UPDATE – Today I learned that I made a mistake in this story. I thought the woman who adopted Olaf told me that she never signed a contract and release form from PURRR. That isn’t correct. What she told me was that PURRR said they would send her copies of those forms, but they never did even though she had Olaf for a month. I corrected the story to reflect this new information.
I stand by the rest of my story.
Robert Pregulman, Seattle DogSpot 3/19/15
Yesterday I learned that PURRR Rescue director Diana VanDusen recently adopted out another dog that killed a cat.
The woman who contacted me said she adopted a brown German Shepherd named Olaf at a PURRR Rescue adoption event in front of the Lacey PetSmart on January 25th of this year.
She paid $400 for the dog, but she didn’t get anything that most rescues provide when they adopt out a dog.
Olaf is a beautiful brown German Shepherd adopted from PURRR Rescue in January. His family returned him to PURRR because he killed their cat and had other behavior problems. PURRR adopted him out again about a week after he was returned. Picture from PURRR Rescue Facebook page.
No medical history for the dog. No vaccination records. No information about any potential behavioral problems the dog might have. No microchip information.
Nothing.
PURRR Rescue also didn’t do a home visit to determine if it was appropriate for this dog, nor did VanDusen ask for any references, which most responsible rescues require.
This woman might as well have bought the dog from someone selling it on the side of the road.
When her family was out the first week they had Olaf, it grabbed a cat that got too near its outside kennel and mauled it to death. The woman said the dog mangled it so badly you couldn’t even tell what color it was.
Not wanting to give up on the Olaf, the woman tried to train it to stay away from their 2 cats and their small dog, but the only way she could control him was with a shock collar, and that was only minimally successful. And when the collar was off the dog got more aggressive toward the other pets in the house again.
Olaf also not only chased their horses, it began jumping their fence and chasing down their neighbor’s 3 pregnant horses. And it wasn’t because the dog didn’t have enough room to roam – they have 5 acres. Eventually their neighbor said if Olaf came after his horses again he would shoot Olaf.
At that point, the woman decided she didn’t want to take the chance that the neighbor would shoot the dog, so she returned Olaf to PURRR about a month after they adopted it.
Olaf at his new home. Picture from PURRR Rescue Facebook page.
Citing the adoption contract (which the adopter never received), VanDusen refused to refund her money. VanDusen did offer to give her another dog, but after she told the woman she had to call the dog’s owner to find out about its behavior, the woman decided she didn’t want another dog from PURRR Rescue.
Because VanDusen wouldn’t refund her money, the woman said she donated the money to PURRR so she could get a tax deduction because she had no other options.
About a week later, the woman noticed a picture of the Olaf on PURRR Rescue’s Facebook page with another family that adopted him. I don’t know if VanDusen told the family that the dog recently killed a cat or has gone after other animals. Hopefully they don’t have cats or small dogs in their home. For Olaf’s sake, I hope the adoption works out.
Meanwhile, VanDusen collected 2 adoption fees for the same dog.
This is yet another PURRR Rescue dog adoption that ended in tragedy. In 2013, a dog adopted from PURRR mauled a 6-year-old boy and bit 3 members of the family that adopted it. The dog was later euthanized.
Within a one month period last summer, 3 dogs adopted from or fostered for PURRR Rescue killed 2 dogs and 2 cats. Two of those dogs were euthanized, the other one is in a facility on Joint Base Lewis McChord.
And these are the only incidents that we know about.
In addition, PURRR has had multiple confrontations with Lakewood and Pierce County Animal Control, is being sued for owing a boarding facility almost $8000, and has kept about 20 of its dogs hidden from the public. One source told me VanDusen considers 7 of those dogs too dangerous to adopt.
And several people confirmed that PetSmart no longer allows PURRR to hold adoption events in front of their stores.
Here is a picture of the 6-year-old’s injuries at the hospital after he was attacked by a neighbor’s dog adopted from PURRR Rescue. Photo credit withheld.
The woman who originally adopted that German Shepherd from PURRR Rescue said she was “mortified” by the whole experience. She also said her young daughter was devastated that they had to give the dog back to PURRR.
To add to the family’s distress, the woman just got laid off and she can’t afford to get another dog.
As I’ve said in the past, I’m sure PURRR Rescue has successfully saved dogs and found them good homes, but based on the information I have, it appears PURRR’s successful adoptions happened by chance rather than by design.
I know lots of other rescues that found homes for dogs that kill cats. The difference between them and PURRR Rescue is that through thorough behavior testing and observation, they know if one of their dogs will try to kill cats, and they clearly communicate it to potential adopters. They also do home visits to ensure the family has no cats, and they get references about potential adopters.
