Article title ‘Angus Needs to go Home’ changed to ‘Angus’.
Angus hasn’t gone home. He’s not on the couch sleeping as his owner told me last night. He’s not happy and healthy at home – hanging out with his family. He’s still at the Lost Dogs Home.
Sorry peeps – seems I backed the wrong horse.
There’s a pretty good chance Angus (Patch) has no balls now, so whomever takes him home will love him for his individual worth, not his value. I hope the outcome for him is a good one.
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Update 19th January: Some extremely good news – Angus went home today!
All the best to Angus and his family.
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Update 3pm: It has been confirmed that Angus is most definitely still at the Lost Dogs Home, and never entered the care of any rescue group. This is excellent news as there should be no reason he can’t go home asap. Thank you to everyone who contacted me to help me confirm these details.
It’s really a no brainer – he should go home.
That is one of the huge benefits of the not-killing-everything-at-the-end-of-their-impound-time model. Pets get a second chance to be reunited with their families outside of the arbitrary (and extremely variable) impound times set by state governments. Rescue groups are the second line of defence against killing. And they should absolutely always want to preserve the pet-owner bond wherever possible.
Of course in an ideal world pounds would get it right first time, and save everyone the heartache. But when you’re a multi-city, hundreds-of-impounds-a-day, multi-million dollar charity pound provider, the sheer volume of pets you’re choosing to stuff into your facility on behalf of local councils, is going to mean individual pets get lost in a vast system of processes. Especially at this time of year. So is the case of reclaims at the Lost Dogs Home.
We’ve seen before – even in the quiet times – that a successful reclaim is a little like winning the lottery. Each time anyone gets their pet out of the facility successfully, they should thank their lucky stars. But for Cara and her dog Angus, unfortunately luck wasn’t running their way.
Dear Lost Dogs Home,
I’m writing this too you to let you know what a terrible horrible mistake you have made in the past few days and it has made me question what the heck is going on at that place?
My story is 2 weeks ago our spunky man Angus (whom I believe u call patchy) a beautiful white with black eye patch show bull terrier was stolen from our yard. We have been searching high and low for our man and even called you a number of occasions and your workers tell me that there is no dog of that description there.
So my husband and I are thinking the worst and Angus has possibly gone to the stars. Then what do you know – I see a picture of my dog on FB on Friday night and you have given him to a rescue group who is now adopting him out.
I contact the lady who says you rang me and I said we didn’t want him? Firstly I never received a phone call and secondly I would of been there in a flash to pick my man up. So now this particular rescue group are adopting MY dog out and tell me I have to apply for adoption if I want him back but can’t guarantee I will get him as there are a number of applicants!
Sorry but this is MY DOG I want him home. So I call u up to find out what the story is and I’m told I have to wait until Monday for a manager to call. In the mean time this rescue group is trialling MY DOG with families.
I am shocked saddened and outrageously angry about this! I just want Patchy aka Angus returned. Please help me get him home.
I’ve contacted the rescue group who has Angus, and they are remaining mum, redirecting me back to the Lost Dogs Home. And who can blame them – they’re just trying to place homeless dogs, and the inept processes of the LDH are making them look like assholes that won’t return a dog who has an owner. Such is the joy and reward of trying to help the Lost Dogs Home be less crap at their job.
I hope Cara gets a phone call first thing tomorrow morning to let her know where she can collect Angus from. I hope the Lost Dogs Home take a good hard look at the intake paperwork and work out exactly how a distinctive, purebred dog who had an owner calling and asking about him, managed to slide right under their processes. And more than anything I hope Angus goes home.
#LDHwearewatching
I rescued my own dog from LDH quite a few years ago, but in reading this story, it appears they are still just as hopeless.
My dog is a white staffy with black eye patch. Very similar markings to the bull terrier in this story.
My dog was desexed by LDH prior to being given to me. I assume that they inserted the chip when he was being desexed.
After I had him a few months I decided to look him up online with his chip number.
His description was black with white markings. I rang them to tell them they made a mistake. Told them he was a white dog with black.
I looked him up again a few weeks later to check they had changed the description, and yes they had.
They had now changed him to a black dog.
I rang again, and finally a few weeks later they got things right. I have added a pic to his chip page online so there would be no further confusion.
My point is, the dog had to be present to be chipped by them originally. They could see what colour he was. How did he end up being a black dog with white markings?
I wonder if this is the description he was processed as when he entered LDH and the description was then transferred to the chip when I adopted him. If so, if his previous owner ever rang to find out if they had a white staffy with black eye patch, they would have been told he was not there. As it was, he was in the sick area and even if owners went to look for him, he could easily have been missed. He wasn’t sick either. ?????
