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These people were renting a double wide mobile home that were in for ONLY 4 months. AKC was about to come out to inspect their kennels sothey up and moved before AKC could get there.
The conditions found in the dog kennel area was bad enough as there was green stuff floating in most of the water bowls, NO food bowls (dogs had to eat from the dirt!).
The conditions INSIDE this home were beyond words! There was feces, urine and afterbirth all over the floors and all matresses also had been messed on however one had feces caked on and urine soaked in from one end to the other (this was werer the puppies were raised/housed until old enough to go outside) in one of the photos attached, , you can see where the momma dog had tried to get out of the window as the the smell in that room was enough to... well, you fill this in.
An e-mail was sent to the AKC along with photographs of the conditions found at this residence (all of their dogs are AKC registered) with a reply from AKC that these conditions were really none of their business and rather than doing something for these animals (suspend breeding/registration rights so these people would not make such a 'profit' fron selling "AKC" registered dogs and quit breeding all together), they said that IF we had a problem with the conditions these animals were forced to live in, we should contact local animal control to file complaints. Problem with THAT is, these people had already MOVED!
These people move EVERY time someone is onto them and ALWAYS blame someone else for the reasons that they move but according to their web site, they opperate out of AZ and SD and have "Family Raised" Goldens, Labs, Cattle dogs and also saw Great Danes, Boston Terriers, Parson's Russel and a Yorkie while they were at the place photographed.
I seem to think these conditions are horrid but maybe this is normal?
I have 10 plus dogs in my home AND raise puppies as well but it dosen't look or SMELL like this place did and I can only HOPE there are not very many people/breeders out there that DO live like these people do and their poor dogs are forced to.
Thank you for looking and letting me 'vent' on this as I seem to have hit a block wall and this has fallen on deaf ears with the AKC.
Because, if AKC will register puppies from breeders like this and do NO more than tell you it is someone elses problem when they (AKC) of ALL people HAVE or can get a current address on these guys to turn them in at their new residence as I have no idea where they moved to... I think it is all about the registration money for AKC and know this, if it were me running the AKC, I would NOT want my organizations name linked with these kinds of breeders. I would THINK they would WANT to help stop this abuse in any way they could!
These are the kind of breeders that give ALL of us a bad name as well as any kennel club that is made aware of this and 'passes the buck' on to the next guy (doing nothing is form of acceptance). It is up to ALL of us to get involved.
I would like to see The American Kennel Club get more involved with complaints about the breeders they register puppies for but I should have known better than that because I knew a breeder a few years back that put AKC papers on dogs they didn't belong on to get more money from them or their offspring. I got pretty much the same answer back then "I'm sorry, we can't do anything about that"... Excuse me, what?
I was hoping things would have changed by now.
There is an update Iwould like to share! A recent e-mail sent by the AKC said that they would look into this matter... I will try to let everyone know what happens IF I hear something.
OK, Less and Melissa, good try. Only problem is, that dog on the washing machine is NOT one of ours.
When you took off and left your dogs with us, that was the ONLY time they were cleaned up after the ENTIRE time they were there!
Also, you can NOT deny that you trashed the house by leaving on MULTIPLE. occasions without telling us you were leaving for 24the HOURS or LONGER so we could look after ALL of those dogs you just up and left! You are nothing more than a low life puppy mill...Breeding those poor dogs to death, feeding OLD ROY of all foods to save a buck and HOW STUPID DO YOU REALLY THINK PEOPLE ARE? IF the AKC inspected you and your kennels just AFTER this was posted... You diddn't have TIME to trash it! AND why dissent you mention WHY you rented that house to begin with... Because the HS was threatening to take ALL of your animals at the last location you were at... REMEMBER THAT? We NEVER had OUR animals taken by force!
Oh, and by the way, YES most of the dogs we had were rescues that people just DUMPED and YES we could not keep ALL in the house but they were AT LEAST given shelter unlike yours that were out BAKING in the sun or getting drenched in the rain! You don't they care about your dogs, just how much money you can make off of them!
