Furever Homes Dog Rescue Responsible for Dogs Deaths
Yesterday afternoon KIRO 7 reported that a fire killed 18 dogs in a “warehouse-like” building occupied by Furever Homes Dog Rescue.
KIRO 7 said 3 mother dogs and their 15 puppies died of smoke inhalation. Joint Animal Services said about 20 dogs survived the fire.
I’ve written extensively about Furever Homes and its owner Sharon Gold over the last year:
- Furever Homes Dog Rescue: 100+ cases with Thurston County Animal Control since 2010
- After 3+ months, Furever Homes dog rescue still has too many dogs
- Judge issues restraining order against Furever Homes rescue director Sharon Gold
- Thurston County cracks down on Furever Homes Dog Rescue
- Furever Homes rescue is operating in violation of Thurston County codes
- Furever Homes rescue illegally brought puppies from Mexico into Washington
- Thurston County dog rescue turns military family’s fostering experience into a nightmare
- Washington state’s animal cruelty laws are a joke
Based on the evidence I’ve seen, I consider Furever Home one of the worst dog rescues in Washington.
Yesterday’s fire reinforced my opinion of this supposed dog “rescue.”
Rescue Moved 8 Times to Avoid Regulations
Gold told KIRO that the fire started because “her friend had been helping with laundry and had left the dryer running.”
I assume no one was home when the fire started since Gold was out of town.
For those of you counting, this is the 8th location for Furever Homes.
Like most disreputable dog rescues, Furever Homes moves around in order to avoid being held accountable for violating local rules and/or regulations or trashing a rental property.
I believe Gold moved Furever Homes again due to increasing pressure for not having kennel license at her previous location.
Thurston County requires facilities with more than 3 dogs to have a kennel license. Her landlord had also planned to do an extensive renovation there soon.
He didn’t even know Gold was operating Furever Homes at his property until the Olympian reported she had 85 dogs in her home in 2015.
I wonder if her new Tumwater landlord knew she was going to put an unlicensed kennel on his/her property.
Sharon Gold Refused to Get Kennel License
Tumwater requires facilities with more than 3 dogs to get a kennel license. Gold told the reporter that because she hadn’t been able to apply for a kennel license yet.
But why would she move to a new location without getting the proper permits? Isn’t that what a reputable rescue would do?
If you think she’s actually going to apply for one I have a couple of floating bridges on Lake Washington that I’d like to sell you.
Last year Thurston County officials told her last year she had to get a kennel license. To my knowledge she never applied for one.
This document is one of the 100+ incidents with Furever Homes in the last 4 years. It shows Furever Homes has moved to various locations in Thurston County 7 times. It doesn’t show her most recent move to Tumwater.
I doubt she’s ever applied for a kennel license for Furever Homes as it would subject the rescue to increased scrutiny and regulations.
It’s also much better to be classified as a rescue because private dog rescues in Washington are virtually exempt from governmental oversight.
Private dog rescues in Washington have no limit on the number of dogs they can have, no specifications on how often the dogs should be allowed outside their kennels/crates, no specifications on how large enclosures should be to allow dogs to move around, no sanitation/cleanliness standards, and no rules requiring medical treatment for sick animals.
Breeders with more than 10 dogs “must have a means of fire suppression, such as functioning fire extinguishers, on the premises.”
Private rescues are exempt from this requirement as well.
Washington’s Animal Cruelty Laws Too Weak
That’s why authorities could not prosecute her in the summer of 2015 when the Olympian reported she had 85 dogs in her home and described in lurid detail the horrific conditions in which they lived:
“Sharon Gold admits the first impression inside Furever Homes, especially when the doors open midmorning, can be unsettling.
The stench of feces and urine can trigger your gag reflex. After spending the night crowded in cages, dozens of dogs bark in a deafening chorus as they are herded into a small fenced area in the parking lot outside a warehouse on Tumwater’s outskirts.
