Thunder Valley Rottweilers Customer Club

To Whom It May Concern,

My wife and I first contacted Joan Foote in the winter
of 2004, and asked her about the possibility of
buying a top quality female pup, which would not only
be of solid show quality, but also our foundation
bitch….

She and Stephanie gladly told us they had the perfect
liter coming up, and was willing to hold the 1st pick
pup for us for a deposit of $ 700.00.. WE agreed on a
total price of $ 1,500.00, which was to be sired by an
AKC champion and a dame with a history of producing
show quality type pups…We then agreed to this via
email, as email correspondence is considered legal and
binding..

Shortly after, the games and lies began…WE soon got
a call one Sunday afternoon from Stephanie saying the
dame that they were expecting to have the pups, had
not produced any females, but that they had a
wonderful, and one with more potential, liter coming
up in 3 months, and would we like to have that pup…I
agreed to this as it was basically the only choice we
had at that point…I asked to see the bitch, and her
pedigree, and after a careful examination, it was
clear to us that the bitch in question did not have
the background or pedigree to support the claim of
producing a show quality pup…I then called them back
a number of times, sent a number of emails, then
finally got word about 3 months later that the bitch
in question had a false pregnancy, but they still had
just the pup for us…It would be bred in about 2
weeks, but now the price would be another
$1,000.00…I called Joan and discussed this in detail
with her, but you could tell she had done her
homework with this type deal, and was quite
experienced with the bait and switch tactic…I then
reminded her of our agreement.. we wanted a PROVEN AKC
stud and a bitch with a history of producing show
quality pups…She said that in the foreseeable
future, she would have some liters like that, but the
price was going to be at least $ 500.00 more for any
liter we hoped to get…She gave me no explanation as
to why she wouldn’t sell us the pup as agreed, and she
simply dodged the issue and said if we wanted a pup,
it would cost us $500-$1000 more, and as each bitch
and the stud dog won in the show ring, the price would
keep going up…At that point, I told her that was not
the agreement we had, and I wanted our deposit back…
She said sorry, it was not refundable, and we needed
to let her know now what we wanted to do, as she had
pups waiting and I needed to either chose my 1st pick
pup and pay the price, or she would sell me one that
was worth $ 1,500 in her estimation…I then contacted
a lawyer in Florida where she was living at the time,
took him the check we had sent to her for the deposit,
and he told us since we had put ‘ show quality ‘ and ‘
balance due ‘ on the check, she was obliged to sell us
a show quality pup for the agreed upon amount of
$1,500.

A year had passed since all this rambling and playing
on her part, but I finally told her I wanted my pup
now, or I would see her in a court of law…Shortly
after, she sent an email saying she had bred her
champion male to a top quality show quality female,
and that would be our 1st pick pup…

When it came time to go pick up our pup, my wife went
with our handler to her home to pick up the
pup…First of all, the place was an absolute mess,
and very unclean…Also, it seemed to my wife and
friend that she was acting in a sneaky unusual way as
Joan would not allow them to see the bitch or the sire
of the liter…She took them to a room with 5 pups,
and told my wife all 3 of the female pups were ‘ show
quality ‘ and to pick one…I will not go into what
happened with them after that as they were quite
disappointed in the choices, but my wife simply felt
it was now or never, so she picked the best one
available…

Then, when she went to sign the contract, the liter
registration and sales contract was from another
breeder who we did not know at the time..Joan
explained to my wife that this breeder owed her money,
and he had agreed to allow her to sell this pup as a
show quality pup as indicated in his sales contract as
payment to her for whatever he owed…I will not
mention the other man or his kennel as I do not want
to display him a bad light…The paperwork was signed,
and my wife drove directly back to SC with the pup…

As soon as she arrived we examined the pup carefully,
and it was obvious we had been sold a pup with no
future in the show ring…She had extremely long ears,
a very poor topline, and was simply not a show
specimen in any form or fashion…I tried to call Joan
for 3 days about this, but got no where…

In the meantime, when we took the pup to the vet the
next day for its initial evaluation, she was found to
have a small hernia, an infected dew claw, was
malnourished, and had adult worms…The vet told us
the pup had obviously been very poorly cared for, but
that all the health issues could be addressed…Again,
we tried to contact her about this, but heard
nothing…At that time, I contacted the kennel owner
about the matter…Again, I will not say anything
about him at the present time…I did not pursue
anymore dealings with him as I was fed up with the
entire situation, and it didn’t seem as if he could do
anything to resolve the matter at that time…

That was in March of 2006…Since that time, we have
loved Brianna and allowed her to remain with us, but
she’s nothing but a $ 300.00 dog from the
newspaper…She has multiple major faults and it would
be laughable to put her in the show ring…I have since
spoke to the kennel owner who officially owned the
liter, and he has agreed to replace the pup with a
TRUE show quality pup from a liter yet to be produced,
and when we get Brianna spayed…If not for his
intervention, I had made plans with my attorney here
in SC to sue all parties involved for breach of
contract, and damages caused by this pup not being
anything near to what was agreed upon in the contract,
which again, very clearly indicated we were to get a ‘
show quality ‘ pick female…

Throughout the entire process, I found Joan to be
dishonest, a manipulator, and quite rude…Its very
clear she is a well-experienced con artist who has
this down to a fine science, and who knows how to stay
just ahead of lawyers and irate buyers…She toyed
with us from the beginning with no intention of
selling the pup we had agreed upon.

Lastly, I will address the sanitary conditions found
at her location in Florida…Both my wife and handler
were appalled at the stench, how unclean everything
was, and the overall condition of the kennel…Joan
would not allow them to even go see any of the adult
dogs as she had the pups in a back bedroom…She was
very rude and basically told my wife to take what she
could get and get off the premises.

I have been involved with Rotties and various kennels
for 22 years from 3 continents…I’ve never met someone
like Joan Foote and have no doubt she has no true love
for our beloved noble Rottweiler, and feel she is a
deceitful owner who should be striped of all AKC
rights, plus taken to court and prosecuted for the
many violations she’s responsible for, and sued for
damages by all the people who have been duped by her.

signed,
Another vitctim of Joan Foote