Loving Heart Animal Shelter

Our experience was OK in the beginning, but it got progressively worse as time went on.  We finally got through to the shelter about adopting our dog--no one ever answers the phone as it is all volunteers and you have to leave messages and wait for someone to call back.  We picked up the dog from the foster home--very nice girls.  They did not have our paperwork ready, but we paid and took the dog.  They said the paperwork would be mailed.  We never got it, so we had to follow up with several phone calls.  Once we got the contract it stated that ALL known information had been told to us about the dog's history.  Our vet checked the pup out and noticed a very slight turn-out of the right front paw.  Since nothing in the history we were given indicated a problem, she said it could be a fairly common problem for big dogs and that we would keep an eye on it as he continued to grow.  About 2-3 weeks later the pup's right foot was almost turned out at a 90 degree angle.  The vet did an x-ray and found that there had been a break that was never treated.  We called Loving Heart back to inquire.  When they checked into it they apologized and said that when the pup was brought to t he shelter the person turning him in thought he had a broken leg from being pushed down stairs.  Loving Heart did not do anything right away.  Eventually their vet looked at it and decided he was fine.  NO X-ray was done.  By the time we found out about it, the leg was growing sideways and had become a very serious matter. Our vet could not treat it, nor could 3 other vets we checked with.  We had to take him to a specialty doctor out at Purdue.  The whole situation became very complicated because this initial break was never treated and because the shelter did not disclose pertinent information in a timely fashion.  We contacted Loving Heart to let them know the situation.  We did not want to return the dog at this point as we were already very attached, and b/c we feared they would just euthanize him.  We asked if they could help with some of the expense for surgery since we felt they were in part responsible... had they only taken care of the initial break none of this would have happened!  And if they had told us right off the bat that there might be a possibility, we could have moved on it much sooner and reduced a lot of the expense and time we had to invest.  As it was the recovery time took 4 months of keeping a pup completely in his crate except for potty breaks and eating.  He had to go weekly for bandage checks and b/c of the trauma of everything had to be sedated each time which increased the expense and time needed.  It was a huge ordeal.  Loving Heart told us initially they would talk to the board, but decided they couldn't help.  Then they said they would talk to Purdue to see if we could get a discount--did not happen.  They also said they could take up a collection to help with some of the cost--didn't happen.  Then they said if we gave them documentation on the situation stating that the existing break caused all this distress and required surgery they could give some money.  We sent everything in immediately, but no response.  We inquired further and were told they were writing up paperwork with their lawyers to settle the matter once and for all--we never heard back even after leaving several phone messages and lots of emails.  We were only asking them to refund the $150.00 for the dog, and pay $500 of the surgery and $500 of the aftercare.  The total expense was close to $5000.00 so we felt this was a reasonable request.  It is frustrating to deal with a place like this.  We have 19 pets at the moment  with a majority of them being rescues.  We have always supported shelters and strive to give loving homes to as many as we can.  We do not have a problem taking care of them when they are sick, but this felt like an unfair situation.  We were given a "broken" dog and not told about the situation.  Because of the shelter's neglect, this pup suffered greatly!  He almost lost a leg!  The if-onlys are hard to swallow... if only they had fixed the initial break this pup could have had a normal puppy-hood.  If only they had told us the situation from the start as the contract stated--we could have fixed the problem before it became so serious avoiding a lot of the expense and time....  if only they had kept their word and not put us off about helping with the situation..... If a shelter is truly going to help animals then it needs to do just that--you can't NOT treat an injured animal or NOT disclose pertinent info OR not accept responsibility and help out when make a mistake.