A blue tarp covers this bedroom-sized pen, which is the dogs’ lone outdoor respite. The dogs swarm Gold in a cacophony of barking and pent-up canine energy. Some of the dogs try to climb a concrete wall back into the warehouse, only to fall short of the goal and return to jumping on an old mattress with a hole chewed in it.”
Because of Washington’s weak animal protection laws, I doubt Gold will be held accountable for the deaths of the 3 mother dogs and 15 puppies yesterday.
This picture from 2015 shows the squalid conditions at Furever Home’s previous residence. Photo from theolympian.com.
What about the 19 dogs that survived?
Gold says she has them and is trying to find foster homes for them.
Unfortunately, she is not legally required to tell anyone how or where they are.
And no one has mentioned what happened to the frozen bodies of the poor dogs that died in the fire.
Thurston County taxpayers will probably foot the bill for their disposal and Gold will get off scot free.
I’ll continue to follow this story and report new details as I hear them. In the meantime, tell anyone looking to adopt a rescue dog, not to adopt a dog from Furever Homes or Sharon Gold.
Washington has dozens of reputable dog rescues they can choose from.
With all the outrage and people speaking about this woman, why can’t anything be done? Since she claims “not for profit” status shouldn’t there be a way to stop her from receiving financing? If these poor dogs were children she would have been in jail long ago. Can no one get her for deliberate negligence and death??
It’s from all the FB keyboard warriors who only want to see dogs oiy of the shelter . They will throw money at anyone claiming to be a rescue . Until peope learn to not send money to anyone the roaches like Sharon will keep coming back . People have known about her for years and years. She is the scum of the rescue pond .
And most WA shelters treat their dogs better than Furever Homes does.
Other RESCUES need to stop helping her pull dogs! Those rescues should be held in the same contempt as this one.
True. The shelters and other legitimate rescues need to.be vigilant. The other good rescues need to.report and pressure these slingers. Also, ANimal Control in WA ST.must pass laws and enforce them
Who can we contact to help keep this crazy woman from operating a rescue ever? There has to be something we can do. My heart is breaking for the fur babies who lost their lives. And for the ones who survived.
WA doesn’t regulate private rescues at all. The law exempting them needs to be changed.
Are foster homes needed? I could help.
You should contact the rescue directly if you’d like to foster one of the dogs.
Really? After all these years in “rescue” she said on the news story she had just moved on Sunday and hadn’t had time to get a kennel license? How could anyone believe such BS since she hasn’t had kennel licenses before?!! This lady admitted in previous articles she adopts out or flips 20-40 dogs per month. I would bet she doesn’t do homechecks and she also charges an average of $350 per dog. 30 dogs x $350 = $126,000 per year. Surely she can afford a kennel license. Also, interesting how she said all the dogs were already in foster homes when she was saying late last night she really needs fosters. Ask any rescuer how likely getting 19 dogs into safe clean home qualified homes in a couple hours is…. NOT Likely. I love how she tried to pretend she was going to cry and didn’t. This lady is so transparent and so many people have other dirt on her dumping dogs in shelters and others have re-rescued and even dumped at vets. These poor innocent lives and all the ones who keep getting slung to this loser.
This is not a “rescue”. This is a hoarder and animal abuser/neglecter. She needs to be fined and a lifetime ban needs to be put on her for ever owning or having a dog in her care ever again. 🙁
Exactly.
This looks like a for profit business.
This women has no business taking any animals at all. All she wants is the money. If she was concerned about these animals she would take proper care of them. I regret every day me leaving my pup there with her. She told me she wouldn’t find a home for him right away and I could meet the people that would adopt him. Nope sold the next day and she would never tell me who got him Don’t trust this woman she is a CON! Take these poor animals away from her how much more do you want to happen?
Are there any organizations for the prevention of animal cruelty that can be alerted to investigate her?
Unless its a huge hoarding situation the large groups won’t intervene. They also have to be invited to participate in the case by local animal control.
