A boy and his service dog, iggy

We went all the way thru the 10 day training with the 'other' place and only to be told in the end, "You won't be taking the dog home with you." 

All the fund raising efforts, all the money we raised, they keep, and we get no dog.  

When I asked them about sending part of the money to the new place the reply I got was simple. 

"Per the contracts you signed [Agency Name] reserves the right to revoke placement of a dog in the home if we feel the placement is questionable. Per your fund-raising contract all money raised is raised for [agency name] and not your dog specifically."

So, because they make you sign contracts, the $11,000 we raised for them stays in their pockets,  and we have no dog. 

No reasons, no nothing, just she's not going home with you, and we will have our attorney's contact you.  They still have not.

The woman that runs it has told other families, "that I beat my son, that I told her my incarcerated half brother would 'take care of her' and all kinds of lies."I have never met me brother, nor would I ever threaten her, nor did we even have time for him to come up in conversation.  We had NO idea anything was going on.  We took our test, went back to the training center, ate our lunch.  When I left to run to Wendy's to get our lunch, they came and told the room mate that the dog had to see the vet, and took her.  With her UTI we didn't think anything of it. Mind you as soon as we returned from the mall, where we tested at, 2 cops arrived.  They were in the office with The Jerk, I didn't think anything of it.  Then when we'd finished eating, I went to ask if the dog was done with the vet, and Jerk asked me to come in her office.  In there was The Jerk, her assistant and the 2 cops.  (The Jerk, who was so scared of me, just the day before I was in her office alone, with her, looking at the puppies that had just been born) She informed me the dog was not coming home with us, told us to leave, and not come back, and her atty would contact us.  I went and got our stuff from the other room, including and upset Andrew, and we left.  When and how my brother came into play is beyond me! That is a bold faced lie from her!

She called CPS as well!  I do not, nor have I ever beat my son.  He had melt downs, we put water on his face, restrained him, all things were trained to do with him over the years of dealing with melt downs. Yet The Jerk never saw anything that happened, and a certain family that never spoke a word to us, I'm assuming because I'm gay, went and told her that Andrew was being beat, (I'm so thankful her child does not have aggressive melt downs, she'd be dead before she'd restrain the child, it seems) she called CPS, and filed a FALSE report, based totally on nothing she had seen! CPS mind you, has NEVER even contacted us. So bad are we, that they never even followed up!?!  Nice try Jerk. Yet another 'questionable reason, that was not valid. Proof is in the pudding, so the saying goes! What a homophobic group of people we had in our training class.   

How credible is 'This Agency?'

They placed us with a sweet as can be, loving, service dog, who... 

Had a urinary tract infection.  Instead of sending the meds with us, just simply did not give them to her the majority of the time we were there.  The day before we left, after much pusing from me, they FINALLY gave us an entire round of meds for her to take, since THYE familed to give them to her the first time! She slept all the time, and you could tell something was not right.  According to our vet, there are only 2 reasons a dog gets a UTI to begin with is:  Not enough water to maintain health, or a symptom of an underlying condition.  Does that sound like a healthy service dog they should be placing?

They place numerous service dogs that chase birds, rabbits, and other small animals.  So what happens if the dog is supposed to be tracking, and instead of following the child, takes off on a mad dash after the neighbors cat?  The child is laying face down in a ditch of water, and you could have got there in time, had the dog not found the cat more important?  You've got to be kidding me!!

They placed a 'hearing ear dog' that would not alert to smoke detectors, would not go potty anywhere but inside the hotel room, and as a Papillion breed of dog, being sent to a northern state, who has to wear a coat and booties to go out to go potty because she gets to cold to potty?   She also would not 'speak' which she was supposed to be trained to do when the 'handler' passes out, so she can 'alert' others that help is needed.  

Why place dogs that will not or can not do what they are supposed to do?  Sure, every dog needs to be worked with daily, just as a parent works with their children, but the basic training that a dog needs to be certified as a service dog should all ready be there.  You should simply have to work them so that they don't forget, but you should have to 'train' a trained service dog to not go after animals, and do the commands it was trained to do.  This is NOT right of any organization to do. 

If you want an accredited organization go to www.assistancedogsinternational.org  and look up who is listed on their site.  The first agency is NOT, they refuse to set themselves to a higher standard that they KNOW they can not meet! Yet training agencies from all over the world can.  Something is wrong here!

Another thing to ask about any agency is this:

Who owns the dog after placement?
Manywill keep ownership of the animal and will later determine retirement of the animal and may reclaim the animal at any time. Other organizations put ownership with the client and allow the client to determine the retirement time and allow the client to keep the animal in retirement if desired. All reputable organizations will assist in determining when retirement is best and in finding a suitable home for the retired dog if requested by the client.

Some make no hesitation to 'repossess' your service dog if you fail to give him/her a dose of heart worm, flea med, or do anything your vet recommends.  Their paperwork says so!

Yes, of course you must take care of any animal, but how late is to late? If your 3 days late, a week late?  This agency has ONE power hungry woman up here who makes all the decisions, and is accountable to no one but herself.  She bases her decisions on hearsay, and backs them up with nothing.  If you question something she does, she will moderate you on her 'lists' so that she don't have to answer you and you can't ask anything further.  

I laugh at her 'We reserve the right to revoke placement of a dog in the home if we feel the placement is questionable' line.  What makes a placement questionable? The fact that your a lesbian? The fact that your child has melt downs? (which they saw on video long before we ever came up there) The fact that I work at McDonalds? That I'm short? That my child is bi-racial? What is a legitimate reason for them to say something is questionable?  They don't have to tell you!?! They can just say 'its questionable, and you can't do a thing about it, and the owner pockets $11,000!!  Lovely isn't it?  What is the real reason, we shall never know!

This is MY personal opinions and experience with this agency and everything posted on this page is what I've seen myself or have been told by other families who have had dogs placed with them!

One more thing, my son's diagnosis we had at the time of going thru this agency was: Bipolar, ADHD, ODD.  None of which are protected under the ADA for access with a service dog.  Did they bother to tell us that, or simply take our $11k for nothing? Is that another reason we were not placed with the dog, because his DX didn't qualify him?  We shall never now.  Now that he has the ASD Dx, he is covered anywhere.  This agency will accept anything, to get our money, qualify for a dog or not!