It had to happen... after almost ten years building and running an award-winning senior dog and hospice facility, 2 years running a free pet food pantry outreach and almost 3 years running our free advice service, we got our first bad review for Senior Solutions @Frankie and Andy's Place.
For those who don't know, this is a free advice service that we operate to help those with any kind of pet problem we can assist with...be it behavioral issues, simple medical issues, natural cancer protocols, end of life advice, hospice care tips, helping to rehome pets if people are in a dire situation, providing pet food, recommending local professionals, the list is endless.
We get so many calls and emails, it really is a full time thing, but we love doing it because every now and again someone says 'Okay, this makes sense, you're right, we can manage this, I'm going to keep my dog and not turn him into the shelter', or "Thank you, I'm going to give this new natural cancer protocol a go before we put him down."
I know some people love to write reviews, but I guess I am more used to people doing so when they have invested their money, or time, into something and feel like they didn't get out of it what they were promised, so this was a bit of a surprise.
Now, before I deep dive, I have to make clear that I don't waste too much time worrying about what people think of me personally, I am thankfully past all of that. Realization hit me a long time ago that the road to disappointment and anxiety is when we try to be anything but who we are, and that being your authentic self might not make you popular, but it is not living a lie.
I am here only for the dogs, and I think by now, everyone knows that.
I have zero tolerance for people who don't care for their dogs, those who keep their dogs outside, those who chain their dogs up, and, in general, those who neglect or abuse these gorgeous creatures.
Seeing the beauty, wisdom and grace of the senior dogs we work with every day, and having nursed my own oldies, willing them to keep on living, clinging on to each breath with gratitude, I want to strangle anyone who doesn't appreciate what they have.
Thankfully, in our beautiful forever home sanctuary, we deal with the best of humanity...the kindness of volunteers, donors and our staff is a joy to behold.
Through the advice line, though, I very often have to deal with the dregs of humanity.
You know them, those who see a pee stain on that perfect white rug and immediately seek to rehome their dog. Or those who let their kids crawl all over poor old Max when his arthritis is killing him and then want to give up their dog because he snapped at their child.
The suggestions are met with horror....
Just stop the dog from going into the 'posh room' if it’s that important to them?
"No! Perish the thought! That would require effort and environmental management! We haven’t got time for that!"
Protect poor old Max by instilling some good behavior and boundaries in their child so it doesn't ruin the life of the dog?
"How dare you suggest that I train my child? My child should be able to do anything he wants to a dog!"
Or worse, those who won't even give a reason for wanting to boot out their dog, they just think they have a God given right to own a dog for all the good years and then boot the poor old fella out when he starts to cost a little bit in vet bills and dump the 'problem' on someone else.
On New Years Eve, I had a lady call me at 7pm asking if we take Pitbulls. When I asked her why she needed to rehome her dog, she sighed dramatically and snarled "Jesus, I don't have time for this, do you take f*cking Pitbulls or not? I need him gone now!"
Turns out some people don't feel the need to be well-mannered when they are asking for help.
So, the review.... Isa was her name (I can share that because she has given it out on the awful Google review she did of us).
Isa wrote to me last week and asked if we could take her 11-year-old Lab whom she'd had since a puppy because she was going through 'life changes'.
Now, as you all know, there are life changes...and there are life changes, so I asked her to explain.
You see, last week, we helped a young lady in a domestic violence situation who had gotten herself to safety but needed help for her pets and somewhere to stay.
Every day, we help people who are facing homelessness.
Every day, we help people in unexpected poverty who can't afford to care for their pets, people struggling with the death of a family member, people who are facing their own death and need to rehome their pets....these are the kind of life changes necessitating rehoming a pet, though not for everyone, thankfully.
We always ask what the situation is, because first of all, we need to see how we can help.
In many cases, we can stop people having to give up their dogs, and that is what we set out to do every time. That is our stated purpose.
When someone refuses to give any more information than simply ‘life changes', of course we have no clue how we could help her.
I asked again for her to be more specific and explained that we have to know the reason she needs to rehome because unless she gives us information on her situation and the dog, how do we know how we can help, and how do we even know it's hers?
Let's be honest, as any rescuer will tell you, it's tough times in rescue these days and folks are sometimes economical with the truth.
She could be a dog flipper who got stuck with a dog she couldn't shift (happens more than you think), she could have just found the dog and been turned away by the county shelter but need somewhere to dump him, she could have even stolen the dog to piss off an ex (had that one quite a few times)! Her dog could be a bite case and killed another dog (had that one tried on us more than a few times from people trying to dump their dogs) but she doesn't know where to put him.
Let's face it, it could be ANYTHING.
Or, on the flip side, she might just need practical help with free pet food or her dog may have a chronic illness, we try to help in every case like this ... but without ANY information how do we know if we can help?
Well, with all the entitlement of someone who doesn't see the need to take responsibility or answer for her actions, Isa let off a volley about how I'm a terrible person, basically, because I wanted to know more about the situation. Apparently 'God judges people like me.'.... And I'm very unprofessional🤣.
Meh, she may be right there, but when we might take 50-60 calls and e-mails a day, do we have time to be anything but direct?
Even though I pointed out that she's asking a complete stranger for help that might cost us thousands of dollars, she literally felt affronted that I needed to know more about her dog and the situation she was in. I guess it didn't help that I accused her of having a tantrum and being entitled when she got so angry at being asked to explain herself.
Truth is, we don't judge anyone who has a valid reason for needing to give up their dog, but 'dog dumpers' we sure do.
So we said no.
I told her "We won't help you until you are willing to have an open and honest discussion about why you have to give your dog up."
Well, that just sent this woman into apoplexy.
Clearly what we should have done is thanked her profusely for giving us the opportunity to take her problem off of her hands, thanked her for the opportunity to possibly spend thousands of dollars caring for her dog, bent the knee at the opportunity to risk so much on a dog we know nothing about (no, not even a photo or veterinary information to go with the emails she sent me??).
Clearly, we should have told her that we LOVE people who try to dump their dog on a stranger they just found on the internet, no questions asked and walk around with an "I refuse to answer for my actions" attitude.
Dogs come in all shapes and sizes, with all kinds of risks, risks that we have a whole team in place to try and mitigate before we take in a dog or help to place one.
Information is the key to everything and in our opinion 'no questions asked' is the sure-fire way to speed contagious diseases, proliferations of human or pet bite cases, or hefty vet bills.
No thanks.
So, I have to ask, do you think she has a point? Was she right to go on Google and give us a bad review?
I would love your feedback or comments on here, because in all honesty, this one threw me!