Irish Jacks/Violet Meadow farms review: Sick puppy 10

I purchased my male six years ago. He was not ill and is doing great. Susan was not able to provide any info about the dogs parents when asked. Having read everything I would say that I feel good that I was able to rescue a puppy and give him a good home. He has been and is a great dog and an important member of the family. Keith was always helpful and nice. If could say anything about Susan is that in 2005 she charged too much and was not to be found after the sale. She knew how to market but maybe needed more help with the PUPS and needed to be more honest. That is my experience. I feel bad for the other dogs and owners.

Susan is one of the kindest people I've met. She genuinely loves the dogs in her house and they've always appeared to be completely cared for. We bought our Irish Jack from her years ago, and have seen her many times since. We've been invited into her home and our dog loves visiting her and her dogs. We wish nothing but the best for her, and I'm saddened to see her put in this unfortunate situation by an ex-employee.

I have read all of the comments on these complaints, and it seems like a lot of nonsense to me. Susan has always been totally upfront about the fact that "Irish Jacks" aren't a recognized breed. Which means, yes people, they are expensive mutts. If you care about stuff like what percentage corgi your dog is, you should have looked into it before you bought your dog.

When we bought our original dog from Susan 7 years ago, we got exactly what we wanted and exactly what we hoped for--an amazing pet. Our dog is one of the smartest, sweetest, most loving animals I've ever met and we couldn't be happier with her.

In fact, we had her bred with Susan's elvis and now have two Elvis puppies, who are, again, the sweetest most gentle loving dogs imaginable. Which is exactly what Susan told us originally--these dogs are bred for temperament first and things like looks second.

In terms of the "puppy mill" charge, where is the proof? I've been to Susan's place on a number of occasions and have always found the whole setup to be clean and it's always felt totally above board to me.

In sum, I trust Susan, and if I was looking for another dog she'd be the first person I would contact. Give her a freaking break.

As a person who knows both Susan and Keith personally, has spent a great deal of time with them, and has worked on many projects with both of them, I have inside knowledge of what went on here. Keith suffers from an acute case of grandiosity – he knows absolutely everything about absolutely nothing. Susan suffers from an acute case of generosity, tolerance and concern for all animals. You will never meet a kinder or more spiritual person than Susan. She sells puppies because she loves bringing joy into people’s lives, and because she truly believes that her puppies are the best of the best, which I can tell you are just that. She also bonds with every single puppy that comes into her shop. In the evenings, she sits in the kennel and plays for hours with every one individually.

Five years ago, she brought Keith into her home when he was destitute, and offered him a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to utilize his talents, while paying him handsomely. Now that he is going through one of his many psychotic, manic episodes, he literally blackmails her, then sets out to destroy her. Everything he has posted here are downright lies. Why would clients be invited into her home if she had appalling conditions to hide? And I can assure you, she was never, ever, remiss about vaccinations and worming, nor did she ever sell a puppy knowingly that was sick. This is why there are various older dogs available. She cures them, at enormous expense. To say that her puppies are not well socialized, well, look at the comments by folks who are thrilled with the social skills that her puppies display. Unfortunately, you cannot read the vast majority of these testimonials, because Keith has robbed her of her website, a sure felony, after unsuccessfully blackmailing her. Future employers beware! Sure, Susan has some human frailties that many of us cope with, but nothing even close to the salacious lies that Keith is trying to convince others of.

As “office manager, ” he was constantly disappearing for days on end and letting his voicemail box fill up. Why? Drugs, perhaps? And this is what led to several of the complaints on this board. He would go for weeks without returning any phone calls, or answering any emails. He does not deserve to be called “noble.” He is a delusional, revenge seeking whackadoo, and you should not give anything he says any credence. I am so sorry that people are concerned about this totally fraudulent mess, made up and driven by someone so utterly sick and vindictive. Email me through the Complaints Board if you have any further questions.

We bought a Mulligan line Irish Jack in 2007 and have had nothing but joy and good things to say about Susan Sarao and the violet meadow farm and our little Milly!.
The place is gorgeous, she (and Keith at the time) was really great. I am very sad to see all this hate and anger coming out of him.

I know a friend of Keith's ex-boyfriend and there is another story to Keith Butler that he does not want you to know.

I heard that when Susan asked Keith to resign because of what you will read below, he was not too happy with that and because he had Susan's trust, he took advantage of that and posted his own personal message on the irishjacks page and here.

It seems that Keith Butler was afraid that he would lose his job because, without a driver's license he was not able to do his work, and with an outstanding warrant on a drug possession it was only a matter of time before he knew the law would catch up with him.

I would like to ask us to pray to God for his pain.

I am the owner of one of the Violet Meadow Farms Irish Jacks. We purchased our alleged "Irish Jack" puppy from Susan in October 2008. While I have never been convinced that he was an Irish Jack - he is completely tan and looks like a cross between a few different breeds - we also feel that we wouldn't care if he was part rat! Our puppy also came with an expensive price tag - $1800. However, having visited Violet Meadow Farms, I feel really saddened to know what was going on behind the scenes. Unless we were missing something, Violet Meadow seemed pretty nice. We sat in Susan's home talking about the dogs, hung around outside in her fenced-in yard and my daughters carried around three brothers for three hours while we tried to choose our puppy. The place was clean, the dogs were not living in a crowded pen and they appeared to be cared for. We were obviously very fortunate. Our puppy has had no medical issues and is an amazing dog. He has the most unbelievable personality ... he actually smiles! He is so playful, stands on his hind legs and begs and knows all of his toys by name. At times we think he is part human. The only complaint we have is that he really is not great with small children ... he does have a growling issue!
I commend Keith on bringing a horrible practice to the forefront and trying to work things out while he worked at Violet Meadow Farms. I am sure it was not easy for him. While I do feel lucky that we have our dog, I am sickened to know how other unsuspecting families received their puppies. I can not believe how we were all "bamboozled" by Susan and her so-called Irish Jack Russell puppies. Thank you Keith ... animals could use more advocates like you!

