Sketchy "Rescue" on Petfinder

[Devin and Indy]

Hi! 

I've been casually browsing Petfinder in search of a second dog (usually looking for "poodle") and discovered this rescue, Pawsibilties Unleashed, saying they have quite a few Aussiedoodles for adoption. 

After looking at their dogs, I recognized some of them from an Aussiedoodle breeder's website I had looked at! And the "rescue fees" are in some cases even higher than what the breeder is charging. Most of them are no longer listed on the breeder's site but I recognize a few of them from earlier this month.

Here's the breeder's site: http://doubleraussiedoodles.com/olderpupsadults4sale.html

Here's the listing for "Maverick": http://www.petfinder.com/petdetail/25178223 

Note that the second picture for Maverick is directly from the breeder's website and that the rescue is charging $650 to rescue him

Maybe there is a plausible reason for this and it does say "owner turn-in" but the whole thing seemed VERY sketchy to me. Pawsibilties Unleashed sells themselves as big temperament testers and as providing rescue dogs for therapy work. It seems really unethical for them to be rescuing dogs that are still for sale.

I emailed Petfinder to inform them, but is this all in my head or actually as sketchy as I think it is?

[Joanne ~ Spud*]

Sadly, I have seen this exact same thing recently in my area. I was very disturbed as I know personally some of her dog's off-spring. Very sad. I don't understand why breeders can't come here to find help. The breeder I suspect in my case, has been an infrequent member here.

Another situation that is occurring, is dogs being resold on Craigslist.
I went to rescue a dog just before Chriistmas that Ann Kendig and I found dumped in a shelter. The adoption fee was $18.00. Two days later, listed for $400.00 on CL!
the dog sold for that price! Merry Chritmas for the seller. My thoughts, that at least someone rescued the dog from death row but it still bothered me.

Rescue dogs do however, cost a lot of money- vetting alone on a healthy dog can run $400.00 or more. Still, in your situation, a breeder would have had vet care. Right?

In many situations, rescues makes good money from healthy, desirable breeds, only to turn around and spend that money on the saving and vetting of a very s$ck dog.
A Robbing Peter to Pay Paul, situation

[Joanne ~ Spud*]

Could be, the breeder contacted the rescue and the dogs are listed on Petfinder as a courtesy post. Most breeders do not have a petfinder account.

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

This is not a not-for-profit rescue group. They have no 501c3 status and they are not a registered non-profit. This is another one of those independent, unrecognized "service dog" groups that has no formal credentials. Anyone can start one, and sell "service dogs". They are incorporated as a business: http://companies.findthecompany.com/l/27912938/Elizabeth-Norris-in-...

The best thing you can do is report it to Petfinder. They do their best to screen the listings, but some "groups" do squeeze through the cracks.

However, there are legitimate rescues that charge this kind of adoption fee for highly adoptable and desirable dogs, especially puppies. It is not unreasonable. The rescues operate on a shoestring, and an adoption fee like this will help pay the vetting for an older, sicker dog. Heartworm treatment for one dog can easily coast $1500, and many rescue dogs do have medical issues.

 

[Adrianne Matzkin]

Thanks for posting this. Glad you went with your gut to ask. 

[Devin and Indy]

Petfinder got back to me and said they were passing it along and investigating the rescue org. 

Also, to clarify, I didn't think the fees in themselves were unreasonable but that the rescue organization was charging almost exactly the breeder's set prices. 

[losverdes]

Hi there... I was just looking up my breeder website to refer a friend and stumbled on this post.  I actually purchased a puppy from this breeder mid-january and our puppy is GREAT!  The breeder was really fantastic to work with and provided lots of helpful advice.  I have a little of background on this as I was working with her during this time. She had a family emergency where she had to help her mom out of state and she told me that she was sending her unsold puppies to this organization to help her since she needed to focus on her family. Normally, this is where she sends her older dogs to be trained as therapy dogs. It didn't sound like she normally sends her puppies there, but was in a difficult spot. My puppy was born in November and we picked her up mid-January. She was well tended to when we picked her up and we had no other issues with our puppy or this breeder. This is a super old post, but since it does still come up about this breeder I felt compelled to share some of the back story.

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

The DK Guidelines prohibit anyone from recommending or reviewing a breeder here in the forum. This particular post is asking about the rescue group, not about the breeder, and the comments made are also about the rescue, not the breeder.