As for me and the AKC, it was NOT because my dogs were living in FILTH like YOURS did, someone had stolen my records that were in a box ready to move up north, I guess they thought they were going to score steeling THAT box until they opened it and found only dog records but I will NEVER support the AKC again in this life time if they won't STOP people like you from raising puppies in conditions that YOU raise YOUR DOGS in. They, on my opinion are NO BETTER than the breeders like you that they allow to continue to register puppies for... JUST LIKE YOU, IT IS ALL ABOUT THE MONEY!
Hey, if you are still reading this, why don't you post yuor current address for us and the many others who would LOVE to slap you with a law suit, I figure just ours alone would be several dollars spent in hours and materials spent in getting that home livable again as well as for the swamp cooler that you destroyed by pushing it out the window! Are you going to be brave enough to do that? No, I doubt it as you have NO honor what so ever!
Oh, and as for the dates posted from WHEN this was originally posted, you guys had already moved, we gave you a few days to come back and clean up YOUR mess but guess what, you NEVER did. I still have YOU, Les, in my voicemails telling me that you were ON YOUR WAY to do so...
BRING IT ON you LOW LIFE, ### of the earth LAIRS! Tell the truth for ONCE in your miserable lives!
You signed a ONE YEAR LEASE, that can be proven! BUSTED in yet ANOTHER LIE!
You people were SO CHEAP you wouldn't even buy your dogs FOOD BOWLS! You just threw their OLD ROY dog food over the fence into the dirt! Maybe because of your recent inspection, you finnally did get them bowls and I realy don't care what you CLAIM that you are feeding your dogs now, you were feeding all of your outside breeding dogs OLD ROY, you only fed Iams to the puppies so you could get the FREE puppy packs.
If you want to talk about a SLANDER. suite, how about all of those FALSE pictures you posted about our dogs? Remember, we have WHITENESSES! We needed help to clean up you and your dogs PIG STY! I also STILL have you on my voice mails Les, telling me you were on your way back to clean it up WITH the DATE this call was made so, like I said BRING IT ON! AND, no, we DON'T have 200 dogs ... Too bad you can't count either.
Where was that you lived before renting here? Was that around the Prescott area? Do you think maybe people could call THEM and find out that YES they were about to take ALL of your animals? And do you remember what you two wack jobs did when I tried to HELP you? After you were moved in and STILL had NOT provided ANY shelter for your dogs? When I told you that Arizona State law was to provide your animals food, clean water AND SHELTER? Do you remember YELLING at us to leave you alone or you were going to move? We should have seen right then how unstable you people were but with all of the sob stories you laid on us about how everyone had been unfair to you, we felt sorry for you and THAT was our biggest mistake. We SHOULD have thrown you out on the spot and saved the thousands of dollars in damages you caused!
One more thing. Les, you CLAIM to have been a Captain or something in the military, right? I thought military people are tought to be CLEAN... What would they think about the way you were living and the way you disrespected someone elses property and then dodged responsability for what you, your dogs and your ... wife is it? Although she kind of looks more like your sister, cousin or daughter maybe?
I guess this would be irrevelent just like half of the stuff you have posted about us. You really should try to tell the truth and try not to bring up things that really have nothing to do with the real issues. You should also try not to drag your family into this who have done nothing to us. Do they know how you speak of them? Do they know that you tell people that half of them are drug addicts and then you expect them to fight your battles for you?
The complaint has been investigated and resolved to the customer’s satisfaction.
Stfu lady lol mind ur own business thw dogs are well cared for
They are at it again. Melissa and Les are in Tennessee near Knoxville. ALSO BEWARE of Justin Burke. He is an associate.
They are living in Newport, TN (near Knoxville). Advertising on CraigsList for heeler puppies, Great Dane puppies and JRTs. Local phone number listed in ads is: [protected] Email is: Lesrayburke@hotmail.com Also posted on an adoption site for HUMAN babies. Gives me the willies...
You should all file complaints in sd you are wasting your time filing in az. They said they just moved from az.
