What Defines a Non Reputable Rescue?

[LindsaySF]

As for what we can do to stop him or shut him down, I'm not sure.

One major thing is we need to get the word out. Pbsmiles is such a secretive, oppressive place that the average person has no idea what really goes on. Controversial threads are very quickly removed and people that disagree banned... Of course there are people that DO know, and they remain, but I think they are exceptions to the rule. Most of the people there don't know any better (like me until a few days ago...)

Geneia, maybe you or Jenn can clarify this for me: Eric was unable to get his rescue off the ground in NY? But he is still listed on Petfinder in Stamford CT, and I think Petfinder is how 90% of the adopters find him... (And you assume that only reputable rescues can get on Petfinder).

Either way, if he is on DNA lists, no one knows it. Which makes the list pretty much useless. Where are these lists 'published'? How do we spread the word?

Another problem is the growing number of dogs coming from down south, mostly Georgia. I can only guess that they don't have this DNA list for a New England rescue such as SPBR? I'm not really sure how these DNA lists work. Can anyone explain it?


~Lindsay~

[cheekymunkee]

Holy smurf

[LindsaySF]

Which post does "holy smurf" refer to?

And LOL at that anyway. Did you actually type "smurf", or did the forum change it on you?


~Lindsay~

[msvette2u]

A non-reputable rescue is in it for the money and the women, not for the dogs.

Or in it for the "fame" and "glory" and yes often the money or "perks" (donations - monetary or food and other supplies)

[cheekymunkee]

Good to see you here Geneia.

I have defended him to people before too. But it was never about stuff as serious as this. I didn't know then what I know now.

And you can tell so much by meeting someone. My defense of him before was based on the 'virtual Eric'. The one that comes though on his website and on his forum. That Eric seems cool. Eric in person? Ehh, I was less than impressed...


I met Eric on Saturday at the MA puppy party, and the way that party was so poorly organized was very telling to me.

Another thing that bothered me was the treatment of adult foster Victor. He spent the ENTIRE time in his crate. It really bothered me how he was completely ignored by Eric. His sad little eyes followed Eric around the room the entire day, and not once did Eric acknowledge him. NOT ONCE did he come over to pet him.

I was preparing the vaccines on top of his crate, and he looked up at me too. I stopped frequently to pet him (through the bars, I was told not to take him out because he is "very strong" and "we don't want him to get loose"). You think he is strong? You've obviously never met Brutus!! But I digress...

I tried many times to get Victor to wag his tail for me and get excited to see me, but he turned his head away. He only had eyes for Eric...

I didn't even see them take Victor out to go to the bathroom all day. To be fair, I suppose it is possible that someone did while I was in the back room with the puppies. Melanie, did you see this?

Now I understand that Eric was busy. He had puppies to sell, errr... ADOPT OUT, and he was busy making the rounds and taking pics. But come on, it takes 2 friggin seconds to say "Hi Victor!" and stick your fingers in at him. That would have been something at least...

The only time Victor came out of his crate was for his photo session. All of the pics on the Victor page I linked you to above were taken in the span of 60 seconds. (You can tell because the people in the background are in almost the exact same position). And you can tell how happy he is to be out of the crate. He kept putting his paw on Jaime and barking at her, BEGGING for some attention finally!! But once the pics were done, he got shoved back in his crate.

Yet on that webpage Eric says "I had the pleasure of socializing dear aVictor this past weekend at a puppy party in Mass." THAT is socialization to you?? No wonder dogs adopted from you are unstable!!

"Victor tagged along for the exposure, to show potential puppy parents what a GREAT boy he is, and to get some wags and hugs from everyone". Hugs huh? I didn't see any of those. And no wags either. Victor was not introduced to any other dogs at this party.

And to top it all off, when Melanie and I first arrived we asked who Victor was (I don't think adult fosters usually come to these things, except for the mothers of the pups). Eric's response was "Oh, that's Victor. He's kind of a handful and my dad wants him out of the house for a while." NO talk of this wonderful exposure and socialization opportunity...

Is this animal abuse? Not really. Is it wrong? Is it inappropriate behavior from someone who claims to love these dogs so much? I think so. And it makes me very very sad...

I had been at this puppy party for all of 15 seconds when he let out the statement above, and it was not said with fondness either. This was Red Flag #1 to me...



