I can’t figure this website out. (In fairness, it does say it’s under construction.) Maybe some of you smart people can chime in with your interpretations. And by all means, if you have any additional information on the no kill shelter mentioned on the website, please share.
Basically, what I’m getting is that this place has been a no kill shelter for dogs, cats and horses in WI for 13 years. I can’t figure out what the name of the shelter is. I’ve tried some searches but – nada. Apparently the person who operates the shelter finances it by selling Golden Retriever and Standard Poodle puppies. I can’t figure out if they sell dog houses too.
The home page has several photos of Goldens and one dog that I guess is a Poodle with a weird haircut. If you click on that dog’s photo, you can get a link to his pedigree. His AKC registered name contains the word “Goldendoodle” which would of course be a cross between a Golden and a Poodle but that’s not what’s being advertised on this site, at least with what they’ve got up so far.
There is a photo page called “Puppy Training” which shows 2 litters of Golden pups crammed into a wire crate in front of what might be the biggest ball of tin foil ever. I don’t know, I think I’m just punchy from reading the text on that site.
There are no photos of any dogs, cats or horses that are current or past residents of the shelter. Maybe those photos are still to come. It seems a little odd because most rescues with websites put up info on the pets they are trying to rehome ASAP.
Thank you to reader Clarice for sending me this link!
The English is pretty poor, too. I clicked on their Petfinder link, but it just goes to the main Petfinder page. I also looked in Guidestar, but nothing came up.
Bogus site, I’m thinking. A little too fishy.
The dog that looks like a poodle with a weird haircut, is, I believe, a poodle/golden cross. I would bet the information on this site is less than truthful.
That was my first impression too. But he is represented as having an AKC pedigree which says he’s a cream Poodle. Far be it from me to question the AKC.
Well… he could be a real purebred Poodle, just really -badly- bred. Given enough generations of careless breeding, even a purebred dog could start looking nothing like a proper member of it’s breed.
I second the lack of English-as-a-first-language theory.
Whole thing is fishy with a side of fish sauce, especially that “Poodle” pedigree…
Have a Heart Dog Homes has animals listed on two rescue sites:
http://www.adoptapet.com/shelter74299-pets.html
http://dogtime.com/shelters/US-WI/5569-oxford-have-a-heart-dog-homes
All the animals are young with no information about the animal before it was “rescued”. The cat, Crista, “is very connected to her owner.” Why is she searching for her forever home if she has an owner?It seems to me they should not be listed on animal shelter sites if they are not rescues.
Ummmm, wow! Only by breeding purebred puppies you can afford to care for the strays? How about you just find homes for the ones you have without adding more unaltered dogs to the mix, mkay?
By the way, the first thing my 7yo said why she saw the “puppy training” picture was: those poor puppies need more room!
they are ‘adopting out’ goldendoodle puppies.
come on.
maybe petfinder found out that they are passing pups they bred as rescues and took them down.
ugh.
I ran a Spokeo search on the “Contact Us” email haveaheartwisc@yahoo.com. Here’s what I came up with:
http://www.barnmice.com/profile/LeettaLMarshall
Seems her name is Leetta L. Marshall.
Also, Petfinder.com is pretty strict about wanting to see 501c3 paperwork before they will let a rescue group set up a Petfinder page. It might be worth sending them a note.
from your link: “I am God approved…”
Well. You can’t beat “God approved…”
God on the first page of the puppy-sales site, too.
Button your wallet when Jaysus endorses the pitchman.
Hoarder/puppymiller justifying herself as a “rescue.” It’s an increasingly common profile these days. Greed + Pathology is elastic to what will resonate in the culture, and right now people are primed to fall for “rescue” as a justification for willful ignorance and lack of impulse control in sourcing their pets.
I don’t believe this person has a different native language, but I’m loathe to identify English as her “first” language as that would imply that she has mastered it.
This is on the order of the Craig’s list gibberish I often get in reply to ads. Sometimes I can’t even tell what it is the person wants or is trying to say.
