By Joyce Alexander, RNP (retired)
I like to think of myself as pretty wise, now that I have learned to recognize most of the red flags of dishonesty and people high in psychopathic traits. But I recently got scammed by three people working in concert. They also scammed another party as well.
I bought a dog that was actually stolen. Here’s how it happened:
I went to a web site in Georgia looking for dogs that are trained as protection dogs. They cost quite a bit of money, starting at about $5,000 and I knew this. This man offered me a “sport” trained dog for $4,000 plus freight which would put her in the $5,000 range, but he had a woman trainer here in Arkansas who could teach me to handle the dog (for more money of course). Since I had trained dogs most of my life in obedience and other high level training, I felt secure in handling a dog, but wanted help with this particular kind of training.
I spoke to the woman trainer here in Arkansas (about a two-hour drive from me), whom I’ll call “Sue,” and she and I talked and talked about dogs and training dogs. Over the telephone and in e-mails we exchanged, we just seemed to be almost instant “sisters” (the love bomb). Then the guy in Georgia quit returning my calls and I got frustrated with him. Meanwhile, the sweet woman trainer here in Arkansas said she had also had some problems with this guy, but she left her information up on his web site anyway, but guess what? She would rescue me and she had the perfect dog for me here in Arkansas! For only $1300! WOW what a bargain.
Meeting Sheba
Son D and I drove to Little Rock, about an hour from our house, to the home of a large man I will call “George.” I watched as George trained dogs and their owners in obedience in a large field next to his house. Then I watched as George, in a leather body suit and a “bite sleeve,” trained dogs in protection. He was amazing and the dogs were amazing. I met Sheba, the dog that Sue, the female trainer, said was perfect for me. I watched as Sheba flew through the air like a frisbee to latch onto the arm of the decoy in the bite suit. Even for a 70-pound dog, she was powerful.
Son D and I spent over an hour talking to George after the training was over and also felt this instant attraction (love bombing again) for this man.
We agreed that I would buy the dog and that I would leave her with George for two weeks of additional training every day. Then I would pick her up, and Sue and her son, “John,” would come to our home and work with Sheba for an entire day for about $250 per day. Sue wanted to come two days each week ”¦ for how long? I am not sure on that, I think as long as my money held out.
X-rays
Well, “Bob,” the guy who had sold Sheba to me, said he had “forgotten” to get her hips x-rayed while she was staying at George’s kennel. No big deal Sue assured me, that the dog had good hips. I was so in love with Sheba by that time, and with the fact that she was “really cheap” by protection dog standards, I paid for her before getting the hips x-rayed. Bob assured me he would reimburse me for the vet x-rays. I took the dog home from George’s house and put her in a crate inside the house to let her get used to the house and the sounds and smells. She was let out of the crate only on a leash for several days, and she would go from room to room with one of us holding loosely on the end of the leash, sniffing for my “stash” of drugs. She was working hard.
Well, I finally got an appointment with my vet to have her hips X rayed and was totally dumbfounded when they were bad. I broke down crying in the vet’s office. Her hips are so bad on both sides that there is no way in which she can be helped. She is not a candidate for adoption, as she is like a loaded gun—only an experienced handler can handle her.
Dogs that are used for “personal protection” or for “police work” are bred to be ADHD, to be fearless. Sheba, as a Dutch Shepherd, was like an ADHD teenager on crack! She wanted to work and she wanted to bite the decoy. She was everything I could have wanted in a protection dog—including obedience and desire to please—but she was not a “pet” dog.
When I raised Border Collies I would never sell a pup as a “pet,” because high-energy “ADHD” breeds of dogs must have a job to do or they become neurotic. They must be continually exercised whether it is herding sheep or doing an agility course or hunting for lost people or decaying bodies. They must have a job and they can’t do it with bilaterally hip dysplasia.