(I originally posted this in Irish Jacks/Violet Meadow Farm — Unethical Business Practices, but thought I should also post it here...)

Hi everyone,

I'm the webmaster for importedjacks.com (http://www.importedjacks.com), another breeder of irish jack russells. I think it's important for me to point out that not all irish jack russell terrier breeders are unethical, and they don't all simply import mass amounts of puppies from "puppy mills" in Ireland.

I think it's terrible that Susan Sarao engaged in the sorts of activities that are described in all of the above comments. Dogs are truly man's best friend and they should never be treated simply as some kind of money-making machine.

I wish everyone who happened to receive unhealthy jacks from irishjacks.com the best of luck going forward. If you have any questions about irish jacks (health-related, etc.) feel free to reach out to us at importedjacks.com (just fill out the contact form on any page and we'll try to answer your questions to the best of our abilities).

By the way, Keith - what you did was brave and noble. It's good to know that there are people like you out there who are looking out for all the puppies of the world.

~Chris Einkauf (chris.einkauf@gmail.com)

I have tried for years to educate the unsuspecting public so they would be better educated and spot a puppy farm, broker a mile away. I am sorry it took this long for people to wake up and actually start paying attention. And as well, I hope it changes the way people "shop" for their next puppy.

Someone mentioned that they contacted some of the "Irish" Jack Russell breeders out there and got either no responses or defensive ones. I have been saying for years that there are very few legitimate Irish Jack Russell Breeders ...so few I can count them on one hand. I am not surprised at all that many of them were not willing to discuss their practices openly.

Please, go to my website and READ the pages devoted to this topic... And then re-read again later, when you go hunting for your next puppy. The rules really apply to all breeds as there are people like this in every dog breed.

Keith, Thank you for taking a stand. My hat is off to you.

Sheila
www.connemaraterrier.com

Keith: Sallie (PIGLET) was sick when we purchased her. I didn't think twice about it and just figured it was something she caught from the other dogs. Simple Antibiotics helped her get well. She was the one that just had the major knee reconstructive surgery . She is doing well. YES< she was a HEFF puppy. I wonder about their inbreeding also - causing her congential defect. We are doing a DNA test on her this weekend and will have the results in 2 week. She is an outstanding, obdient, kind loving dog..the results won't change that. I am interested in the results for future health issues, and to know what we are really dealing with. Have you heard that the HEFF (besides health issues) are not purebred?

To the clients and followers of IrishJacks/Violet Meadow Farm,
My name is Keith Butler and I’ve resigned my position as Web Designer, Photographer and Office Manager at IrishJacks due to the mounting ethical and financial problems I’ve encountered there. I worked for IrishJacks for five years and worked very hard to untangle the problems caused by bad business practices and a profit-blinded owner.
I’m writing this to expose the issues that Susan Sarao has let fester for many years. I feel complicit in her actions but I worked daily to rectify the issues. When I discovered that I could make no progress on any of the issues below I had no choice but to quit and have decided that I can no longer sleep at night knowing how she has handled business, and knowing that despite the proper support, she won’t change.
If you paid sales tax on your puppy, that tax was never submitted to the State of New Jersey. It was deposited into her account and used to support her lifestyle.
Susan has not paid any income tax with the business of IrishJacks to the IRS or the State of New Jersey.
She has been running an illegal kennel at her home. She was summoned by the Hunterdon County Department of Health and subsequently lost a legal battle to do business from her back garage. To my current knowledge she still has over 10 adult dogs in her back garage.
She has knowingly sold sick puppies and then treated the purchaser as if they did something wrong if they complained. She has promised many clients a refund or payment of medical bills and then delayed payment as long as possible. She had ducked phone calls and e-mails making a situation that was caused by bad practices into complaints.
Puppies are imported from Ireland with no control of conditions in Ireland and no US Department of Agriculture license or inspections.
If you have a puppy from the Heff line, please have them checked out by a vet. We consistently received puppies with poor socialization, flees, scabies and worm infections from this line. I tried to make her stop importing from this particular breeder in Ireland. We received over 100 puppies a year from this line meaning the original breeder in Ireland needed 50-60 female dogs to produce this amount. I can only infer the conditions in Ireland from the health of the puppies we received.
Breeding conditions at her home are uncontrolled. Just a few days ago Bill Crumlic witnessed her let a stud dog and his daughter (who is in season) into the same area and they ended up breeding. This is not the first time her oversight and laze-faire attitude has resulted in an inbred dog.
I ask everyone who has done business in the past and may do business with her in the future to check the town, county and state records on her and her business. Please visit her listings on Complaints Board http://www.complaintsboard.com/?search=irish+jacks and [redacted] /URL removed/ to see some online resources of how IrishJacks was run.
She is now in the process of setting up a pet shop to sell puppies at Stephan Farm Supply in Long Valley NJ. To my knowledge, she did obtain a license to operate a pet shop there.
I’m so embarrassed to have belonged to this organization and the length of time I allowed her behavior to continue. I am being threatened with legal action if I reveal her illegal and unethical practices but I believe if I reveal the truth the law will stand behind me.
Sincerely,
Keith Butler