People are giving Petfinder waaaay too much credit.
No, even if they found out the people were selling their own puppies, they would NOT take down the site. We have two phony “rescues” in our area that have been reported numerous times. Check out the fight that the AW community has been having with Petfinder about the “rescue” run by Burt Ward, Gentle Giants.
http://www.gentlegiantnews.com/index.php
Check out some of the videos Gentle Giants sends out, where they claim that their rescue purebreds are all drool free… the claims are almost as crazy as that wolf breeder site Dogster has been going nuts over.
Also, the only thing Petfinder requires is a letter from a veterinarian stating that the rescue brings animals to them. That’s it. I know, because my own rescue is listed on Petfinder.
A listing on Petfinder is proof of the ability to do paperwork, not anything else.
http://www.dogster.com/forums/Choosing_the_Right_Dog/thread/671215
Is the dogster thread I was referring to yesterday.
http://wolfhavenspiritofthepast.webs.com/
Is the URL of the breeder.
This is a MUST read (Shirley, this – and the Gentle Giants fiasco – would both make great blog posts).
The woman is out of her friggin mind… or this is a prank like the jar kittehs.
This woman claims that dogs come from Lions and are actually Felines. And before you can recover from that tidbit, let me tell you that is soooooo not the craziest thing she says. Read the site, read the many, many, many pages of commentary on dogster.
Both cases would be hilarious if real dogs weren’t involved. Seriously… “dry mouth” rescue dogs owned by people who supposedly feed 1,400lbs of dog food to 45 dogs each day (uh… yeah. Each dog eats a 30lb bag of food each day. Riiiiight). Wolves (who are actually felines) whose eyes store light like solar panels so that at night their eyes are like flashlights – and don’t forget, they can’t get fleas or ticks because their skin sucks the moisture out of the bugs on contact, killing them.
Seriously, the site in question in the original blog post has *nothing* on some of the wackos that are out there.
I think I saw a movie on Chiller about this recently. Night of the Vampire Cat Wolves (or something) ; )
You really need to see and smell the place to appreciate it. The yard, barn, house is over run by animals of all kinds. There had to be over 100 dogs and puppies running wild in the house alone!! What was caged or tied up was anyone’s guess. Buyer beware before you make a purchase from Leeta Marshall. Vet checked? HA HA HA HA Do not take your animal anywhere near there if you are planning on adopting from her. The clothes I had worn to pick up my 3 yr old “Puppy” had to be thrown away. I had no idea she was an animal hoarder and had a house full of animals, urine and feces. The entire place is a disgrace and needs to be shut down.
Sadly, nothing has changed.
BEWARE of “have a heart/goldenbarns.” Leetta Marshall does NOT have a heart. She appears on the surface, to care for her dogs, as she takes any dog into her shack that she calls a home, but she does not, in fact care at all. Dogs are running everywhere in her home, breeding, eating feces and vomit. Anyone who says this situation is acceptable is rationalizing their poor decision, just as we did. If you look closely at her website, and speak with her at all you will notice the horrendous situation at hand:
-We had several months of one lined emails of communication with Leetta when asking routine questions, and being nothing but cordial. At the first sign of email miscommunication (due to Leetta never taking our puppy to get vet checked) Leetta takes the opportunity to chew us out saying “I can move any dog I have and don’t have to give this dog to you.” This statement is only true because she underprices compared to the competitors. This is a puppy mill.
-DO NOT BE FOOLED BY HER LOW PRICES. They are low simply because she does sloppy work and produces damaged, inbred puppies.
-She feeds her puppies terrible food full of dyes, enriched flours, etc.
-She inbreeds her dogs–Chelsia was forced to breed with her father Moses to make Cheekeha who is breeding puppies that are currently being sold!!
-She overbreeds her females for the money–6 litters per dog is too many. Of course these details are not posted on her website, just told to us in person as we arrive to pick up our neglected puppy. She literally told us, “Chelsia shouldn’t have had 6 litters, but I need the money.”