Set up
I was set up for a patsy by a group of con people working together. Oh, by the way, Sheba did not even belong to “Bob,” the man who sold her to me. The original owner had placed her with Bob for sale on commission. Sort of feeling “something” in my gut about the dog when I got her home, I saw the old rabies tag and called the vet clinic to ask about the dog. Of course they knew Sheba and her owner, and gave me his name and telephone number. He was very surprised that the dog had been sold a month before because Bob had not even telephoned him to let him know that she had been sold, much less sent the money to the man in Mississippi.
This man, “Bud” had been so pleased, though, that Sheba was in a good home, that he was not even going to sue Bob for not sending him his share of the sale price.
After the initial phone call where I informed Bob that Sheba’s hips were bad and he assured me that he would pay me for the purchase price of the dog and the training I had invested in her, I have not heard from him, not one word. I don’t expect to hear from him either.
The female trainer, Sue, has sent me the advice that I should “be tender with Bob as he really is a good guy because she has seen him cry when a dog got hurt.” Sue has written a book on the psychology of dogs, and in her book she showed pictures of hip dysplasia X-rays and a picture of a normal X ray, yet when I sent her a scanned copy of Sheba’s X-rays she said, “Oh, I can’t tell if that is dysplasia or not without seeing the original X-ray.I wonder what made her think that X-ray scan might be normal? What vet school she graduated from? What about the letter I have from my veterinary surgeon who says the dog has hip dysplasia on both sides and due to her temperament and training should be put down?
Then it started to dawn on me, the way the scam went down. Bob got a dog that he probably knew had bad hips or he wouldn’t have sold it for “peanuts,” since it already had certifications for drug detection, and had protection training and obedience training as well ”¦ so Sue love bombed me and found me the “perfect” dog ”¦ CHEAP! Then I went to George’s place and watched the dog work and I was HOOKED. So George, knowing or not that her hips were bad, got two weeks work as a trainer. Then when I brought her home, Sue and her son John got two days work as well.
I have no doubt that I will get a judgment in court for the price of the dog, for boarding her and for the price of her training as well. But I also know that the likelihood of me actually COLLECTING a dime are between zero and none.
Too good to be true
When a deal is “too good to be true” it usually is. Unfortunately, I am left the one crying my eyes out for a dog that I have already become attached to, who has done nothing wrong except be born with bad legs and be so driven to work that she is not “adoptable” as a pet, but yet is unable to work either. No there isn’t anything that can be done for her hips surgically or to prolong her life. If there were it would be done. Her former owner is quite wealthy and offered to fund anything that might help her. There isn’t anything that can be done for the dog.
So we need to be on our guard in any business deal we make, we need to use caution and watch for RED FLAGS. In hind sight, I can see that Sue “love bombed” me and played up to my ego and held out the “carrot” of a deal I couldn’t refuse—the perfect dog and CHEAP. When her buddy in Georgia disappointed me, she came to my rescue and found just the dog for me!
Well, I have again paid the tuition at the University of Hard Knox for some post-doctoral studies. In addition to my lightened pocketbook, I also have a broken heart for a dog I have come to love already. I don’t know where the following story came from, but it made me weep. Right now I’m not sure which feels the best—weeping or cussin’.
God summoned the beast from the field and He said:
“Behold man is created in My image, Therefore adore him. You shall protect him in the wilderness,
shepherd his flocks, and watch over his children, accompany him wherever he may go, even into civilization.
You shall be his companion, his ally, his slave.
To do these things, I endow you with the instincts uncommon to other beasts; faithfulness, devotion, and
understanding, surpassing those of man himself. Lest it impair your courage, you shall never foresee your death.
Lest it impair your loyalty, you shall be blind to the faults of man. Lest it impair your understanding you are denied the power of words. Speak to your master only with your mind and through your honest eyes.
Walk by his side, sleep in his doorway, ward off his enemies, carry his burden, share his affections, love, and comfort him. And in return for this, man will fulfill your needs and wants, which will be only food, shelter and affection.
So be silent and be a friend to man. Guide him through the perils along the way to this land I have promised him. This shall be your destiny and immortality.”
The dog listened and was content.
