Thunder Valley Rottweilers Customer Club

Here is a copy of not only my letter being mailed to the mayor, but it will be emailed to agency rthat I can find access to there email address. I warn you its long and in story fashion. What can I say my nickname is “Chatty cathy ” ,  This was written in word and cut and pasted here, it may be kinda weird on the layout due to the cut and paste, David Attention;                                                                                                                                                                                                                               
Mayor Gwenith Duncan
314

(931) 879-7560

                        From;                                                                                                                              David J aker                                                                                                                          486 Heritage drive                                                                                                                 
Gettysburg, PA  17325                                                                                                                       717-398-9985 est                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                    Subject;                                                                                                                                               Thunder Valley                                                                                                                                       Joan Foote,                                                                                                                                                                 Stephanie Paulter                                                                                                                                                                                                        .                                                                                                                                                                                    Hello, my name is David Baker.                                                                                                  Although I am not a resident of your beautiful state I was fortunate enough to have recently visited it. However, that is not where my story begins. It began in July of 2006 when my pal “Storm” got her call from heaven. “Storm” blessed our lives for almost 12 years. I cannot even fully express the hole left behind due to her passing, she was without fail, the most trust worthy, loving,  protective, concerned, forgiving, understanding, patient,  kind,  appreciative companion her love was unconditional .  I often kid around about her, calling her our junk yard dog. Oh Sure, she did have AKC papers, but I never registered them, a fact that mattered  naught as she worked her way in to our heart and home becoming a true member of the family. Gives me a lump in my throat just sitting here writing about her.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                When she passed I had no idea how to deal with all these brand new feelings I was experiencing, for you see , I had never had a pal from the time of puppy to time of passing. In truth, I was ill prepared for the whole gambit of emotion now in store for all of our family. So I turned to the “net” that is “internet to find some answers that my help our family understand how to cope with these feelings. The loss was so great it seemed as if time was standing still and we were just treading water in an ocean of emotional duress. My intentions had been to possiblely find a web site dedicated to helping people deal with a loss such as ours. So I did a Google search “I typed “my Rottweiler died how I can cope with her loss”.  While I was looking a web site I saw an advertisement for Thunder Valley Kennels, my bride was sitting next to and we looked at one another with wonder in our eyes. “No” she said I cannot deal with getting another pal, it will kill me if anything should happen to another. Her exact words” I cannot go thru this again, its killing me” a thought echoing clearly in my mind also.  So I said come on “honey” lets just look, what can happen if we just look. I mean after all Storms full name was “ Storm Thunder Heart Baker” ,  Storm Thunder because we got her during a thunder storm , heart because she was the only puppy with enough heart to come and check us out during this fierce storm. Needless to say she ( Storm Thunder Heart Baker) went home with us that afternoon, she was just over 6 weeks old ( I know now your supposed to get them at 8 weeks back then I did not)                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                      At 10 weeks my pal got PARVO , now , not many survive parvo, my girl” Stormy” did , further earning her name. I will not put you to sleep with all the details of our 12 years together; just know they were the best of times. Well, back to the story, so I am now logged on to Thunder Valley Kennels web site. WOW!! What a web site I had never seen such a place, all these beautiful Rottweilers and guess what, her namesake was a male named “Thunder”. I knew right then I just had to at least call her, no way was I going to buy another “pal” I was just going to talk to another person that loved the type of dog our pal “ Storm” had been. I called and the phone was answered by Joan Foote, co-owner of Thunder Valley Rottweilers. Joan was very attentive and concerned about all that we were experiencing with our loss. She said he biy “Thunder” had also passed just a month prior to our pal. It seemed as if we exchanged stories like small children opening presents on Christmas morning. As we talked deeper and deeper and in more detail, she unbeknownst to me at time started to spin her web, “can you believe that I have a female named “ Déjà vu” aka “Storm” and can you believe she is a “Thunder daughter” and guess what she is due any time now, her belly is fat with puppies.. I turned looked at my wife and she said “ok” it must be fate. I asked Joan what was the price of these puppies. When she told me they started at $ 1500.00 dollars on this female I went speechless’. My old pal had cost $475.00, now I was committing to buying one that cost $ 1500.00. WHEW! That seemed like a lot of money. Joan told me that right now she had second pick available on male and third pick of females. I told her if we were to get one it would be a female. This was a decision my wife and I needed to talk over before just jumping in and I told Joan that, she agreed and said for us to get back to her, soon though as the picking order filled fast on the puppies and I would need to get my $500.00 deposit sent in ASAP if I wanted to have a place on the up coming litter.