I just bought a pup two days ago from them. Their address was 31079 449th ave gayville sd phone number [protected]
Leslie Ray and Melissa Burke
PO BOX972
Cortaro, AZ 85656 just outside Tucson
e-mail: max@buyakcpuppies.com
street address: 890 North Fellores Well Trail
Cortaro, AZ
MOST CURRENT ADDRESS IN OCTOBER 2011
telephone: [protected] or [protected] through Verizon
DO NOT TRUST PEOPLE WHO DECEIVE YOU AND TAKE YOUR MONEY WITHOUT ANYTHING BUT PAIN IN RETURN.
To be honest, it appears that there is a "feud" going on and that if you weed out the "arguing and slandering" you may find both good and not so good experiences. No-one wants to be "taken" by dishonesty and I pray that it does not happen to me or others, but STOP THE FEUD. And let's all PROTECT OUR ANIMALS by doing the right thing!
PLEASE, nothing is created except more animosity and hatred and do we really need more in our world?
The Breeder's World is fraught with politics and whose dog is better. I am not a breeder but know many who would agree with me.
If you have a concern, how about calling the Police to investigate, The Attorney General's Office, or the Humane Society. AKC generally has addresses since all litters need to be registered.
Mistakes are made, puppy mills sadly are in place and unscupulous breeders exist...not all people are good and not are all bad...same goes for breeders.
This entire situation is being investigated as we speak and at this point the puppies/dogs that have been purchased are loving, beautiful, strong and healthy. No-one can GUARANTEE there will never be a problem...I have a special needs child but all my other kids are healthy, strong and we never expected anything to happen that would cause such hardship. But LIFE happens!
I am truly sorry for the bad experiences...years ago I bought a pup and a year later discovered the breeders were part of a puppy mill and my dog has some challenges but he is great...and neutered. If you get a pup and have the VET check them right away and say the pup is ok, why won't you believe that? If there is a problem, call the Police and Attorney General or get in your car and drive to the breeders! But TRY calling the breeder first...and you CAN find them!
STOP FIGHTING BOTH OF YOU! MAKES YOU LOOK LIKE UNPROFESSIONAL AND UNEDUCATED ADOLESCENTS WITH AN AXE TO GRIND!
Thanks!
In following up on this thread, I would say that the number of complaints, in and of themselves, support the validity of those same complaints. The response of Dog People are weak and character revealing; additionally, I suspect Jack Hood to be a 4th or 5th grader, perhaps son or young relative to the perpetrators. That said, if the Burke's were to refund the many dollars they have taken from those of us willing to publicly state our charges, well then that would lend some credence to the possibility they simply made mistakes and/or oversights. I, for one, would be happy to post that my $864 had been returned to me. Unfortunately I suspect that true colors have been shown and I won't get a refund. So be it. I will continue with my daily prayer: As above, so below. May all that you, Les & Melissa Burke, put out return to you one-thousand fold.
Trusting Fool Kathy Mattison Louis Louie We NEVER HAD OUR DOGS TAKEN BY FORCE EITHER and we do not run from anyone obviously there is our akc inspection which is more than you can say. Excuse us for want central heat and air conditioning that worked through the winter. The fact that we had a home that was paid for and had heat and we wer only renting month to month with you made for the wise choice of getting away from the crazies that you are and would bring on the property we were renting. Sorry if we did not want to put our babies in jeoperdy of being taken away since you were only allowed to have 15 of you family pet dogs not breeding dogs on the property since you breed all of your dogs good luck we were renting from you and you told us to find another place. Well since we already owned another place we got away from you. You can choose to have people renting rooms from you that carry baseball bats and beat your dogs but I prefer mine stay in one piece and if you want to keep yours out in the freezing cold all winter and desert heat all summer you have fun. oh I know your pugs and buggles and dashound and bulldogs can take it you left them outside all winter when you have a building you could have put them in and airconditioned or found them homes before they die of exposure. Oh wait I know you rescue dogs that is why you have over 200 of them so many you POA property owners association sueed you, and you have two 40 acres spreads of that that you hide them on. You can't possible build a kennel for yours like we did no that would cut into your profits yours have to live on dirt most cannot even get off of the dirt because they do not have shelter and if they do have shelter it does not have a floor. Your dogs are so nasty and skinny just look at the pictures you run a "grooming buisness" but do not groom you own they are matted and dirty with filth. you feed them feed store garbage and ol roy we feed iams and eukanuba and yes i have reciepts for the last 3 years to prove it.
