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BIEWER TERRIER STUD BOOK FRAUD
It began as a Letter To Editor but exploded into a meticulously documented case of AKC complicity in Foundation Stock Service fraud.
September 12, 2017 Melanie LaPoint, Guest Columnist
The what happened and who did it are considered civil matters by AKC. All the American Kennel Club is investigating are the allegations of violations pertaining to the rules and regulations of registering a foreign born dog.
What the AKC is looking into is as follows:
1. The dog was born in Russia and registered with the Russian Kennel Federation{1} as represented in the RKF export pedigree.
2. The dog was registered by the Biewer Terrier Registry of America using a different name from the RKF export pedigree and registered to a different owner of record without all owners having signed the Bill of Sale.
3. The dog was registered in AKC/FSS (Foundation Stock Service) with another change to the name of the dog as well as a change to the name of the Russian breeder.
Here is the Biewer Terrier story (condensed) and AKC says is completely a civil matter:
I contacted a Russian breeder (Irina Shantony Smirnova), negotiated for the purchase of her dog named “Toyota.” In order to minimize stress on the dog, I wanted to wait until the bitch came into season so that we could have her shipped directly to the stud I wanted her bred to, which was owned by Gayle Pruett. At that time, August, 2015, I was friendly with Gayle and asked her opinion of the dog and the pedigree.
Toyota came into season and was shipped directly to Gayle (who lives in Alabama) on October 22, 2015. Gayle then decided that she wanted a puppy for the stud fee, and that she wanted to whelp the litter there suggesting that it would be less stressful to not ship the dog again so soon. I agreed. Gayle mated the dogs but on October 29 she called to tell me that she had had a family emergency and that I needed to make immediate arrangements for the dog because she couldn't keep the dog as we had originally planned.
The next morning (!) Gayle called to tell me the dog was on a plane to Colorado, and that I should make agreeable arrangements with Karen Hansen. I contacted Karen who informed me that Gayle was "ditching" my dog because the dog had tested as a Liver/Chocolate color gene carrier and at that time dogs which carried the liver (Bb) gene were not allowed registration.
It turned into an ugly argument as these things usually do. Karen Hansen said that Gayle had duped her for thousands of dollars, leading her to believe she (Gayle) was buying the dog. I felt bad for Karen as I thought she had been scammed so I made an agreement with her that she could whelp and keep the litter of puppies and then send my bitch back to me when the litter was weaned. At this point I had been trying to get the dog's export pedigree from Gayle who refused to send me the documents until I paid the stud fee to her dog. I refused to pay a stud fee for a litter that was out of my hands, not receiving any puppy monies from, etc and I could not issue a lease contract without the paperwork which Gayle was refusing to release to me.
On December 10 2015 I received a message from Karen that the dog had aborted her litter and she wanted a refund. I asked for proof that the dog had indeed aborted but she refused to take the dog to a vet. Karen started accusing me of scamming her out of thousands of dollars when I had not received a single penny. She then refused to send me the dog until I refunded what she paid for the dog but she refused to send me a copy of the bill of sale that she got from Gayle.
Obviously, I was not about to blindly send thousands of dollars to Karen without proof of money spent. She then told me she had sold the dog to someone else and that she didn't care anymore. I went directly to the Biewer Terrier Club of America to file a complaint against both Karen and Gayle.
As it turned out, Gayle was a Board Member and Karen was appointed as the club's Social Media Liaison. The club wanted me to pay $100 for the Board to consider whether they would hear my complaint - and Gayle was on that Review Board. I declined to waste my money with the club and resigned my membership under public protest of the club allowing a board member to review whether a complaint against her was worthy of a formal hearing. I had the dog's name flagged in AKC for fraud to prevent any offspring from being registered. In April 2016 I was told by several BTCA board members that they had personal knowledge that the dog had been spayed and placed as a pet through rescue.
I dropped the issue feeling basically that there was nothing left I could do since I couldn't even verify the locations of the dog I had purchased and brought to this country.
Fast forward to August 15, 2017 when I found a listing on Puppyfind.com for a Biewer Terrier named Toyota!
I contacted Aurora Lewis (the person in current possession of the dog) via Puppyfind who informed me that she purchased Toyota from Karen Hansen on June 6, 2016 for $2900 as a proven brood bitch. Aurora also told me that Toyota has aborted a litter at her house, cannot produce puppies, and she is now seeking a refund from Karen because the dog was sold with fraudulent records and registration. Toyota had whelped and raised a litter in Russia which I did verify prior to negotiating to buy her. Aurora has graciously provided me the records and documents that she has pertaining to this dog.
There are many other ethical issues surrounding both Gayle and Karen which have nothing to do with my dog, but show a pattern of unethical behavior. Karen was sued for Patent and Trademark infringement by a manufacturer of cell phone covers. She has several civil suits pending for having sold sick and defective dogs.
Karen's husband was arrested in 2011 for disrupting a Delta flight and threatening to blow the plane up:
* click to enlarge photos - click red "x" in small window to return to this page
In 2011 the BTRA owner/manager was arrested on multiple counts of animal cruelty and neglect, and child endangerment{2}. The arrested BTRA manager was removed from the license in 2012, but the person who remains (Tamara Beebe) is her mother, and was the co-owner of some of the dogs which were seized in the raid on the house. Included is the business license for BTRA from that time period (BELOW).
The BTCA was disbanded and reformed in another state because of IABCA issues and allegations surfaced that a few of the board members were financially benefitting from the club as it was paying for and hosting the breeders' personal websites.
The situation with my dog is resolving because the person currently in possession of the dog is working with me to make sure everything is set right. I have offered to pay for the spay surgery and health certificate and am satisfied that Toyota is safe and going into a pet home to be loved.
I am however questioning how the AKC can allow this sort of organization, the Biewer Terrier Registry Of America (BTRA) to be accepted after so many ethics and rules violations.
There should be some sort of oversight of these FSS registrations, as there are now dozens of reports coming out about Biewers sold to the USA having their names, birthdates and breeder information changed by BTRA prior to the dog going into the AKC/FSS.
*Staff Note: According to Department of Revenue the account was closed 2/25/2013 but Secretary of State shows expiration date 2/28/2018 with Kerry Little as Agent and Tamara Beebe as Governor.
Ref {1} Russian Kynological Federation Ref {2} Animal cruelty, neglect and child endangerment Copyright ? TheDogPress.com 1708 https://www.thedogpress.com/ClubNews/Biewer-Terrier-stud-book-fraud-ml-1708.asp SSI
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