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                           Norma (my bride) and I talked things over for the rest of that day, hedging back and forth, after all it was less than a week since our old pal had passed, were we ready to make this kind of move?, were we sure because we knew this choice, is a choice that you have to live with for at least the next 10 years (hopefully longer). We did not want to just act out due to the loss. We had to make sure we were ready and that we could welcome our new “pal” with an open heart. Then I get a call from Joan; guess what the person that was second pick on this litter had decided to move to another litter, so second pick was open and it could be ours if we got the $ 500.00 deposit to her immediately using “pay pal” as the payment vehicle. I looked at Norma she looked at me and we both said “let’s go for it”. So up to my computer I ran, adrenalin running thru my veins, just knowing I had to get that deposit sent to insure 2^nd pick female from this litter. As I was logging on to papal I thought why just pay the deposit, why not go ahead and pay the whole amount due, less shipping. I mean what is the issue here, great web site, easy to get in contact with, been in business for almost 20 years, must love this breed just look at the photos of her dogs on the site. It was a no-brainier, so I sent payment in full. Then sat back and awaited the birth of our new unnamed pal.                                                                                                                                                                                                                           So here we are waiting and waiting and waiting. No word from Joan, no answers to our emails, our phone calls go unanswered, on and on this goes. Then finally an answered phone call, bad news “Storms” pregnancy was a false one, we can either wait for her next heat cycle or be moved to another litter. Since it had already been almost two months we asked to be moved to another litter, guess what same thing, so onto another litter, this time there were no females and the next litter same issue. We no longer had the second spot on these litters sometimes we were the 3^rd, 4^th or even 5^th pick female. After this happened 3 times, we told Joan (on one of the rare occasions’ a phone call was answered) maybe you should put us on a male. She did and guess what the same things were happening, not enough males, they all died, on and on and on.                                                                                                                                                                                                    At this time almost a year had passed, still no new puppy in our household. Monies paid in full, a breeder that ignores emails and phone calls. Occasionally answering one if it suits her.  As I am a General Contactor and just by chance happened to be working on a project for my Attorney, I thought why not run all this by one of the lawyers and see what they think. I did just that, the attorney told me what do and how to do it. I called Joan left a voice mail outlining my legal intentions, and wouldn’t you know it she called me back almost immediately. At first she tried to argue me down, countermanding all that I was saying, I stood my ground and she finally realized I was not going to waver. I demanded a full refund, now. She admitted to me that there was no way she could send me back my monies. She said she would not have any monies until her up coming litters in the next 5 to 7 weeks. At that time she would be either able to give me a puppy or my money back. I told her that was not acceptable, at that time she offered me an older dog “ Madison” , As I was at work and did not have access to a computer , I told her I would have to check it out when I got home, then run it by Norma. With that we ended out ½ hour phone conversation.  When I looked at the site, Norma and I decided that we were not interested in “
Madison”. I called Joan and told her as much, she once more outlined what she was unable to do, namely give us a puppy or a refund. Our call end as it started, nowhere.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                             I began to search out the web for Rottweiler puppies, I called a few breeders listed on these sites, and all did not have any puppies available at the time of my calling. As Norma and I had waited long enough, we did not want to wait any longer, so our quest continued. Finally, I found a breeder that had some puppies along with a four month old imported female he was willing to part with. The four month old female was beautiful; Norma and I agreed that we would love to have her, even at the steep cost of         $ 3000.00. I told the Breeder that I had paid for a puppy in full with another kennel and would need them to refund me before I could commit to any such transaction between us. He asked me whom the kennel was, I only had half the Thunder Valleys name out my mouth when I began to hear a nervous laugh from him, David he said “I would not hold your breath on getting a refund from Joan Foote owner of that kennel” she owes everybody, he told me about the failed magazine, deposits taken on puppies with no intention of puppies to be given. I was in a daze, I heard what he was saying but could not believe the sounds coming into my ears. All my dreams of a new pal, fading fast away, along with monies given never to be seen again. Suddenly all that my gut had been saying (not to mention Norma telling all along) was now coming to fruition.  Joan was dishonest with us.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                   I thought, Ok one more effort, email her tell her I was demanding a refund so I could purchase from the other kennel, hard ball time. I emailed her and she responded, by phone. She told me once more she did not have any cash to refund me, however she and Stephanie wanted to do the right thing. So they decided to offer Norma and me a 6 month old, stud fee pick female they owned,
Sydney. At first we would not even consider
Sydney, however when Joan emailed photos, we thought, Oh well lets go for it. We knew we would not see our money back so there wasn’t any way to buy the other female.
