I know I haven't updated this Blog in a long time but recently we have learned new things about the breeder that we got Zoe from - Hemingway Terriers. Back in June last year we thought Zoe had Lymes Disease and when we took her to the vet we learned it was Hip Dysplasia - she was barely a year old when we discovered it. She was in so much pain that she didn't want to go for walks anymore and would lay in our kitchen howling.
When I emailed the breeder regarding this her advice was not to do the surgery and had given me the impression she was recommending us putting the dog down. At first she stated she had never had problems with Hip Dysplasia even though she has been breeding Airedales and Scotties for 20 years. Although I thought this was hard to believe I started to think it was something that I had done, she was around 50 pounds and extremely active before we discovered the Dysplasia.
We moved forward and sought out professional advice from a Vet, since they did go to school and were trained on how to fix dogs, not breed them! We had an amazing experience with Dr. Glennon and learned about our options and decided to move forward with an FHO surgery. Zoe had her right leg done and we were amazed at how well she recovered. We had a little problem when we cut her pain meds but eventually she was back to her normal self. We have had a few follow up appointments to keep an eye on her other leg which also has Hip Dysplasia. We ended up finding out we don’t need to get surgery done on her other leg because she was doing so well.
Although it was great news to hear about her not needing surgery again we ended up finding out that we weren’t the only ones out there who were having the same problem with Hemingway Terriers. Because of this Blog I was contacted by an individual who also had an Airedale from Hemingway Terriers and they too got a similar response. NOW THERE IS A THIRD PERSON. All of our dogs are about 6 months apart and have the same father “Master of Disguise”. In an email I received from Sandy she stated:
holy crap! I am so sorry. I have not had any problems or issues with hip and I am very surprised that there is one now.
I know dad to be fine. Mom never had any pups with any issues either. I retired mom and placed her in a pet home in January of this year.
I never breed them long but want them to have a good life after breeding too. She went to a retired doctor in Lake George and is doing great, so I am rather surprised to hear this.
I know dad to be fine. Mom never had any pups with any issues either. I retired mom and placed her in a pet home in January of this year.
I never breed them long but want them to have a good life after breeding too. She went to a retired doctor in Lake George and is doing great, so I am rather surprised to hear this.
I also agree to change food and do gloclosomine (sp) I do take that myself and it does help. It is important that the dog is not heavy from what I have read. So do keep her weight in check.
Please update me as to her progress. Siblings from that litter have had no issues either.
Sandy
Please update me as to her progress. Siblings from that litter have had no issues either.
Sandy
I only heard back from her once after this but now because of Blogs three of us have been able to connect and share similar stories. It is also ironic because her website was not renewed and I am sure she is now selling dogs under a new name but I beware anyone who is looking to purchase an Airedale Terrier from a breeder named Sandy and lives in Westerlo, NY. We thought we had done our research on breeders but apparently we had no idea what we were getting ourselves into. I hope with her website down maybe, just maybe she is not breeding anymore but I highly doubt it!
Your story still fills me with anger and sadness!! Just reading it again makes me all sorts of upset for Zoe, Zoey and Keegan. Glad we are all putting the word out there!!!
ReplyDeleteErica
http://hemingwayterriers.blogspot.com/
I have spoken with Erica Tyler. I have Jackson from May 2.2010 litter. Going to have him x-rayed as he looks like he may have it too. We need to stick together LOVE him so much and this makes me so sad and angry. Good luck to Zoe.
ReplyDeleteI am so sorry to hear of your poor girl. My husband & I purchased for $500 a retired female- Krystal Belle known as Krissy- from Sandra Hanson in Jan 2009. We renamed her Kasey and she is a special part of our lives now. Unfortunately, we did not have a good relationship with Sandy due to multiple problems. Kasey came home to us with a choke collar so tight that we had to cut it off with a chain cutter. She has permanent hairless areas on both sides of her neck from it. She also had bilateral mastitis and continued to have it intermittently after months of antibiotic treatment. We had her spayed and it took us numerous phone calls, emails and unanswered certified letters to obtain our $100 refund from her. She has mislead us as to Kasey's age- said she was 4.5 and ended up being 6 yrs old. She could not produce her rabies or micro-chip records, so instead gave me one for another female named Ali. When I finally spoke with her and filled her in on all of the problems we were having, she told me to return her. This was out of the question as we had already taken her into our hearts. We weren't calling for that reason, just to clarify concerns. I finally reported her to the Airdale Terrier Club of America- Linda Baake-Jarvis- lynaire@aol.com- for her lack of integrity & poor treatment of her dogs. I was very pleased with her response. Good luck with your girl- I would be curious if Kasey/Krissy is her mother.
ReplyDeleteJust read your post and I have one of your Kasey's offspring! He's a 3 year old (almost 4) male named Dodger. Your Dale's previous name Krissy is on his certificate! He's a very very energetic happy boy. So far no health issues aside from some seasonal dermatitis on his neck. A year ago his hip was bothering him which I had checked out by our vet, but since then, he's been fine. Its really disappointing to hear about all the problems everyone has had with Hemingway. Thankfully everyone was smart enough NOT to send the dogs back.
DeleteWe "adopted" a retired female, also named Zoey, from Hemmingway. We paid a $500 fee, but were to be reimbursed for spaying -- Sandy said this was her way of making sure we had her spayed and not use her for breeding ourselves. There was no mention (either verbally or in the contract) of a $100 limit.
