Does Anyone Have a Rescued Doodle from "Almost Heaven Kennel?"

[Jacquie Yorke (DRC)]

For those of you who don't know me or my doodle Blake here on DK, I rescued Blake in August 2007 from a Humane Society in PA. When I adopted him, he was 6 months old. He was ematiated (nearly 20 lbs. underweight for his size) and riddled with illness including a severe case of Sarcoptic Mange, Giardia, 3 different kinds of worms, horrible ear and eye infections and was plagued with severe diarrhea and intestinal issues...His paw pads were pink and perfect..Why?..Because in his 6 months of life he had never been out of a cage, never felt grass beneath his feet and was unable to walk when first rescued because he had never had the opportunity to do so outside of the confinement of his small cramped cage.....

BLAKE FIRST DAY HOME

I was told at the time that he one of close to 100 doodles pulled from an Amish puppy mill in Lancaster County PA and the shelter was reluctant to give me any more info than just that. A few months ago I was invited to volunteer to pull dogs from the mill that Blake supposedly came from. I did...It was an Amish farm in Lancaster but wasn't anywhere near as bad as I was initially led to believe and I was relieved .....

....but thanks to our Doodle Rescue Collective and our new alliances with with various shelters and rescue organizations, this particular Humane Society being one of them, I was able to obtain Blake's actual rescue information. This shelter was kind enough to tell me that in actuality Blake was one many doodles pulled from "Almost Heaven Kennels " in Pennsylvania in 2007..........I was shocked.....I am wondering if there are any other DK members who have doodles from "Almost Heaven" either through purchase or rescue?

If you adopted a doodle from any rescue organization with dogs from Pennsylvania or any ASPCA or Humane Society in the state of Pennsylvania between 2006 and 2009 and are uncertain of your doodles origins, a telltale sign besides illness issues at the time of adoption is a tattoo found on the belly, in one of the ears or on the inside of either leg of your doodle. The tattoo is a combination of letters and numbers and looks as if it was administered by hand....

This is Blake's tattoo

"Almost Heaven Kennels" made national headlines in 2008 when breeder Derbee Skip Eckert's Emmaus farm was raided and 800 animals, mostly dogs were seized from his property by the PSPCA....He is a dog breeder with animal cruelty charges that go back as far as the early 1990's.......He used to breed Boxers, Spaniels and Standard Poodles til his AKC licence was revoked for life in 2002....He then began breeding Labradoodles and Goldendoodles because they are not AKC recognized dogs and the demand and profits make the doodle breeding biz very lucrative.....A discussion link, News video footage of the 2008 raid and seizure are below complete with pictures of some "Almost Heaven" doodles .....

BLAKE NOW

I look forward to hearing your "Almost Heaven" adoption stories and experiences as well as updates on how your doodles are doing.

Thank you!

http://doodlerescuecollective.ning.com/group/doodlerescueinthenews/...

NEWS FOOTAGE OF "ALMOST HEAVEN" RAID
http://wfmz.img.cdn.entriq.net/htm/DayPortWFMZPlayer.html?limit=10&...

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

The legal licensing requirements for breeding facilities also depends primarily on inspection of the facilities in order to verify that they are indeed following the law with regards to standards of care for the animals. These inspections are few and far between, and in many cases the "inspectors" sign documents without having actually inspected the facility, which I believe was one of the problems at "Almost Heaven" over the years. This is exactly the same as the child welfare cases you read about, where after the child has been harmed or killed, everyone is up in arms because in spite of reports of abuse, the Dept. of Child & Family Services reported that there was no problem with the family/foster/home..then it turns out that the overworked DCFS employee never actually investigated or checked the complaints. Bureaucracy at its finest.

[HANNAH 8/2/07 & HONEY 7/2/08]

I have a Doodle from there, We are going through HE double hockey sticks at the present time, please contact me at [e-mail] with your phone number, or I will send you mine to contact me please. PSPCA confinscated 100 dogs from the raid, and gave Skip back 16 of them, they found 63 dead animals in a freezer, and it has been unreal what all he has been allowed to get away with, again Please contact me there is a lot I can not discuss on here about this case. Thank You

[Jacquie Yorke (DRC)]

Thank you.....I forwarded my contact info to your personal email...

[HANNAH 8/2/07 & HONEY 7/2/08]

The bill from what I was told from a kennel owner makes it harder to sell any breed of dog, you kennel owner, private breeder or otherwise, have to submit all sales to the state of PA and they tack on a charge of 300.00 in addition to what you sell you puppies for. All vets must also submit to the state all puppies that come into their office for vacanations and who the new owners are and where they are from, so the state can regulate this fee. That is what I had heard they want to add. Hannah&HoneyDoodle's

[Jacquie Yorke (DRC)]

Well that's interesting...and easily avoidable....since you can buy most vaccinations online and administer them yourself!....I'm sure that most puppy mills don't vaccinate.....I'm certain that the Amish have little regard for the practice....

[fergie11]

Oh this is so sad and Blake is such a lucky dog. You know, out of curiosity, I googled Almost Heaven Kennels. Are they still in business because the website looks like they are. No - I did not contact them but I was just wondering, are they still doing this. They do have pics of standard poodles up there too. Who would buy from them??????

[Lynne Fowler-Oodles of Doodles]

They are still in business with a lawsuit pending. They still are selling dogs, they still are advertising, they still are lying to people. ETC. Hopefully, they will be out of business soon. Believe it or not, people still buy from them. That's why it's important to tell the story.

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

Almost Heaven's original website looked just like all the other sites that are selling puppies over the internet...lots & lots of photos of puppies next to vases of flowers, American flags, holiday decorations, etc. (Never any photos of the puppies with their mother & litter.) Lots of people buy puppies from internet websites like that...unfortunately, people here on DK, too. For many people, convenience, availability & price are the only thing that matter, and that's what keeps people like this in business.

[Jacquie Yorke (DRC)]

Here is the blogspot of a woman who's doodle Daisy is from the Almost Heaven raid.

http://daisysnewlife.blogspot.com/

[Maya]

What a story! Made me cry.

Handsome boy, Blake! Your mommy loves you!