The whole place is just a nightmare of inadequacies. The records appear to be often wrong, therefore the staff are not efficient or accurate and the management are only interested in money and couldn’t care less about the lives of innocent cats and dogs.
I hope Angus ends up back with his family where he belongs, and I am horrified by what has happened here. He should have been home as soon as his owner contacted them.
I am not surprised at this story though. Too many bad things happen at that place and it seems they continue to happen. Glad that the public is waking up and hopefully the donations will reflect this.
Apologise.
Please see our message below for Cara:
Hi Cara,
We still have a dog in our care microchipped as Patchy however there have been statements made online that your dog is back with you.
Please return our Shelter Manager’s call as soon as possible on 03 9329 2755 so we can clarify the situation.
There have been many expressions of interest for this dog if you are not in a position to take him back on.
It’s a good thing the people who could be saying ‘I told you so’ are too busy out rescuing to post…
Oh yeah totally – crow eaten.
I’d spend more time crafting a bombastic apology for living because as you know, I dared to try and get some straight answers on a lost dog – but some fuckwit Graeme Jackson spent yesterday trying to severe the relationships between PetRescue and our corporate sponsors. Working to damage thousands of mainstream adoptions in retaliation for one blog post looking for a lost dog – what a lovely chap he is. (Funny, the only one to ever try that extremely legitimate move was The Lost Dogs Home, back when this blog started. Congratulations Graeme – you’ve got the personal integrity, strategic insight and capacity for frustration of a 100 year old boutique pet-slaughterhouse).
Anyway – I still DO apologise. Just as when I started, I wanted a good outcome for Angus – I still do now. But yes – you told me so. Good for you.
You never showed any of the Rsscue members posts. You never showed the Rescues response – the rescue you slandered. You have never apologised publicly to the Rescue. You only complained about a man who told the truth to people who pay you your wages how irresponsible your actions were. You purposely ignored the truth given to you over & over again & went for a sensational story tarnishing an ethical rescues reputation. Cowardly & unworthy of anyone in your position.
I followed the rescue’s instructions to the letter. I got their responses by private message and they asked me not to identify them.
As an aside – the rescue could have simply said ‘we don’t have the dog – he’s at the LDH’ when I asked them, and this whole joyful encounter would have passed them by. But they chose to be brought into this as someone holding back info about the location of the dog. Their choice.
No one “pays my wages” to blog. Saving Pets is my thing – nothing to do with PetRescue and I get to ‘enjoy’ doing it for free – nought. I’m surprised how quickly those who jump on board to use my research and efforts against the LDH (RAH! RAH! GETTIM!) are so quick to bay for my blood when I discuss something else they don’t personally approve of. That isn’t how this works. My blog. My thoughts. My rules. If you don’t like it – don’t tune in. But don’t cherry pick to suit your personal agenda. Or do. I actually don’t give a fuck.
Shelt
My post is still awaiting moderation.
I do not wish to enter into litigation, but if you do nothing, you must appreciate that I will pursue this matter with vigor.
As a barrister, my integrity is my livelihood hence I must do whatever it takes to defend it!
I will – trust me!
If you think it is worth it to be embroiled in the Supreme Court, and if necessary, the High Court – fair enough!
It is absolutely worth it to me, as without it I am unemployable.
I trust you and your husband are happy to pay the price.
Does Andrew know about this? – Don’t waste your time trying to transfer assets to his name. The Bankruptcy Act has wonderful “clawback” provisions
It will mean your house, car etc, but that is a matter for you.
Alternatively, apologise as requested, and it will all go away.
The choice is yours.,
ps: If the matter proceeds to Court, of course the sponsors/partners of PetRescue will be involved. But that of course is a matter of your priorities – your ego v, homeless animals, We’ll see where your priorities lie wont we.
You made a mistake. We all do. Apologise – and it all goes away.
This post will be used on the question of costs.
Post approved.
I apologise unequivocally for calling you a fuckwit – no really, that’s not cool. And I’m reminded of the case of Smith vs Fraude in the nineties – you might be familiar with it? Smith called Fraude a ‘poo poo head’ and if I remember it did indeed go all the way to the Supreme Court. Of course that set the now textbook ‘Sticks and Stones Defence’. Ground breaking stuff.
Anyway, I digress. Where was I – apologising. I apologise. I did make a mistake. I think we can all see you’re definitely way beyond fuckwit into a whole other thing there probably isn’t even a word for. I’m sure the Germans have one… they usually do.
Right. Done. Good. Now, my turn.
Please accept this as a formal, written request. Stop threatening my business. Stop threatening my family. Never contact me again. Be gone back under your bridge already. Really – just go away.