ReplyDeleteShe also required that we had to wait for 2 months before having her spayed, in case it didn't work out and we had to return Zoey.
Zoey also had a small nodule on the side of her neck, which I pointed out to Sandy when we picked her up.
After waiting the 2 months, we had her spayed. As it turns out, she was in "silent heat" and nearly bled out on the table. A "silent heat" means that there are no outward indications that the dog is in heat. Anyway, when I related this to Sandy, she started screaming at me that how dare I have her spayed when she was in heat...and that she never heard of a "silent heat". In another call, she admitted that her vet told her that there was such a thing as silent heat (although somewhat rare). Sandy never apologized for screaming at me, though.
Anyway, I sent her the bill for the spaying, and she wrote me an email saying that she would mail me $100. Again, she never mentioned a $100 limit, so I questioned her as to why the spaying is not fully reimbursed --- after all, this was supposedly an adoption, not a purchase.
Sandy then called me again screaming at me that I would question her about the reimbursement. She said the $100 limit is clearly stated in the contract. She was screaming that I was mistreating her dog by having her spayed while in heat, and to return "her dog" immediately. After having Zoey for 2+ months and nursing her back to health, she was part of our family and there was no way we were giving her back. I told her that Zoey was MY dog now, and that she wasn't getting her back. Sandy screamed at me again and slammed down the phone.
Next time I spoke to her, she admitted that she re-read Zoey's contract and that there was nothing about the $100 limit, but that was her standard practice. Although legally I was entitled to full reimbursement as per the contract, I agreed with her to split the $380 spaying fee, so her half would have been about $190. I didn't even ask for reimbursement for removing the nodule, or the meds that Zoey needed after surgery due to the complication.
Needless to say, I never received the $190, and not even the $100. So in the end, Sandy kept the entire $500.
The good news is that we have now had Zoey for 6 years, she loves it here, and she is doing well. She is such a joy to have around. She is almost 10 now, and is slowing down a bit, but still is such a great dog.
Luckily, she had not shown any hip issues.
Anyway, I am not surprised that others have had issues with Sandy / Hemmingway. Hopefully she is out of business, and not just operating under a different name.
That money probably went toward her Hummer or Mini Cooper payments...she tried to claim victim to the town about losing a huge amount of money to a contractor that ripped her off by taking $90k and not producing anything for it...I have to ask what kind of business woman would do that, and I come up with the answer that a good one wouldn't, and she was just plagiarizing someone else's hard luck story who this did happen to several years prior with their modular home. But then again, look at the issue you had about what was in the contract SHE wrote, but follows what she deems legal outside of that contract and refers to as her practice. You should sue her in small claims court for the principle of it.
DeleteThis woman is pretty unstable and I wonder if she's passing USDA inspections - is that information a FOIL request? Oh, never mind, she's not regarded as a kennel, and slipped under our radar as a "hobby" breeder...I'm trying to get that changed as we speak with audio/video proof as well as her sales records of numbers of litters. THIS is why she's taken down her website, it was proof against her own lies to the town. Once she's deemed a breeding facility that requires a Special Use Permit, things will take on a different tune.
I am sorry that Zoey had these problems, but very glad she's in a great home with people willing to help her and love her to pieces! Thank you!
Sandra Hanson is NOT out of business and alive and doing well off her pups and horses in Westerlo, NY. She doesn't maintain a website probably due to all the complaints, and she lies on her Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Hemingway-Terriers/142407435799165?id=142407435799165&sk=info
ReplyDeleteThese dogs are not "home raised" since they are not in her home, but rather in their own little houses on the property, or left out in the run if it's too hot. I know, because we all get to listen to their frustrated and under-exercised barking, whining, and re-directed attacks at any given hour throughout the day and night. This can go on up to two hours. I guess they've tuned them out, but I have a complaint in the making.
I offered her assistance in exercising these dogs two years ago, and she became insulted and very immature for a business woman, once again claiming victim. I wonder why she left New Paltz...she also blamed the barking on her neighbor's ONE dog to which I told her that I'm not one of the local idiots and can tell the difference between one dog and 20-25. She told me that they get plenty of exercise playing ball and going for rides in the car...wow!
The area Airedale Rescue is acutely aware of her as they've taken in several of her dogs that people have turned over to them instead of her since she seems to want to put down any dog that is returned to her.
I am a professional dog trainer and also a pet sitter and dog walker, and I feel very sorry for those dogs. They are not neglected or abused per the NYS Ag & Mkts cruelty laws, but their psyches are probably hurting due to such a lack of physical and mental stimulation for dogs that she herself claimed on her website are high-energy dogs and you should be certain this is the type of dog you want to add to your lifestyle. I guess it's do as I say and not as I do!
This person snuck into our hamlet under the radar, but she will never hear the end of the complaints and loathing some of us feel toward her. They have plenty of toys over there and the teenage sons ride on snow mobiles and quads, but nobody is ever walking those dogs...or riding the beautiful Morgans...
If anyone has any proof that this woman breeds several litters each year and can justify her as a breeding kennel, please contact me. I am sorry that I never copied and pasted anything from her old website as that was clearly justification that she was a full-time breeder and willing to ship pups anywhere. Thank you for posting all your stories and trying to bring her irresponsibility to light. My e-mail is PawsitivelyEsoteric@gmail.com
ReplyDeletekennel name changed to Tin Man terriers
ReplyDelete