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&...

[Adina P]

Wow what a discovery! Blake is a lucky dog to have gotten rescued!

[Jacquie Yorke (DRC)]

Thanks Adina....He's a wonderful dog inspite of his origins.....I hope that you don't mind this post...I'm just curious if there are other DK members who have dogs from Almost Heaven and if they have any issues.....The latest update on AH is that Skip Eckhart is allowed to continue breeding dogs until his appeal is decided in court!...As of now there is no date set for that appeal......

[Adina P]

is the matted dog Blake too?

[Jacquie Yorke (DRC)]

Could very well be....It's a PSPCA archived case file picture......

[Nancy, Ned, Clancy, and Charlie]

Thanks for sharing that. If you help even one person/dog with this information it will be worth it. I do think you should post an "after" picture of Blake as an inspiration to us.

[Jacquie Yorke (DRC)]

Thanks for the suggestion Nancy!...I added a current photo of Blake!

[Nancy, Ned, Clancy, and Charlie]

Thanks for posting him. It just lets us know that there are some happy endings. He is such a pretty boy and so obviously loved.

[Jacquie Yorke (DRC)]

Thanks Nancy....He is loved...no doubt about that....He is absolutely the love of my life!...lol..I think we rescued each other....: )

[Zoe, Benny and Tyler]

I will never understand how people can live with the pictures of the poor animals in their heads and selling them as houseraised puppies. If I only look at pictures tears come into my eyes. I wonder what is going on in those puppymill owners minds? Don't they have any emotions? Is all they see the money and nothing else? Thank god that Blake found such a loving home and let's hope that there is no memory left from this terrible place in his doodlebrain.
You did a great job Jacquie

[Jacquie Yorke (DRC)]

Thanks so much! I appreciate what you posted....I've been paying even more attention to the little guy since I found out all the details and saw some of the photographs of the horrible conditions....It breaks my heart now every time I look in his eyes to think of the things that he must have seen and gone through during the first six months of his life.....but everything makes sense now .....his issues etc. I will say this....The guy sure breeds beautiful dogs.....Haven't seen one yet that isn't gorgeous.....but I'm sure glad that I had Blake DNA tested...apparently Mr. Eckhart was selling Goldendoodles as Labradoodles and vice versa and even selling Standard Poodles with undocked tails as doodles!..There is a whole other lawsuit he's involved in regarding that....but I have the paperwork on Blake...he's 75% poodle and 25% Lab which makes him an F1B....although it wouldn't have mattered what the test revealed because I absolutely adore him and love him no matter what he is.....

[Ginny Nightingale]

What a story--thanks for sharing--I hope this guy gets stopped for good someday!

[Jacquie Yorke (DRC)]

Thanks Ginny...I'm sure it will go on an on in the courts....As of now he's allowed to keep 35 dogs on the property....