Menu
Login
As an experienced wolfdog owner – i made decision to purchase a puppy from a good breeder. In the last hour before shipment breeder asked me if he could send me an exra pup to be payed for at a later date.
I happily agreed.
However, before that, I was also talked into by a friend of mine, adding yet another pup from Winddancer Wolves. It was kind of an afterthought – adding this pup from Lorraine. (WDW) She immediately required an express mail for $1900 – $1500 for the pup + $400 for shipping. I got the entire amount off to her immediatey without hesitation. Unfortunately that same season i was faced with a difficult situation of having to rescue 7 other pups – 5 from one litter and 2 from another (with the threat of potentially more) I knew that i was i was already overwhelmed with the prospec of 3 ordered pups coming and pretty much panicked at the thought of raising and homing all of these others.
I did what i thought was the responsible thing to do – and cancelled the ‘afterthought pup’ of WDW. Course seems everytime i do the appropriate thing – it comes back to bite me.
Windancer Wolves was furious, “To think ‘her pup’ was he ‘afterthought (sorry bout that Lorraine) I asked for at least a partial refund of my money….. She refunded not one penny! – Not even the $400 shipping(!)
So i said well, then, send me the puppy. She refused.
I started sueing her and was doing quite well with it until another entity stepped in. That was a guardian (financial) that i stupidly, trustingly accepted into my life earlier that year due to a divorce issue. She asked me if she (being supposedly degreed in law could take the case over. Stupidly i agreed – and SHE LOST IT FOR ME!
She confronted Lorraine (WDW) and came back and told me she was dropping the case as it wasnt ‘possible’ to get ‘blood out of a turnip’.
I WILL be taking this case back to court – as it should have been the 1st clue to me that this evil person i stupidly, legally accepted into my life was out to destroy both me and my life with WolfDogs.
In December of 2012, we spoke with Lorraine Smith of Winddancer Wolves in Carrollton, Ohio. We told her that we were looking for a people-friendly puppy. She told us that she has puppies that are well socialized. She takes the time to train them, expose them to situations, sites and sounds so that they are acclimated to be with people. (see her website).
Mrs. Smith said historically the puppies are born mid to late March. This would present a problem for us as we told Mrs. Smith that we would be out of the country when the puppies would be ready to go to their new homes. She convinced us that if we would take a puppy from this next letter she would do extensive socialization.
We also requested pictures of the mother and father of the future puppy. We requested pictures of the parents at least six times – never would Mrs. Smith give us a picture.
Mrs. Smith never returned any of our calls during a five month period after she received our deposit. When we picked up the puppy May 19, 2013, she told me she only commits to making one call – on the birth of the puppies.
When we arrived to pick up the puppy early afternoon on May 19th, 2013, we were met at the gate to Mrs. Smith’s deck with the puppy in her hands. Upon us approaching the puppy, the puppy shook uncontrollably and when handed to Bruce, and the puppy pooped all over him. We were told not to put the puppy down on the ground as she feared it would run off. We were told that the puppy was shaking, pooping and acting this way because it missed its littermates, and that it was sick due to eating bad chicken, and also that a group of motorcycles had just driven by. The puppy smelled terrible when it was handed to us. Mrs. Smith said everything would be fine, so we took the puppy home.
After a few days at home trying to work with this puppy, it never stopped trembling. It ran away from us all the time. On a few outings: a visit to PetSmart, the vets, a simple ride in the car, it pooped all over us and inside its crate. It constantly hid from us every chance it had. The puppy would pee and poop wherever it was hiding and then sleep in it. It would crawl up under the couch to hide. One day we had company come over and when we tried to pick her up and show her to the other people, she ran away. When we were finally able to pick her up, she shook uncontrollably and again pooped all over us and would squirm to get away.
We called Mrs. Smith on May 24th and told her that this was not the people-friendly puppy that we had requested. Mrs. Smith said “yes, it is your fault. You picked the puppy up when it was too old.” She told us that she had not been able to socialize the puppy due to the fact that her brother had been ill and passed away shortly after the birth of the puppies. She had been in mourning for many weeks and was incapable of doing any people-interactive events to acclimate our puppy as she had promised us when we verbally contracted to buy a puppy from her. She stated that she was still in mourning due to the death of her brother.
She said that perhaps this puppy was not a good fit for us and that she was willing to work with us on the return of this puppy and a refund of our money. Mrs. Smith stated that upon receipt of the puppy, she would immediately give us back $750.00. Then, in a couple of weeks she would refund the remaining $750.00. We agreed to these terms of the refund.
We shipped the puppy back to her on May 27, 2013. The puppy arrived at the Cleveland, Ohio airport at 14:15 p.m. and was signed for by Mrs. Smith at 14:30 p.m.
After not receiving any refund, we took Mrs. Smith to Carrollton, Ohio small claims court. We were awarded the full amount, $1, 500. As we waited at the clerk’s office for the paperwork, a court employee looked up Mrs. Smith’s past activity. It appears that for the last ten years, she has had a dozen or so cases ruled against her including some from regular civil suits. She has not paid anyone. It appears the larger law suits tried to garnish whatever they could and were unsuccessful. There is nothing to garnish or file a lien against.
Although Mrs. Smith would love to sell you a pup, if any circumstance occurs (female does not get pregnant, female loses puppies, or a small litter is born), there will be no refunds – period. You will never recover the money you have paid.
Mrs. Smith will not show you her breeding facilities, breeding animals, or even pictures of the animals. She is deceitful and dishonest. Is this the type of business person you want to do business with?