Sydney’s photos looked good, so we called Joan and agreed. We left the next day, driving to TN before anything could change in our agreement.                                                                                                                                                                                                       We are about 700 miles from Thunder Valley Kennels, the worlds largest yard sale was in progress and no hotel/motel rooms were available close by Thunder valley Kennels so we stayed about 80 mile away , getting up the next day to arrive early at Joan’s House. When we arrived at Joan’s, the property looked a bit run down on the outside; however, that did nothing to prepare us for what awaited us on the inside. As Joan ( wearing filthy stained sweats and a tee shirt) opened the door, we were overwhelmed with the odor of urine and feces. As we entered the house it was a scene of disarray, filth, dirt, dog hair, cat hair, an absolute  mess . The smell was over powering, stench filling all your senses. Joan walked us into the family room, introducing us to the two house dogs, one of which is (she has since passed) Sydney’s (our new pals) Grandmother, both dog were just scratching and scratching as both were infested with fleas. It is hard to describe exactly the environment were surrounded by, surreal perhaps might do it. After Joan got Sydney’s AKC paperwork stuff taken care of with us, we moved to the outside to go and meet
Sydney for the first time. Joan walked us thru a covered breezeway and thru a glass door into a paved courtyard. A courtyard full beyond anything imaginable, full of dog feces, so much it was hard to dodge a clear way to walk thru it. Joan, “barefoot” I must say made her way to the rear area to open the gate and allow
Sydney to come and greet us.
Sydney came bounding out along with another young female Rotty around her same age. Both of these puppies were thin,
Sydney came to meet us then retreated to search out, find and eat as much feces as she could find. Let me assure you she was having an endless buffet of dog feces. Norma and I have never witnessed such a site, Joan told us it was a normal thing, some dogs do it some do not. I personally have never seen such a sight before. I still do not believe it is normal for a dog to be an absolute glutton and eat other dog’s feces uncontrollably. It may happen sometimes, but I feel
Sydney was also hungry and had been used to being hungry. So being  hungry she resorted to eating as much feces as she could find in order to calm her hunger. Possibly getting her fill before the other dogs got to it. That is just my thought on it.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                            Well, on with my story. We had an uneventful trip back to our home in
Gettysburg, Pa. I emailed Joan once we were home to tell her we had arrived safely, then another email in a week or so thanking her for sharing
Sydney with us.
Sydney is absolutely a wonderful new pal. She had some health issues when she came home. On her first trip to the Vets. It was determined she was infested with worms, had an yeast infection in the ears , had a bad over-bite on one side along with  a level one heart murmur not to mention she was also anemic. Well, we found a cure for almost all that ailed her with exception to the heart murmur and the over-bite. Now she is a “show” quality dog as told us by the by the breeder, Joan Foote. Now does that sound like a “show” quality puppy? Does that sound like an $1800.00 show quality puppy?  I think not. Oh well, she was home and we were already totally in love with her as she seemed to be with us. Know now that I have not one single regret with taking Sydney home, if she dropped dead tomorrow of a heart attack from the heart murmur, our lives would have been  so blessed for the time we had to spend with her. The fact she has issues only matters as how the breeder represented and charged us for her, it has nothing to do with
Sydney, she is a jewel, our cherished jewel.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                     Now here is where you will say, David, David, David what were you thinking                   (Detective Ron Whited said exactly that when I told him this part). After being home from picking up Sydney maybe two weeks I get a phone call from Joan, she is telling me how happy they are that we are pleased with
Sydney, so on and so on. Then she gets to the real reason for her call. She knows of a once in a lifetime opportunity for us to get a puppy sired from an import Champion stud, she is trying to purchase the mother and four of her pups. She goes on with the pedigree, the father, the mother and how this opportunity may never take place again. She tells us it’s the deal of deals, for   $ 2500.00 we can get 2^nd pick male from this litter. I tell her Norma and I must talk it over she replies OK? But, always BUT, we have to decided right now in the next few minutes before this deal falls apart. She says although she cannot afford to do this alone, she has two others committed to having puppies from the litter. She said just one more person  and it’s a closed deal. I asked what she got out of out of it; she replied “I want the mother here to have as future breeding stock in my kennel”. Norma and I talked about it that evening and we decided to not take her up on the offer, I called and left her a voice mail to that effect. The next morning she calls me in a panic, “is there no way we would reconsider” She offers some photos to be emailed, I told her we would look at them and get back to her. The photos arrived, we just fell in love with the pups, and I called her back with many questions and after some conversation we agreed to be a part of this deal. I asked her what would happen if there were any problems and she assured me she (her kennel) would make good on the deal/ the puppies were due to arrive by November 2^nd 2007.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                       Joan requested that we send her a deposit of $1000.00 which we did in the form of a bank cashiers check. She had asked for a wire transfer however my bank ( Bank Of America) was unable to make a transfer to her account ( a pre-paid master card / visa account) My banker suggested that we send the cashiers check US mail  certified express mail receipt requested. We did as he instructed. Money sent, Joan called numerous times asking about when it was sent, to what address, amount sent and the tracking info. All of her questions answered we went about our normal business. A few days later I called to make sure she had got it all straight and that the puppy deal was confirmed with the Serbian breeder. She told me “yes” all was a go; it was just a time thing because the pups could not be in the