~Lindsay~

THIS one. And no, I didn't type smurf. The filter did

[satanscheerleader]

[LindsaySF]

Ahh, I had a feeling it was that one. Poor Victor.

I wanted to make sure though. I thought maybe there was something about a DNA list or petfinder that I didn't know about...


~Lindsay~

P.S. - What does 'smurf' stand for?

[Purple]

smurf= a bad word that starts with f.

[LindsaySF]

Ah, gotcha...

[Marinepits]

Good to see you here Geneia.

I have defended him to people before too. But it was never about stuff as serious as this. I didn't know then what I know now.

And you can tell so much by meeting someone. My defense of him before was based on the 'virtual Eric'. The one that comes though on his website and on his forum. That Eric seems cool. Eric in person? Ehh, I was less than impressed...


I met Eric on Saturday at the MA puppy party, and the way that party was so poorly organized was very telling to me.

Another thing that bothered me was the treatment of adult foster Victor. He spent the ENTIRE time in his crate. It really bothered me how he was completely ignored by Eric. His sad little eyes followed Eric around the room the entire day, and not once did Eric acknowledge him. NOT ONCE did he come over to pet him.

I was preparing the vaccines on top of his crate, and he looked up at me too. I stopped frequently to pet him (through the bars, I was told not to take him out because he is "very strong" and "we don't want him to get loose"). You think he is strong? You've obviously never met Brutus!! But I digress...

I tried many times to get Victor to wag his tail for me and get excited to see me, but he turned his head away. He only had eyes for Eric...

I didn't even see them take Victor out to go to the bathroom all day. To be fair, I suppose it is possible that someone did while I was in the back room with the puppies. Melanie, did you see this?

Now I understand that Eric was busy. He had puppies to sell, errr... ADOPT OUT, and he was busy making the rounds and taking pics. But come on, it takes 2 friggin seconds to say "Hi Victor!" and stick your fingers in at him. That would have been something at least...

The only time Victor came out of his crate was for his photo session. All of the pics on the Victor page I linked you to above were taken in the span of 60 seconds. (You can tell because the people in the background are in almost the exact same position). And you can tell how happy he is to be out of the crate. He kept putting his paw on Jaime and barking at her, BEGGING for some attention finally!! But once the pics were done, he got shoved back in his crate.

Yet on that webpage Eric says "I had the pleasure of socializing dear aVictor this past weekend at a puppy party in Mass." THAT is socialization to you?? No wonder dogs adopted from you are unstable!!

"Victor tagged along for the exposure, to show potential puppy parents what a GREAT boy he is, and to get some wags and hugs from everyone". Hugs huh? I didn't see any of those. And no wags either. Victor was not introduced to any other dogs at this party.

And to top it all off, when Melanie and I first arrived we asked who Victor was (I don't think adult fosters usually come to these things, except for the mothers of the pups). Eric's response was "Oh, that's Victor. He's kind of a handful and my dad wants him out of the house for a while." NO talk of this wonderful exposure and socialization opportunity...

Is this animal abuse? Not really. Is it wrong? Is it inappropriate behavior from someone who claims to love these dogs so much? I think so. And it makes me very very sad...

I had been at this puppy party for all of 15 seconds when he let out the statement above, and it was not said with fondness either. This was Red Flag #1 to me...



~Lindsay~

I can't say I am surprised by his treatment of this poor dog. It's so so sad.

[rockermom]

The dog is the photo looks old.

[Maryellen]

$265 per pup x 36 puppies adopted out = $9,540 = new house, toys, vehicles...

$265 per pup x 18 puppies =$4,770 to be collected = more stuff for self, house, toys, vehicles, etc....

[LindsaySF]

I've been in email contact with Liz (his rescuer that had to resign as president of the board of her shelter, over Victor). We became friends on pbsmiles and I thought it was my obligation to tell her about Victor... I didn't want her to be under any delusions about Eric.

Victor is safe from being put to sleep, thankfully, but his situation is not ideal. And sadly the only person that has expressed any interest in fostering him is a certain person that does NOT need ANY more dogs in her place...

I'm not sure how old Victor is. I told Liz about this website so maybe she will join?


~Lindsay~

[LindsaySF]

$265 per pup x 36 puppies adopted out = $9,540 = new house, toys, vehicles...

$265 per pup x 18 puppies =$4,770 to be collected = more stuff for self, house, toys, vehicles, etc....

Thank you for putting this into perspective Maryellen. I have never done out the math before...

