Love Connection Dog Rescue is working on fundraising the money needed to pursue legal action against the fosters who STOLE our 8 dogs. We need your help to get our dogs back!!

These fosters have taken 8, yes, EIGHT of our dogs, and are refusing to return them. We do not know if this is because something has happened to them, or if there is something else going on.

On 3/15, Tia signed her foster contract to intake 2 mama dogs and their litters, so 9 chi mix dogs total, as we were assisting with intake from a pretty bad situation with a very large number of dogs involved. We were told that Tia was engaged to Joel, and it was made clear to us early on that they would be fostering together, even though he was not the one who signed the foster contract.

Oddly, one of the puppies was able to go to a foster-to-adopt situation, leaving 2 moms and 6 puppies to be stolen by these people.

Imagine our surprise when we were told on 4/23 that they would be adopting 4 of the dogs. We have a rule about not adopting 2 from the same litter, so when we were told this, they stated one of the puppy siblings will be at a Mesa address owned by Joel with one mom dog, and the other mom and sibling puppy will be at Tia's house. It seemed a bit odd that they referred to each other as "fiance", but yet lived at two separate addresses. We sent the necessary paperwork to Joel to work on his foster approval and were told that the dogs had ALREADY BEEN MOVED to his house!!! We were never asked for permission to have the dogs at another house nor given the chance to home check prior, nor had Joel signed any paperwork at this point to foster at a different location, so, yes, some MAJOR red flags here.

On 4/29, Joel completed his foster contract for the one mom and one pup he was hoping to adopt. He was provided the foster guide with our processes are clearly outlined for them, along with the schedule for when next vaccinations are due.

On 5/3, they were sent a notification of the puppies alter appointments for 5/8. It was made evident that they would not be willing to alter any of the dogs. Without making a long story even longer, there were "reasons" (excuses) why they could not make the appointment, but when we arranged transport and offered to move the 4 dogs they were not trying to adopt, it became very clear to us that they were not being upfront or honest with us. We immediately went into action to work to get our dogs back. In a nutshell, these dogs have now missed their next set of vaccines, so we are worried about them contracting something, they have not been altered, they may or may not have been dewormed, but we suspect not based on what we learned from the one pup who was sent to a foster to adopt home.

They have refused to return the dogs, and instead have offered to pay the adoption fee for all 8 dogs. This is not an option. We don't adopt from same litter, we do not adopt out unaltered dogs, they have not completed the adoption process, and they have prohibited our dogs from getting any kind of veterinary care since the intake of the dogs.

We have contacted Chandler and Mesa PD, and while we are still working to see if there is a way to have them help with the theft of "Property" they have told us this is a civil matter. Our next step is to sue them in court, and we are sure you can imagine as a 501c3 how much of a bummer it is to have to raise funds for legal counsel rather than raise funds to help more dogs.

What choice do we have?!? What motive do they have for doing this?

Are they breeding them?
Are they hiding the fact that something happened to them?
Are they selling them?

In addition to all of this, because the state of Arizona does have some deficiencies in case law, we know that this case sets a precedence for future legislation. We KNOW how important it is to fight this fight. This is for our 8 precious babies, and this is for all rescue shelters in Arizona. We are blessed and appreciative of our rescue partners who have encouraged us and let us know that they will share this fundraiser to protect their rescues from anything like this happening to them. We know this case is so much bigger than just us, but even if it wasn't, we took in those dogs and committed to them, and we will not turn our backs on them.

We will be working to raise funds to pursue civil action and litigation, which will not stop them from breeding our unaltered dogs in the meantime if they are even still alive.

We know time is of the essence and would like to act fast. Will you help us reach our immediate goal?

Help Us Fight to Get Our 8 Dogs Back

By Love Connection Dog Rescue

Help Us Fight to Get Our 8 Dogs Back

Help Us Fight to Get Our 8 Dogs Back

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