USA until they were 12 weeks old, old enough to have rabies shot. She also said she had been in contact with the Serbian breeder and that up to date photos were on the way and would be emailed to us as soon as she received them.                                                                                                                                                                                        Things were quiet for a week or so when Joan called again. At first she was telling me that possibly the pups may be here at 8 weeks instead of 12 weeks as discussed prior. She also said she was still waiting for photos. Small talk for awhile ending with her telling me she would get back to us with the 8 week or 12 week thing. The next day she called me to say.  No, it was still the 12 week thing, again more small talk then she went in for the kill. Would it be possible for me to send the Serbian breeder another $ 500.00? She was willing to do the same herself, with all this being due to the fact one of the other people whom had agreed to this had now backed out. They were unable to come up with they cash to do it. She said she would sent all the info so I could Western Union the Breeder directly, reluctantly I agreed to do so not wanting to lose yet another puppy in a deal gone south. The deed done Joan confirmed all was still a go and she would be contacting me by the end of October 2007 to let me know arrival times and to make shipping arrangements. This was the beginning /middle of September 2007 when we had this conversation. I make a few attempts to contact Joan during the month of September and October 2007, all with any success. By the end of October and throughout the month of November 2007. I redoubled my efforts to contact Joan either via email or phone. I had no luck until November 26^th 2007. Joan finally answered the phone and told me that the Serbian breeder was a crook and had more than likely ripped her off all the monies sent. She felt the best thing to do was to move us to one of her upcoming litters. She assured us that she had a number of dogs fat with puppies and we would have a great selection from these litters, our choice she said, as she wanted to make sure Norma and I got a great dog. No litters were expected to be due for a few weeks and she would contact us when it was happening.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                       On November the 4^th I received an email instructing me to check out a site concerning Thunder Valley Kennels. I checked this site out and was dumbfounded, all my fears it now seemed were real. I was only a small drop in Joan and Stephanie’s  end less pool of lies, deceit and dishonesty. I could not believe what I was reading. I began to contact others that were posting on this site. We all generally had a very similar tale to tell. We had all been equally treated in the same fashion from this breeder and her partner. We all had enough and were ready to fight back to find justice for how the  animals and we were being treated, with the animals being neglected and all of us  being lied to, deceived, having our monies taken from us without value received.  Funny story here, the very next night Joan Foote calls me (something that never happens) she starts making small talk, a sure sign she wants something. Well it does not take long before she goes in for the Kill, “would I be interested in co-ownership of a female champion import” No I say sorry ” tis the season “ and money is tight, maybe next time. All the while I know about her behavior with other co-owners, this thanks to the web site I had been shown.                                                                                                                                                    By now I am sure your yawning and thinking is this guy going to ever stop writing this. I am done writing this letter; however I will not stop in my quest for justice for the animals and the victims of these people. I invite, no I implore you to please visit this web site. Read and see for yourself (photos of the kennel condition are posted). Look into your heart and conscience and ask some of the same hard question we the members of this site are asking, WHY? Why can this type of thing be allowed to happen and why is it continuing to happen. HOW? How can this be happening when local law enforcement and the animal humane departments are fully aware of what is going on and where it is going on. WHAT?  What  is going to be done to stop all this madness, get these animals into safe environments, not to mention the small children around all this? WHOM  ?   Whom of you is going to step up to the plate and use the voice entrusted to you in the office you hold. Lastly WHEN? When are you going to act, we are here to help in any way you need us to, we will collectively answer the call, that we promise that. You have an army; we just need your commitment of   leadership to show us the path to justice.    .                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                               Please go to this link see for yourself, what is a few moment out of your day to help mans best friend, your best friend.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                              The Link; http://www.thundervalleyrottweilers.com/                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                            Sincerely,                                                                                                                                David J Baker                                                                                                                         486 Heritage Drive                                                                                                                 Gettysburg, Pa 17325                                                                                                                                 717-398-9985