I am so sorry this happened. I called and called the compliance office notifying them that Ms Gold was still traveling to California and picking up the Mexico dogs and pulling dogs from various shelters but the officer who was handling it is no longer handling the Furever homes/ gold case and the gentleman Robert Manns seemed very uninterested in doing anything that represented following up on the amount of dogs she has. This has been an ongoing fight and in my opinion she will cntinue getting away with this because our public officials seem non interested in doing their jobs. Also animal services seems to never notice any sick or dead animals and gold always knows when inspectors are coming out so dogs are taken off property. This will never end and dogs will continue to die in this woman’s care or by coming in contact with her dirty infested homez

I’m so sorry you had to go through this. I’ve heard so many stories similar to your about Furever Homes. You can read lots of similar stories at https://www.seattledogspot.com/dog-parks/thurston-county-cracks-down-on-forever-homes-dog-rescue/.

Currently WA has no laws that regulate private rescue groups, so many people like Sharon Gold set up shop here, and start selling rescue dogs for $400-$800. They make even more money by not providing the dog with medical treatment, they also don’t vaccinate them.

But despite WA’s weak laws, county officials could have done a lot more to stop Sharon Gold. She has dumped dozens of her dogs at the local shelter, and they have files on her several inches thick. They knew she had 85 dogs last summer and did virtually nothing.

Until WA passes laws regulating private rescues and local officials stop turning a blind eye to their abuse, we’ll continue to hear stories like yours.

Thank you for not giving up on Ace and providing him with the medical treatment he needed. It sounds like he’s in a fantastic home and will have a happy life.

I urge you to file a complaint with the WA Attorney General’s office regarding your experience with Furever Homes. Hopefully it will spur an investigation into their shady practices.

I will send your story to the people that put on the Pet Expos and tell them they shouldn’t allow Furever Homes to attend future events.

Thank you again for speaking out. Give Ace a hug for us.

When we got home and introduced him to our current dog, Ace began limping and favoring his front left leg. He had only been home ten minutes and we already had to take him to urgent care. Turns out Ace’s leg was broken previous and was not treated, allowing it to heal improperly. The leg is two centimeters shorter and X-rays show obvious trauma. I guess our wife and I were so enamored, we didn’t notice this right away (and she held him the remaining time we were at the Expo and on the the ride home). The vet advised that either amputation or surgery is necessary. We emailed Ms. Gold and she was contrite, not knowing of this and offering to assist in anyway she could. We again requested his vaccination paperwork.

We gave her the benefit of the doubt. When we brought Ace home for the second time (this time with a cone and a splinted leg), he could not stop scratching himself, to the point that he was bleeding and rubbing his coat bare in some places. And he had obvious kennel cough. Fast forward to the following morning and we take him to the vet. Ace is actually more around 4-months old, does have kennel cough, and has a skin infection. Otherwise, he’s in good health, all other things considered. We emailed this to Ms. Gold, who was again surprised. We once more requested his vaccination paperwork.

This was a two weeks ago. Ms. Gold has since only partially refunded our adoption fee, and we still don’t have the vaccination records. Ace is doing much better: no more cough and splint. He still scratches aggressively, so his cone remains on. His leg doesn’t seem to bother him, as he plays a lot with our other dog. We are very happy to have in our lives and will move forward with surgery at the advice of the surgeon.

We are disappointed with Furever Homes with their lack of transparency and professionalism regarding our situation. We didn’t know anything about this organization prior and urge that everyone be more diligent than we were when rescuing a pet. We cannot say we regret this whole process, because it brought us Ace and who knows what would’ve happened to him there, but we definitely would have prepared better, financially, for his medical issues and worked with a different organization.