-She forgets to take puppies to the vet, produces puppies with hernias, heart murmurs, the works! Every puppy in our litter had a health problem according to her vet write up.
We experienced ZERO customer service while dealing with this selfish, money mongering puppy mill supervisor. She never apologized for forgetting our puppy outside in the middle of winter instead of taking her to the vet.
Perhaps she is not intending to create a puppy mill, but when you are overrun with dogs, and incapable of even remembering to take a puppy to the vet (as is stated in your contract), you have created a situation where all of the dogs need to be rescued.
Thankfully we were able to rescue our poor puppy from this horrific woman and despicable situation. Hopefully no other families will fall for her act due to her low prices. This dog hoarding home/puppy mill masquerading as a “shelter” should be shut down immediately.
I bought my puppy from her 6 years ago. Had I not gone there specifically for her I would not have walked but ran from this “shelter/rescue”. My puppy was only 4-6 weeks old. They’re were puppies suckling on any mother. Female dogs producing milk that were never pregnant. Dog breeding book in her $7000 shelter for the rescued dogs. Outside the fence were the big dogs running around with big open sores that she said were fly bites & the vet was taking care of them. Fly bites my a$$. They were open sores with pus. My puppy had Guardia, & multiple bacteria infections which could have been fatal. My puppy was under a step taking shelter from the heat & sun. She has a dew claw hanging that she still has becuz it’s really painful to have it removed. She will not let anyone touch her feet. Geez I wonder why? This ladies house was a trailer with the roof sunk in. She knew exactly what my puppy was or thought she knew. Wired hair Jack Russell, chihuahua, toy poodle, rat terrier. The vet says chihuahua/westie. These poor animals are suffering & I cannot believe they haven’t shut her down. She’s a disgrace. Please do your homework. These animals deserve better.
We’ve been to Leeta’s twice and found her dogs and grounds to be impeccable. She runs her shelter out of an older, but well maintained facility and we like the fact that she sells her gorgeous pups at a fractions of others, merely to support her shelter needs, not out of greed. She can give the impression of being a little unorganized but we have also witnessed her foster area youths to assist her with her dogs. We adopted a healthy pup in May of 2013 and he his a happy, intelligent guy who lights up our life every day. We had to laugh at her website that shared stories from other adoptees who said their pups liked to watch tv, just like ours!
Any questions, emails are welcome.
This is where I “rescued” my amazing dog. It’s called Have A Heart Dog Homes, and it’s run by a woman named Leeta. She means well, but clearly has no idea that her “no-kill shelter” has gotten way out of hand. The facility was absolutely disgusting. On the bright side, I adopted my mixed breed dog at 6 months old, and she’s a happy, healthy 1.5 year old gem.
Short but not-so-sweet. “Have A Heart Homes” is NOT a rescue … it is a puppy mill. If you purchase a dog from this backyard breeder, you are perpetuating the dog over-population and causing many more dogs to be subjected to poor nutrition, lack of vet care, virtually no socialization, etc. Please, please – for the love of animals – DO NOT patronize this puppy mill. Leeta needs to earn an honest, decent living … not sell puppy mill dogs under the guise of rescue. Shameful.
We visited Leetta/Golden Barns/Have a Heart. I verified her breeder’s license with the state which should mean her operation is monitored and inspected. It is beyond me how one woman can care for that many animals. That said, I did not find any animals that appeared to be unhappy. All were happy, tailwagging, incredibly friendly dogs. The golden retrievers’ coats were beautiful, obviously groomed on a regular basis. All dogs looked well fed. She had 2 goldens that were 13 years old and although slow, appeared to be in good health. My experience is it’s rare to see a Golden that old and in good health. The housing and fenced areas were all clean and did not smell. This all says something. What my spouse and I concluded is Leetta literally lives her life for dogs and depends on puppy revenue to support all of them. Is it wrong? That’s personal opinion I guess.