Little Debbie entered the ACC on January 8th, 2013 as a stray, and was quite perfectly named. She was dessert personified…… a tasty snack cake with a short stocky marble coated body and a chubby little face. She instantly became a huge staff and volunteer favorite for her extremely calm and loving demeanor . Little Debbie was a quiet, well behaved girl with a sensitive nature and chocolate eyes that would peer into your soul while always looking for snuggles and hugs. This is Little Debbie:
Dutch entered the ACC on February 4th, 2013 as a stray. Dutch was outgoing, affectionate, confident and extremely handsome!! He had one blue eye and one brown eye, and although volunteers weren’t totally certain, he was believed to be hearing impaired (special needs) This is Dutch:
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=565259950153555&set=a.571248326221384.134010.152876678058553
Sadly, these two very different and remarkable dogs were soon to be joined together in a tragic way. What kills us is that EVERY SINGLE person that failed these dogs, took no responsibility and shifted blame. Little Debbie was failed at every level: 1) Failed by a rescue 2) Failed by a foster 3) Failed by the ACC 4) Failed by an adopter. Dutch, was not failed as many times as Little Debbie, but was “guilty by association” and became collateral damage. Their story needs to be told.
On Wed, Feb 6th, A rescue announced publicly they pulled Little Debbie. Volunteers and staff were thrilled that this delightful pup would have rescue protection and be placed in a loving foster home. Finally, Little Debbie would have the life that she deserved and longed for! The rescue made no hint that anything was amiss, and joyously posted “freedom” pics and adoption information on their site. Behind the scenes there was trouble. Sadly, the new fosters claimed Little Debbie did not get along with their current pet and they DUMPED her back in to the shelter again. The fosters did not allow time for her to decompress. They did not seek the help of a trainer and they did NOT stop to think they may be costing her her life. The rescue claimed they never authorized the person to pick up Little Debbie at all, but that was only AFTER she was dumped back at the shelter. The rescue was aware that Little Debbie was once again headed for the shelter; but since they could not find boarding for her where else could she go? Staff and volunteers were heartbroken at her return, and there is where the blame game began.
The rescue blamed the foster for not wanting to employ training as a means of solving the problem. They blamed the foster for taking a dog that they never approved her to foster. They blamed boarding facilities for not taking dogs with kennel cough. Blame abounds..solutions… not so much. They should have stood behind this dog instead of coming up with a million flimsy reasons as to why they couldn’t. In the meantime, this precious dog is in a kill shelter, taking up a kennel and thereby creating a reason to kill. She’s confused, she’s sick and she’s in danger. Excuses matter little to Little Debbie. She needs solutions..instead she is in the middle of a blame game.
Little Debbie was dumped on Sunday, Feb 10, 2013.
Fast forward to Monday, Feb 18th, and two young women drove from Indiana to NYC with the intent of adopting Dutch, and were immediately won over by his winning personality and striking good looks. These two young women (Maddyi E. & Brittane T.) have subsequently deleted their pages.
They also met and fell in love with Little Debbie. The meet and greet between Dutch and Little Debbie went very well. When they filled out the adoption paperwork, they essentially lied about everything. Maddyi stated on the application she has NO PETS even though she currently has FOUR dogs and TWO cats. Apparently, some brain surgeon on the thread privately told her to LIE about having pets so that the adoption would be approved. Big mistake. Huge mistake. The kind of mistake that cost not one, but TWO lives. Whoever is instructing a potential adopter to lie on their application is an IDIOT.. and a dangerous idiot at that.
Maddyi, the adopter, was instructed by a seasoned long term volunteer of Little Debbie’s prey drive and warned her about having Little Debbie around small animals. Maddyi’s Facebook page had both cats and dogs everywhere and alarm bells were raised about the validity of their application. Still Maddyi insisted on being a rescue angel and went about rescuing not one but two babies. The ACC was formally notified about issues with these women, but for some reason the normal checks and balances of placing TWO PIT BULLS in to a home 10 hours away (that had six existing pets and a small child) were not done. Placing ONE pit bull who is possibly special needs due to a hearing impairment and ONE pit bull who has a high prey drive and a history of being returned for “pet conflict” requires much thought and careful placement. Apparently, NO ONE was thinking, warnings were ignored, and that would prove fatal.
The two women from Indiana, basked in the glow of their new “fame” of dog saving heroes and created a FB page devoted just to Little Debbie and Dutch ( https://www.facebook.com/dutchndutchess). This charming and adorable page was called “Dutch and Dutchess” and was proudly shared far and wide. While they were busy creating this adorable page, who was watching the new kids? Who was in charge of ensuring they acclimated in to the current (secret) pack? Who was doing slow intro’s and keeping an eye on them? According to our rescue angels, Dutchess and Dutch were going to live happily ever after! Or… until, Dutchess (Little Debbie) killed a cat. Then all hell broke loose… literally. “Happily Ever After” became an absolute nightmare for two of our precious babies and we were informed that both were dumped back into a shelter… in INDIANA!
We tried to get the dogs back after learning about the situation, and that Little Debbie had killed a cat. We called the only animal shelter located in their county, in Indiana. What we learned was that the dogs were never dumped there, as initially thought. The reason Maddyi probably did not contact the shelter was because her mother is an employee AT the shelter, and Maddyi was a former shelter worker there!! Her mother had no idea she left her child (in someone else’s care) to go on a road trip to NYC, to bring home two pit bulls to her already full house of 6 animals (4 dogs, 2 cats), and a small child. So, rather than reach out to the shelter community and people she knew that could have helped these animals, Maddyi (NOT HER MOTHER!!) quickly KILLED them, to wash her hands of the “mistake” she made in bringing them to her home. When we questioned Maddyi about why she did not seek assistance, the only thing she kept reiterating was how they were “bad dogs” and somehow deserved this fate?!?! Poor Dutch was just collateral damage to all this mess. We would LOVE to know what private vet agreed to kill these two precious souls.
There is a reason we want all communication open on threads, and this is the reason why far, out of state adoptions, are bad idea. To the people that post, “You’d rather have the ACC kill the dog than allow someone to take them?” The end result is when a dog is this far away, and someone can’t jump in a car and quickly assist, logistically getting a dog back becomes incredibly difficult, and can’t be done quickly.
Remember Bougart?
His adopter Nikki was also instructed to lie to everyone as well, and look what happened, he ended up being dumped in a kill shelter in Texas, shortly after being saved, and no one could just jump in a car to get him. Thank god his story ended on a good note.
To the people, and there are many, who also instruct people to lie, hide and cover-up their true intentions on threads because you don’t understand the rules and want to see a dog with an adopter, ANY ADOPTER, rather than the right home – you are an IDIOT and contributed to the death of two amazing dogs. Two dogs that were placed in a home they never should have been in.
Rest in peace Little Debbie and Dutch – You were failed by people on every level all the way until the very end.