog for the purchaser. 

Recently, NODROG Rescue was contacted by an owner who had two Gordons-including a young puppy-who needed to be placed through rescue.  Some of you will remember being contacted about helping to transport these dogs-right around the time of our Hunt Test.  As we were working out details, suddenly this owner contacts our rescue chair and states that she has adopted these two dogs to ‘a man from Florida’ who is coming up to pick them up.  This turns out to be false-it is our dog flipper.  He resold these dogs on Craigslist for about $400 each.

While this is the first actual incident involving Gordon Setters, further investigation by our rescue team turned up that this man has been doing this for quite some time-we have been in touch with a number of breed and all breed rescues who have been working hard to shut him down.   He is a convicted felon, out of prison on parole for a number of crimes committed while he was a used car salesman.  It is easy to see that he is applying the same ‘techniques’ of fraud,  misinformation and so on to his new ‘career’ of selling dogs.

Some of the names he has used for his ‘rescue’ operations are:  Sporting Dogs Unlimited, Giggles and Wiggles, BeeNKate’s Backyard.  He has been contacted by numerous representatives from various legitimate breed rescues such as English Setters, Engligh Springers, German Shorthairs, etc.  He has been known to threaten people when challenged on his activities.  He threatened one of our rescue personnel recently. 

Legal avenues are hard to pursue as he keeps changing aliases both of his own name and his suppoesed ‘rescue’ org. and is very cagey about sending emails etc.  He has even tried to bribe some rescue organizations to list his dogs under their auspices claiming that he doesn’t have a computer.     Complaints have been filed by one rescue group because they actually have some written evidence that he ‘stole’ dogs under their care, took money for dogs that he never placed, and made threats to people in that group.  He is due in court next month on these charges.  However, most of what he does falls under civil infractions, not criminal.  It could be that he is liable under state business laws due to not having a license, probably dealing in cash and not reporting income or paying taxes, etc.  But it is hard to get local prosecutors interested in pursuing these cases.

Meanwhile, members of rescue groups in SE Mich are carefully watching Craigs list, newspaper ads, other websites that allow you to sell pets, and continue to flag each of his posts with warnings.  They have sent information on him to several news media (like FOX 2, WDIV etc.) trying to keep the public informed about him. 

What can you do?  First, I would say, please BE CAUTIOUS when receiving queries about puppies or dogs you are trying to place.  Let us (Rescue and Referral) help you if we can. 

Secondly,  BE VIGILANT!  Keep an eye on your local paper, your local news or classified ads resources, Craig list or other pet websites you use.  If you see anything that might be suspicious, please feel free to contact me or our rescue Co-Chairs.  Both of them are well aware of the situation.

Third, TALK IT UP.  Among your friends, neighbors, associates, dog club acquaintances. You never know when someone might have been contacted by this guy, scammed by him, or at risk.  No matter what he says, the evidence is that the dogs are not well cared for.  If he gets a sick dog he just has it put down, no questions asked.  He thinks we are all crazy to spend money on medicines and treatment for sick dogs that we get in rescue.  After all, you can’t make any money that way…

Fourth,  Support legitimate, sanctioned and registered rescue organizations only.  Ask to see their credentials before you give anyone money.  See whether they are sponsored by an AKC or UKC breed club or other respectable sponsor.  Inquire about their IRS tax status.  Find out if they are registered in Michigan, etc.  Check their references.

Finally, please do all you can to help us shut this guy down, and protect our rescue volunteers who are out there on the front line.  When we ask for help-give it.  Delays in responding to a need-such as a Gordon in a shelter or an owner who needs to give up a dog-allows this guy to get a foot in the door and get his hands on these dogs.

If you have further thoughts or ideas how to help in this important work, please feel free to contact me.

Sincerely

Mary Duerksen  heatherbrae@att.net

NODROG Rescue Liaison and Referral Chair