Joyce, I am SO sorry that you were drawn into that scam. That you’re talking about a dog that you became attached to adds insult to injury – the bond was formed, and it’s a very painful situation, emotionally. The financial aspect is heinous and well-crafted. I hope that these people have been reported, somehow. I’m sure that you did – you’re not the type to roll over and wish it all away.
I want to thank you from the bottom of my heart for sharing this experience. There’s nothing “good” about this except as a learning tool for me, yourself, and others that even years of recovery is no guarantee that we will remain impervious to frauds of all types.
This has not been any easy experience for you, and I send out my most sincere comforting blessings to you. It frigging sucks.
Brightest and most supportive blessings
Well,, after two weeks of crying and cussin’ alternately, my son D and I have decided to keep Sheba until she is in pain and then we will put her down. The original owner who had her chipped sent me the transfer, so I actually DO OWN her now.
In the meantime, I do have a romping stomping dog that would give her life to protect me, but she isn’t going to be able to do that for very long…a year maybe, maybe a little while longer, but I have come to look at it this way.
1. I DO have a protection dog NOW when I need one that is ACES and she is top of the top
2. I got to REPEAT a valuable lesson “if something is too good to be true it is”
I’m an old “horse trader” and you know, I SHOULD have known this was TOOOOOO good to be true.
I ended up with a little less than $3,000 for a dog with bad hips, but if she had had good hips she would have been working on some police department somewhere and would have sold for $10K or more because she is drug certified as well as protection.
I talked to her original trainer as well who is a police dog handler who trains dogs on the side for others.
I guess in the end, it could have been a lot worse, a lot more expensive and I know that Sheba will have a good home here with me and my son, and I am tired of being mad—mad at myself and mad at the scammers—and I’m not going to spend any more time being upset by it. She’s mine, bad hips and all, and we’ll give her a job to do and keep her comfortable until the day comes that we have to make the decision to put her down for her own comfort. She’s the second “happiest” dog I have ever owned and one of the most affectionate. (yes, a 70 pound lap dog)
Oxy:
I am glad you are looking at the good points of this…there are quite a few. It wasn’t all bad. I am glad.
Thanks Louise, that’s really the only option I had. There wasn’t going to be a refund from the scammers, first off because I don’t think they had it to refund it to me in the first place. I found out back when I owned rental property that getting a “judgment” in court doesn’t mean you will COLLECT a dime, so in situations like this it is just best to “quit’yer bichiting” and suck it up, even with a judgment which takes more time and more money and more energy, WHY BOTHER with something that is so futile. To prove a point? That isn’t going to prove much.
It took me a couple of weeks to come to the conclusion that I needed to LET IT GO. I alternately cried and cussed. To what purpose either one? I’ve finally made a rapid transit through the grief process where Sheba is concerned and reached ACCEPTANCE of her as she is, and of the lesson as it is. I am not sure which is the most valuable asset…the lesson, or having her here with me when my son is gone or when we are asleep. I know that she is FOR NOW at least what I need.
Oxy:
Exactly! After all, like you said…you DO have her for now and she may live quite awhile even with her problem. Or before the problem of the hips becomes too much. So enjoy her as long as you can…she IS protecting you and that’s what you needed and wanted. On another note though, I find it sad that you feel so unsafe that you felt the need to get a protection dog. Because of your son I am assuming? If so, my heart really goes out to you. HUGS to you.
Oxy,
I’m with Louise, there are quite a few good points and I’d bet there will be MANY, MANY, MANY more during the time you have Sheba. I think God has a plan for you and her and that she will be a blessing to you. It’s a gut feeling that I get, sometimes.
I think I had a couple of guys try to scam me the other day. They buy trees, maple trees. They are looking for a specific type of figured maple trees for making guitars. So I called them up last september and they recently had time to make the trip up to check my trees.
I’ve had other guys come up before and was told that I had 5 trees with potential. The tree is inspected by cutting it with an axe and peeling back some bark and some of the first layer.
So these guys said they pay 1000 per tree, standing. As soon as it hits the ground, they pay up to 3000 depending on what kind of figured wood they find in it. They are looking for massively large trees and I have those.