You are trying to trade your property and move to OR go ahead i have family there that would love to meet you. Yeah good idea staying away from fl and ca they hate puppy mills.
http://domuswap.com/profile/KathyMattison
She is trying to sell puppy mill mutts here http://www.adpost.com/us/pets/183002/
http://www.domesticsale.com/Classifieds/a565838.html
Collie poos mutt dogs http://www.domesticsale.com/Classifieds/a565845.html
Go slander someone else or we will give you a lawsuit how does that sound to YOU!
I bought a puppy from them 4 years ago at 8 weeks old and he was the picture of health then and he still is today. They gave me a full health warranty on him but I have never need to try to use it. The is a chocolate blockhead lab and for what I paid for him I could not have gotten a better deal or better quality. I went to their home and picked him out. I recently bought a 8 week old yellow female to be a playmate for him and she is doing great at 12 weeks old now. I went to their home again to get her. They even microchipped both of them for free while I was there and let the two play together in their two acre fenced play area for an hour or so so I could make sure they would get along ok. I don't know you can say they did all of this stuff when they were still at the same house as when I got my male from them 4 years ago. It has got to be the same people because they were here in SD then and now and their names are les and melissa burke.
I'm not sure how to edit this, I wanted to make it clear that my comment was NOT a complaint. We had a very good experience with Blue Diamond Kennels and Les and Melissa, and we love our dog. Unfortunately, we did not get the phone call. Weird. I sent an email to Melissa tonight. Thanks for contacting me!
Dear Elaina, I called you on the 11th of March to see how she was doing and never recieved a call back. Please call us back or message me.
Hello, Burke and Mellisa, we purchased our dark golden from the two of you 2 years ago. We are trying to get her AKC name changed and i have emailed several times, but believe it may not be going through. Please contact me through elaina@stanfordfam.com
http://www.cofad1.state.az.us/memod/CV/CV090560.pdf This is the court order from October 26 2010 Limiting the number of dogs on the property we were renting to 15 dogs.
Please notice that the AKC Inspected our dogs and property on the 15th of November and Kathy posted the origional complaint on November 16th.
We call everyone that bought a dark golden retriever from us and no one had any health concerns or complaints.
Here are some more of kathy and louie's dogs aka trusting fool
Here are tusting fool yet again's dogs that are for sale on the internet. They are clean and groomed compaired to most of them you should see the adults they have so many mats in their fur. She is a dog groomer keep that in mind. If our dogs were so bad why didn't they call the humane society on us while we were there .
Here are our akc inspection compliance papers
The trusting fool that started this complaint is really Kathleen "cathy kathy" Mattison who lives with or is married to louis "louie" l' heureux. We rented from them for a few months and left because we had no heat or air conditioning. Neither Louie or cathy would fix the lock on the door so we could lock it when we left and they were always coming over late at night which made all of the dogs bark. They took in a buy that was 20 something to live with them but work taking care of their dogs that were mostly on the property we were renting without even asking us first. He would come onto the property unannounced and bring his pitbull. We like to play with and excersise our dogs and since this was 40 acres that we were renting for our 3 horses and dogs we figured we could let our dogs out to play fetch and go potty. Unfortunately we could not because one day the guy came on to our property with his pit while we were letting our dane out to go potty. We asked him to get off of the property with his dog and so did cathy. His dog and ours got into it and the guy left and came back with a baseball bat and his dog. When we came out to see what was going on he said he was going to kill our dog so we call the cops. The guy left a week or so later. Call the local st johns police and ask them it is public record. The policeman said he would move if he was us because they will just bring in someone else. They had over 200 dogs just on the property we were renting. They lost a court battle against the hoa that had been going on for years. The court ruled in favor of the hoa that they could only have 15 dogs on the property we were renting. They said our dogs were not a problem when we moved in. Don't take my word for it call the humane society in saint johns az and look at the public records. She had her akc license pulled years ago in 2003 see the following. Look at her dogs that she placed ads to try and sell. She wanted us to use her 6 dog hunting dog trailer to move our dogs up to her property if the hoa came out. Her dogs are all outside on dirt they clean the pens once a week and the dogs always are matted and dirty with algea water. They sat outside all winter with frozen water