PURRR Rescue doesn’t appear to have the safeguards/policies in place (like the majority other rescues) that would give their dogs the best chance to find their ideal home and people/families to find their ideal dog.
Because of this it’s my opinion that people/families are taking a risk when they adopt a dog from PURRR Rescue. They could get a dog that is perfect for them, but they could also get a dog with behavior problems that could kill other pets or bite people.
Personally, I would never consider adopting a dog from PURRR Rescue until it:
- puts procedures in place to ensure it doesn’t adopt out dogs with behavior problems
- stops hiding dogs from the public
- gives all the dogs it currently has to qualified rescues
- stops adopting out multiple dogs that end up euthanized
- provides documentation showing where they get their dogs
- cooperates with animal control
- takes responsibility for its problems instead of blaming others
- stops threatening to sue anyone that questions or criticizes them
I understand that no rescue can give a 100% guarantee that the dogs they adopt out will never have any behavioral problems, but the vast majority of rescues I know about work extremely hard to give their dogs the best chance for finding a permanent home and have none of the problems or drama that PURRR Rescue appears to have.
Looks like the lady in question is still looking for another dog from PURRR. From a comment on the above photo of Olaf:
“Cheryl Gorsuch Stroessner: I am so glad he found another family it broke my heart to have to give him back, but I had to worry about his and the horses safety. Can you get a hold of me and let me know what we are going to do about another dog.”
Not any longer. PURRR offered her another dog but said they had to check with the owner about it’s behavior first. She declined the offer after learning she wasn’t the only person who had a pet killed by a dog adopted from or fostered for PURRR. She made that very clear when I spoke to her yesterday. PURRR also refused to refund her money as well.
Why do you contact all of their adopters ?
I’m just wondering …. When is this going to end Robert ?
Do you want the dogs she currently has to never get a chance a at finding a home ?
It seems you are hell bent on doing a weekly story on this rescue. When will you stop ?
Where you’re going you’re going to just destroy any chance these dogs ever get into getting into a home even if it was done exactly the way you wanted it you have far trying to ruin the reputation that nobody would ever want to work with them at this point because of your attacks. Let’s just say for playing devils advocate that Diana did everything that you wanted and you decided okay everything is hunky-dory, now let’s say you’re pleased with the rescue, but because of what you have written almost on a weekly basis you’ve destroyed any chance of her ever get an adoption is done because of your articles in the future
Is that what you want ???
Your comment makes you sound like you have a mental illness!
First of all who ever is running this rescue should be fined and all those dogs need to be taken away and given to a reputable rescue.
Robert, is doing the right thing by letting the public be aware of the potential dangers from adopting from them. Sounds like he is the only one with common sense, trying to help others and save those dogs from being euthanized.
If you are so concerned for the dogs, then help this rescue get their act together and do the right thing by the dogs and people that trust them! Personally, I think the lady running this rescue needs to be in jail!
First of all, every story I’ve written about PURRR, including this one, contains information from people that people sent to me unsolicited. I’ve never contacted any of the people who adopted from PURRR. People contact me to tell their stories because they don’t want to see other people have the same experience with PURRR and want PURRR to be held accountable for its adoption procedures.
I’m not the one destroying the chance of these dogs finding homes. That’s on Diana and PURRR Rescue. Keeping dogs in kennels for 1-2 years, using tasers on dogs, giving behaviorally challenged dogs no behavior training make it much more difficult to find homes for them at it either creates behaviors problems or makes their behavior problems worse. Is it my fault that multiple dogs adopted from PURRR have had to be euthanized because they’ve killed pets and mauled kids?
And to say I’ve destroyed any chance of her adopting out more dogs is ridiculous. I’m simply reporting about things that have PURRR has done. I’m not the one that has multiple confrontations with animal control, buying dogs from people off the street and adopting them out without knowing anything about their background, keeping dogs in boarding for months, being sued for outstanding boarding bills, hiding dogs from animal control, etc, etc etc.
This was no way the fault of the adopter. No application? no homecheck? no medical records? The rescue was 100% at fault fornot ensuring dog was cat safe! Seems so typical of this group to blame others for their fuck up.
Diana, just stop faking being a rescue. Give up. Go home and let the world be rid of the likes of you and your mentally deranged thinkings and doings.
please ! Law Enforcement, stop this bogus rescue from flipping dangerous dogs-
For anyone wanting to adopt a dog, please go to your local humane society and rescue a local adoptable pet. They have been temperment tested, fixed, have shots and their fees are far less !