So they come up and told me that none were suitable for their standards. I asked them why the other dudes had said that they were. The answer, well some people don’t require the type of figure we are looking for, they will pay less for a lesser grade. We know a guy who does that. He pays about 250 per tree. And they gave me his name and number. They also mention that he sometimes sells to them. He’s a middleman.
Well they left and I thought about calling the middleman. Then it occurred to me. ohh…. how do I know that this isn’t a trick to get great trees for $250?
Then I thought, ok, were there any red flags?
did they love bomb me? No. They were very professional.
Pity? No, they seemed resigned that they typically travel hundreds of miles to search for the right trees (it was at least a 3 hour drive to my house from theirs) before they find even one.
Rage. Nope.
Next thing I checked was my emotions: $3000 x 5 = $15000
That’s pretty exciting. I was excited with the potential windfall. Then I was disappointed not to have even one tree that met their exacting standards.
There! the roller coaster ride. Up then down emotions.
That’s a standard con.
So I did not cut any trees. I didn’t call the middleman.
OxD,
I read your words and you are so good at telling the story I find myself going through the motions and emotions of your experience. I also caught myself making excuses (uhoh) for your con artists. I don’t WANT to believe people are playing on our heartstrings through our pocketbooks using animals BUT why NOT? Ugh! It really is scary to trust when you find that your senses have betrayed you. I would feel like even for $1300 (plus the hours of false teachings as dog training) would’t make the scam worth it but I get it.
I am sorry you went through that other lesson.
I am having trouble with when not to bother. I am bothering in every direction like the energizer bunny that is running out of juice more times than not. 🙂
I would want to believe my eyes as you did yours. I would want to believe my ears and all my senses which were played as you had so many indicators this wasn’t a scam. I really believe from recovering from past trauma, that the healthier I have gotten, it has been when I have been deceived yet again. It’s almost like the guard goes down a bit for me as I get more comfortable believing I can see the red flags……
Life is full of lessons. This is the good part of aging as you watch the young go through the hard lessons you have already learned like what a judgement means. My psychos grandmother was a wise old woman and she was quiet and would watch. She and I were bonded from “hello” and I am not kidding. I fell asleep after her meeting her and had a dream where she came to me and said “don’t fall for the crocodile tears”. I didn’t know what those were as I thought they were BIG tears or something. Later I asked his aunt who lived with grandma if she g-ma ever used those words. She looked at me and said, “only when referring to (psycho)” and I asked what it meant. She said FAKE tears. She totally believed her mother gave me the sign I believed I got. It was strange but WISE. After she died, me and my daughter were more in danger………
I read your posts above since I wrote most of this and I am glad you are seeing the silver lining. I hope you get to have her around much longer and I believe even knowing she may be for a short while, it’s not going to make it any less loving for you and her and son D.
Skylar,
Good check. I need to have that list in my wallet with your examples or tattooed on my forehead……..but that would let the conman know I was dense. 🙂 Better forget the tattoo out in the open……lol
How sad that they conned you as they did. I am glad that you decided to keep the dog as long as it isn’t in any pain. I’m sure that’s a far better life that it would have had if it had remained with these people.
Did you report them? I would. You have no idea what other information the police have on file about these people. Your case may be enough to nail the SOBs.
When I decided to get a dog for my son, my soft heart decided to go the rescue dog route because it was doing good for an aniaml and it would be easier on my pocketbook (I thought.)
We went to a town about an hour away. We live in New England. This rescue group was Dixie Rescue, supposedly dogs rescued from the heartless South where they don’t know how to take care of animals and shipped to Massachusetts to tender, loving owners who will ensure that they get the best of care. (That alone should have been a tip-off.)
The place was an old farmhouse with a pen outside. One of the dogs was so ill that it couldn’t move in the sun. It just laid there in its own waste and was half dead. When I saw that, I took a good hard look at the pen. It had feces and urine all over the floor. I was on high alert.
They had two card tables set up, one with a cash box on it and the other with manila folders, forms, and pens.