the only shelter they have is plastic or wooden dog houses in freezing weather and high heat. They raise their pups in a out building also on the property we were renting. They have a fan for air which was never on and an open window. No heat. They put pups in metal hore troughs that are rusted out on newspaper until they put them out in the dirt. The pups stay in crates with their moms while being born and nursing. They put them on newspaper. They don't help the moms give birth and don't keep the pups in their house except the ones they have in crates stacked three high in their house which has no electric and no alternative power since the batteries for their solar system are bad. You can call the local vet in st johns and ask him what he thinks about me and about them. You can also call akc since we passed our inspection see attached akc report. They have been slandering us on here and with multible other sites and companies. We are not running from akc if we were they would have pulled our license not done a suprise inspection that we passed with flying colors. I email the beesue that said her dog has hip dysplasia and her son bought the dog from us she would not tell me her sons name so i could verify that it was our dog so I could reimburse her for the cost of the puppy per the contract her son would have signed when he bought it. We used to live in south dakota but had to move since the foundation was crumbling on the house since the person that sold it to us covered up the damage. The person we bought it from sued the guy they bought it from for the same propblem and won. Again it is public record. We ship dogs all of the time none have fleas that is just louie and cathy trying to combat the good comment. Why would someone say that we could not ship our dog b/c they have fleas unless we shipped their dog to them. If they picked the dog up that would be the only way they would know what we drive and how would we know where they live unless they signed a contract and gave us their address which i am sure they can not provide b/c it is kathy or louie and they are slandering us. Yes no one can find us but yet akc did an inspection on us and we passed. No one can find us but if AKC could not come out an inspect the dogs that are registered with them they pull you license and all of your dogs registerations so you can not reg any dogs or pups with them for 10 years. Which means kathy can reg her dogs in 2013 if she buys some akc ones and actually spends money. I find it doubtfull since she gets free food every chance she gets from churches and food banks when she dosen't even go to church and does not have a buisness licesce does not pay taxes and does not license any of her dogs. She feeds them as little as possible and the cheapest food possible. I guess they can take pictures of their own house and their own dog pens and post them whereever they want to to slander us. They watched our dogs for a few days and they did not clean out their pens and did not change their water and when we got back they were half starved to death. We offered to watch their dogs in return but the had already brought the other guy in to do it that did not have a drivers licesce, he bailed out on them and they had to call us b/c they did not know where he was or if he was taking care of the dogs. So we took care of them while they were gone.
http://www.co.apache.az.us/PDFs/PlanningandZoning/P&Z30509/20509M.pdf this was on 2/5/09
http://www.akc.org/about/board_minutes/2003/0403.cfm akc 2003
Check out her ad placed in craigslist. She was wanting someone to help them move their dogs off the property we were renting onto her other property right up the road in the same hoa. She posted this b/c the hoa only allows her 15 dogs on the property we were renting.
Help Relocate Dogs and Earn One (St Johns)
Date: 2010-11-26, 9:28AM MST
Reply to: comm-mtkba-[protected]@craigslist.org [Errors when replying to ads?]
We need help in relocating the yards and housing for several rescue dogs.
We have lost the lease on the current location and need to move them about 1 mile
If you have been wanting a very good dog this is an opportunity to select from several
and help other dogs that will still need homes.
We will make sure that you get fed a good lunch too!
[protected]
Location: St Johns
These are pictures of their dogs that they posted on the internet and my akc inspection report. She has poodles, buggles, labradoodles, pugs, english bulldogs, dashounds, [censored]zus, just to name a few
http://www.freedoglistings.com/details.aspx?t=2&id=24412
http://www.adpost.com/us/pets/183001/
We too got a dog from Les and Melissa Burke and what a nightmare it has been! they registered the dog six months after it had left their place. They live in South Dakota part of the time and the other half in Arizona, so no one can find them probably. We had to fight for AKC rights and the AKC did find in our favor but they threatened to come and get the dog and was seen driving by our residence! We had to put up very tight security. We heard that the Vets in town denied them the right to ship any animals because of flea infestition! What a nightmare, find someone else to get your dog from!