What can we do ??? Does anyone have any legit solutions??????
Animal cruelty laws in WA are so weak there is nothing we can do on that front, but many people are looking into other means for holding her accountable. I’ll let you know if any are successful. In the meantime the best thing to do is share this story with as many people as possible so people will be informed about this “rescue.”
I posted this on my Facebook. For those in the Puget Sound Region to be aware. I wrote:
“This woman, Sharon Gold, is a joke. How she could make it this long without being shut down by the authorities is a joke as well. There have been complaints, I have followed this since I purchased my dogs. I love my dogs, and because I do they are NOW HEALTHY. When I got them from Sharon, she said they were litter mates rescued from Mexico. The paperwork was not in order and no microchip. We had to follow her to a vet, substandard, in Yelm. Microchip not inserted, instead, instructions on how to get a vet to insert and register through some Mexican company (how they gonna track my dog from Mexico?). Dogs had kennel cough and she sent medicine (after days of msgs). Doxycyline from Mexico that turned out to be 8x strength which I took to vet and he said I was lucky the dogs did not die. Bleeding, nasty ears. Vet said he had NEVER seen such bad ears. Months of work to clear up. Terribly infested with mites which we, yes humans, got. Scabbies they call it. How embarassing. Treatment, Vet Bills, Dr. bills for us, Medicine, time lost from work because I was quarantined due to the contagious nature of the scabbies…. $$$$$. Get the point. I love my dogs. I love all dogs.My dogs, Stanley and Iris, are part of our family. But that would not be the case if they were not with us and instead, sitting in some filthy ass kennel under her watch that catches on fire! Can we say ARSON/INSURANCE MONEY????? GET A CLUE. She has everyone scammed. My heart hurts for the dogs that died in the fire under her care. And the families that could have given them life and love. This is nothing more than, criminally negligent manslaughter. So who is ultimately responsible? The animal welfare authorities that somehow, in this case, allowed this to go on despite various complaints?. The media for reporting about her, and letting the story go. Or is it the fire department that is not investigating this as arson.. Imagine what a story this would have been if it were an unfit and unlicensed daycare. OR IS IT YOU AND I. Those that have bought her dogs, and we have witnessed the inhumane living conditions we assume are behind the doors, and yet we are so happy and have become so complacent with our new little buddies that we forget where they came from, I wonder … What more could I have done when this happened to me? I told people, I jumped all over her and received the canned response that I got a cut rate because I took two, Go ahead and sue me. I wrote media on it, blogs, etc. But that was not enough. So here we are. Senseless deaths of these dogs. I am sad because I feel like I could have, should have, done more. But instead I go home at night from work and I am blessed with all the unconditional love and excitement my children can give me. And they can, only because they are not a statistic from that fire. Don’t let her get away with this.
I wrote this after I heard about the fire. I am heartbroken. I look at my puppies, and they are loved and healthy. In the article I see puppies behind cages that look just like them. Probably a “puppy farm”. I wish I could post a pic of them now …. your hearts would melt. Thank you for taking the time to read this. T
I’m sorry you went through this horrible ordeal. Thank you for sharing your story and not giving up on the sick dogs you adopted.
We adopted our dog from Sharon back when she had adoption events at a local pet store. We assumed she was reputable if a national chain was hosting her. I never had anything but had experiences with her, she didn’t do anything she said she would in the contract, lied outright more than once, and the dog was a total basket case – 5 years later she’s still sort of a disaster but we’ve made lots of progress. I’ve seen Sharon doing laundry at the laundromat before and the stench of the urine and poop soaked bedding is so vile you can’t be in the building while she is there. Then the machines stink and are full of fur for days after she uses them. That’s probably why they had to find another place to do it. I now feel like we rescued our dog from the “rescue.” I’m going to let Petfinder and Adopt-a-pet know she should be removed from their websites.
I’m so sorry you’re another victim of Furever Homes, but thank you so much for not giving up on your dog and giving it a great home.