My son really wanted a beagle. They went inside and came out with a dog. (Nobody was allowed in the house. They said they had “a few others inside” and would go look to see if they could find what you might like.)
I wanted to know if the dog had been fixed. The woman flipped the dog over to show me its belly. There was surgical stitching and the skin flapped (probably 12″ long) over itself in an unnatural way. (Think one shirt front flapped over the other side at its mid-point.)
I asked if she knew the medical history of the dog. She told me that I was looking at it.
Just then, a smiling family was walking away with their new pet. I heard her co-worker call, “We’ll call your vet on Monday to check your references.” (This was Saturday.) Really? These people are releasing animals to unknowns? They weren’t going to call. They were simply unloading dogs and collecting money.
The form that they had people fill out was used for God only knows. I never looked at the form. For all I know, they might have been asking for financial information. Mind you, this place was teeming with people coming and going with kids running happily over all over the place. It had a festival atmosphere. Yeah! We’re getting a puppy.
I asked if there was a fee. Oh, yes. $250 per dog to cover expenses. The woman casually offered that if I didn’t see anything that I liked today, we could come back in two weeks because they would have a new selection.
I grabbed my son and got out of there. I went home and looked up the town’s animal officer and made a report. Long story short, they went out to this house, found it to be filthy, and discovered that these people had 150 dogs inside the house. About a third of them had to be put down.
Furthermore, they discovered that this was a scam involving many people. These dogs rotated from location to location, meaning from state to state. (The woman who was offering the dogs called it a circuit.) There was quite a money making scheme going on.
Since I reported this to the town, they reported it to the state. Massachusetts stepped in. They passed some kind of emergency legislation to stop this kind of activity. These were sick and diseased animals endangering the health of the animals in Massachusetts because of what they carried into the state.
I found out about all this because the town came back to me to tell me what happened after I made my report. They thanked me.
Never in a million years would I have imagined that what I reported would go to this level. I reported these people because I saw sick and dying animals in the yard.
So, Oxy, even though you might feel embarrassed because of being taken, and the female trainer seems so nice, report these a-h*les. If nothing else, let the police start a file on them (if there aren’t any already.) Maybe you won’t get your money back, but don’t enable their scamming by saying nothing.
I am professionally trained to identify when 1+1 does not add up to two. It’s amazing how many people miss the obvious when it is right under their noses.
My field has a number of expressions for that, starting with “You get what you pay for” and “You get what you accept.”
Years ago I decided that I wanted to buy gold jewelry for myself. I knew absolutely nothing about gold or how gold jewelry was made. There were too many terms and acronyms. I couldn’t make any sense out of them, and I wasn’t about to trust some salesperson to explain them to me. I decided to take a correspondence course from the Gemological Institute of America (GIA) to learn what the experts had to say.
They had a whole section on how certain scammers play on people’s ignorance and greed. One thing that they pointed out what that people always want to get gold and precious gems cheap. Who doesn’t? The stuff is expensive.
Legitimate dealers will not discount real gold and precious gems BECAUSE THEY HAVE NO NEED TO DO THAT. When mall chain stores that sell jewelry sell their products on sale, it is highly likely that is the actual value of the jewelry. They are still making a profit. Any price other than the sales price is inflated.
If the product is legitimate, jewelers can get a legitimate price for it. They know their industry. They know what prices items can get. They all know this. To sell it cheap or on a discount would mean they would lose money. Why, the course asked, would anybody in business want to do that?
I like a good deal as much as the next person, but I also know that when something seems to be too good to be true, it’s fake.
P.S. We ended up getting our Siberian husky from the SPCA. They did check our references beforehand. I paid $75 for the dog and got a refund of $40 after I turned in a vet’s certification that the dog had been neutured. He was a marvelous pet. Best money I ever spent.
skylar:
Thanks so much for sharing your tree story.
Thanks also for checking off your list of red flags and making me realize I forget maybe the most important one…my own emotions. I tend to forget about that ONE and that was the one that put you in check. Good stuff. Thanks so much.