Hi
we got one of ther pups and we seen ther home thay showed us ther akc report and it was ok we seen ther dogs thaywher very nice les and melissa or very nice ppl and the pup we got is the best i can tell you this thay or very nice ppl i do not think the pic that is on here is ofther home we or geting one of ther outher pups this weekend for my sister i dount beleve that thay have any thing bad whith akc we called them thats what i would do is call akc and ask them if thay or good breeders and i can tell you this the pup we got was worth every thing we payed for it and we or geting another one and have nothing bad to say
Here is a better picture.
Also, my dog was very skittish, almost like she had been hit. She was afraid of trees, mops and newspapers. We havent' reprimanded her at all and she has gotten out of it. She would always look to see what I had in my hands. If it was a newspaper she would cower and run. I don't know if she was abused at all, she could have just been a nervous dog but it did make me wonder. My other golden was raised by a loving breeder and he has no nervous issues at all, just a loving happy dog. Those first few months really mold them into who they will become. I wish I would have checked out my breeder better. Like someone else said, he talked a good talk.
I have a dark golden from them and also had a bad experience. My dog is beautiful and perfectly healthy. However, I had to threaten a lawsuit and write to AKC to get my papers. It took 5 months after I got the puppy. They are not professional at all but they did appear to really care about their dogs. I am disgusted to hear the conditions of where my dog was probably raised. So glad she is with us in a wonderful loving home now. It's been a learning experience.
BeeSue, our son is also on deployment. Please thank your son for us, we appreciate his service to our country and its citizenry. No matter how much one loves these wonderful beings, I am so sorry that you or anyone has to experience such a thing. Though we never saw the puppy they conned us on, (because we were travelling & were supposed to see & pick up the little one on the trip back), I do now believe that we were lucky. Each day I light a candle and pray that the all of the Burke family will "have all that they have put out, return 1000-fold". I am confident that the Source of All Beings will help them experience what they have knowlingly done to others. I won't get to see it; but as an elder, I have no doubt it will happen. Life is like that! And, 2011 is looking to be the year it happens for people like them. I'm hopeful...
I have one of their dogs, a red golden she is gorgeous has an incredible temperment and also severe hip dysplasia in both hips ! my son purchased her and did not ask for advice, then when she was 7 months he was deployed and I took her to NH where she will stay as I have become very attached but her health needs are very expensive and it is so sad that people continue to breed for money instead of bettering the breed.
Blue Diamond Kennels, owners are Melissa Burke and Les Burke
In November, 2010, while traveling, we paid $864 to Blue Diamond Kennels for a dark red female golden retriever and made plans to pick her up a few days later when we returned to our AZ home. Long story short, they got our money and we got NOTHING. As we approached Marana, AZ where they reportedly live, they called and said they would meet us at an Interstate exit because their HOA "doesn't allow visitors". Next call they said they would meet us at Post Feed Store; next call they would meet us at Marana airport; next call Melissa was "driving Les to the emergency room". Les talks a good story. Every conversation included the words "...we have another buyer and if you don't want her, we'll give your money back to you." During the last call, we said we were not comfortable meeting on the side of the road and not having a chance to see the parents. Again they said no problem as they had another buyer and they would return our money.
That was the last phone call where we actually spoke. Needless to say, all future calls we made to them went to voice mail, they have not return our phone calls and emails have not been responded to. They have not returned our money.
Also, PayPal claims to guarantee their transactions. This is not true. We filed a grievance with PayPal. They closed the case saying that the sellers provided proof of shipment, but they would NOT tell us (1) how the puppy [if one ever really existed] was shipped, (2) to where it was shipped [since we did not provide our AZ home address, we're snowbirds from another state], (3) when it was delivered.