There are MANY GREAT rescues in our area. There will be safeguards to make sure the dog fits with your family and contracts to be sure the dog isnt neglected or rehomed again unless by the resue.
If you feel the need for a papered purebred, get references from the local purebred club in your area.
Adopting a dog that is dangerous to cats shouldnt happen if you care at all about your neighborhood. Gates get left open & cats are climbers. please adopt a friendly dog— there are so many available.
PURRR Rescue is a shady opperation at best, her placements give people reason to fear for their safety. Her adoption fees of $400.- $800.00 + are flipper prices.
The only difference that i can see is that she collects those fees without having to pay tax.
to the supporters of purrr and Ms VanDusen, look into what you are supporting. Animals truly need responsible rescues to help save lives. Donated money should be accounted for and transpartent. Dogs history IS The business of potential adopting family.
A child being mauled for 56 seconds is not a simple dog bite- dont be part of the problem here- volunteer oppertunities are available to you that wont place people and pets in harms way.
The only chance of any of Van Dusen’s dogs being safely and responsibly adopted to appropriate homes is if SHE stops doing adoptions and surrenders the animals that remain to a RESPONSIBLE rescue or shelter and ceases her operation. I’m sorry, but $400-$800 for an adoption fee is a SALE. Any qualified adoptor can go to a local, reputable rescue and adopt a dog that is vaccinated, micro chipped, spayed/neutered, behavior tested, and probably has some basic obedience trading for FAR less than that. I’d like to see how she accounts for that money when she files taxes.
Hey Concerned obviously Lisa Cowan
You are making a fool of yourself again. How many tragedies have to occur before you will stop supporting this horrible rescue.
Hey Concerned aka Lisa Cowan
Maybe words getting out that PURRR Rescue is a fraud and concerned people are reaching out. Imagine that
I had a horrible encounter with them this past summer in front of Lacey PetSmart. She was all sorts of shady and I am so glad my husband and I were both picking up on the stories she was telling, we ended up walking away from a potentially horrible situation.
No one had any info on my dog when we adopted it, tho. No home visit, as he was out of state in a high kill shelter. Is the article suggesting that dogs with no info aren’t adoptable? And does the doggy background check insure against natural animal behavior that I’m sure happens with a random selection of all rescue dogs from time to time, having no correlation with any kind of background check? In my opinion, the fault is 100% the adopters for putting her cat at risk with an unknown quantity. That is always a risk.
No, I’m not suggesting that dogs with “no info” aren’t adoptable. As I wrote in the article, “PURRR Rescue doesn’t appear to have the safeguards/policies in place (like the majority other rescues) that would give their dogs the best chance to find their ideal home and people/families to find their ideal dog.
Because of this it’s my opinion that people/families are taking a risk when they adopt a dog from PURRR Rescue. They could get a dog that is perfect for them, but they could also get a dog with behavior problems that could kill other pets or bite people.”
And of course background checks and behavioral assessments can’t ensure people will never have behavior problems with a rescue dog they adopt, but they DO minimize the risk that it will happen. If a rescue knows a dog is cat aggressive, it won’t put the dog in a home with cats unless the adopter is extremely experienced in dealing with cat aggressive dogs. You appear to think that rescue dogs attacking/killing cats or other small animals is “natural animal behavior” that happens to all rescue dogs from time to time. That’s wrong. Adopting a dog from a rescue shouldn’t be like a game of Russian rouletteThe responsible rescues that do background checks, behavioral testing, and home visits rarely, if ever, have the problems that PURRR Rescue does. It is the responsibility of the rescue to put its dogs in homes where they have the best chance of success, and they should know everything possible about the dogs they adopt. Putting dogs in homes that don’t have the experience/expertise to deal with any behavioral problems it may have is the responsibility of the rescue.
PURRR is a retail business, not a rescue. The owner is exploiting dogs and preying on naïve people who don’t know how to evaluate a rescue. Thank you for exposing her.
BTW I don’t think a dog that has a prey drive is “dangerous”. But the people who are caring for the dog need to know about the prey drive and need to be able manage it effectively. Responsible rescues know their dogs and will only adopt dogs out to people who have the capacity to manage the dog’s behavior.
Prey drive is normal. Dogs need constant monitoring even after training. My rescue 2as diagnosed with anxiety after biting another dog. The vet put her on Prozac. She is a different dog. No longer nervous, afraid of storms, not stalking rabbits constantly. Drugs can help when the dog is in need af help for mental health problems. No one wants a dog that bites!!