WOW, I'm in the wrong business!! I need to get my hands on some puppies!!


~Lindsay~

[cheekymunkee]

$265 per pup x 36 puppies adopted out = $9,540 = new house, toys, vehicles...

$265 per pup x 18 puppies =$4,770 to be collected = more stuff for self, house, toys, vehicles, etc....

Thank you for putting this into perspective Maryellen. I have never done out the math before...

WOW, I'm in the wrong business!! I need to get my hands on some puppies!!


~Lindsay~

Me too, this working for a living sucks!

[Magnolia618]

ok, I'm totally out of the loop, but I disagree with this:

3. adopts out dogs to college students or renters

If you have proof from the landlord that the person is allowed to have another dog, I dont see the problem. I rent and I have three dogs. Is that wrong?

Oh, and the fosters I have had have been females. That means two female pit bulls

I agree with whoever said "does not do same-sex adoption to NON-EXPERIENCED pit bull homes"

[savagem]

Well, there is the parvo bill of over $3,000 that still needs to be paid. I think a huge deciding factor for me in how hotly I would pursue the topple of this empire, will be whether that money gets reimbursed....And I can vouch for everything that Lindsay says about the treatment of Victor. That sweet dog was such a good, good boy at the puppy party. Not a sound--not once. Yet as far as I could see the only attention he got was from me and Lindsay. And to answer your question, Lindsay--no, I never saw him let out of the cage for anything other than the photo shoot. And what really struck me about the puppy party was how we and all the other women were left to clean up puppy poop and worm the puppies, while Eric took his photos and chatted with potential adopters about his house. Oh, and worming the puppies right before they are to undergo being cooped up in crates for untold hours on their journeys back to who knows where. How cruel is THAT? Why not give the wormer to the fosters? Poor puppies.

[cheekymunkee]

ok, I'm totally out of the loop, but I disagree with this:

3. adopts out dogs to college students or renters

If you have proof from the landlord that the person is allowed to have another dog, I dont see the problem. I rent and I have three dogs. Is that wrong?

Oh, and the fosters I have had have been females. That means two female pit bulls

I agree with whoever said "does not do same-sex adoption to NON-EXPERIENCED pit bull homes"

There are exceptions to EVERY rule, it is when the exceptions BECOME the rule that the problem starts. The rescue in question does this on a regular basis, not on a case by case basis, that is what makes it wrong.

[SpiritFngrz]

OMG, the story of Victor makes me so sad. But unfortunately I am not at all surprised. I think the majority of the bases have been covered here. We brought Lila's story to light on this forum in attempt to educate people on how this rescue really works. Unfortunately, it is true that you don't really "see" the truth, until it smacks you in the face: i.e. you have a firsthand encounter with the unorganized, puppy-peddling, lying filth that is SPBR. We tried to warn everyone, but now that more and more puppies are being sold, it seems as though he is getting really sloppy and everyone is now seeing for themselves.
I am sorry it is getting this bad and he continues to treat fosters like crap (I was one of them last fall). I feel even sorrier for the dogs that are in his "care."

[hoagiesmomma]

victor's treatment is a shining example of why I distrust eric COMPLETELY.

how could a man who insists he has the dogs' best interests at heart be so cruel and callous to one right in front of him? he is a walking contradiction...and in my opinion devoid of normal human emotion. his meter is off. he thinks he's some kind of hero for rescuing a toad from a floating log...

but cares very little about the ten or so animal souls languishing away in their own filth in his basement.


I guess they only tug his heartstrings in pictures, huh?

and victor is not the only one...he was Louie at the pa party...difference with him was that poor dog had to drive nine hours each way squished in a crate...

to THEN be ignored.

what I know about eric's treatment of the dogs in his possession was one of the main reasons Hoagie was put to sleep...I couldn't trust him, as the rescuer, to help me in any way. in fact...I couldn't trust that his dogs wouldn't attack hoagie again the next time eric got drunk and decided it was more important to hump/slap/bite/choke the nearest willing woman.

if I couldn't trust the seemingly sincere dog rescuing heart of gold of the puppy god...

who COULD I trust not to torture hoagie in a crate for the rest of his life???

aaaaaaaargh.

I wish I hadn't even brought hoagie into this...

a. it makes me hate him (eric) even more
b. I get emotionally involved and start referring to fact less and less
c. it really makes me hate him.