My wife has wanted to do nothing but lay in bed and cry since she found out that a part of our family has been taken away from us because of a minor infraction on our part on a contract we signed. Our story is quite simple, yet it is one I feel needs to be heard by anyone even thinking of adopting a pet from companies such as S.C.A.R.S. Before we got married my wife and I felt the need for family. We felt that it was not right to have any children until after we were married but still felt a void in our life. After long discussion we decided that a pet was the way to go. We looked everywhere for the perfect pet. My own experience has been with dog’s mostly larger breeds. I wanted one for more then just companionship but also for protection for my wife when I’m at work. After extensive searching through breeds and looking at puppy after puppy we finely found the perfect one. She was about 6 weeks old, one of thirteen in the litter and the most beautiful Rottweiler I had ever seen. We bought her on the spot and named her Cyro. She immediately became our baby. We had had her for just over a year and took her on her first camping trip. My whole family was there and they all brought their dogs. Cyro was so happy. She ran and played with all the other dogs for 5 days straight never once having any problems not even so much as a growl was heard. After returning from the camping trip it became clear to us that Cyro was depressed. She needed the company of other dogs. We took her to the off leash park daily to socialize with other dogs and she could not get enough of it. Yet when she was at home we could still tell she wanted someone her own size to play with.
   My wife and I sat down and discussed it and decided it would be best if we got another dog. The search began again. We search high and low for the perfect addition to our family. One day while in the pet store we met Maggie. Both my wife and I knew that she was the one. A beautiful Rottweiler lab cross. She was currently in the care of a company by the name of S.C.A.R.S. We immediately filled out an application to adopt Maggie and couldn’t wait to hear from them. We heard from them after a short time and were asked to bring Cyro out to meet Maggie, Maggie showed signs of anti-social behavior and seemed to really need her space she didn’t get along with all dogs so we agreed and brought Cyro as soon as we were allowed. They got along instantly and began running around the yard and playing instantly. For us that sealed the deal we wanted Maggie in our family. We paid the fees, signed the paper work and were off with the newest edition to our family. Their have been bumps in the road but believe me when I say that we could not have been happier and neither could Cyro and Maggie. They quickly became inseparable, or so we thought.
   In the contract we signed there was a clause that Maggie had to be spayed and until such time she would not be considered ours. Maggie was still very timid and needed time to get used to her new surroundings. We have only had her for two months now and until very recently she was still visibly uncomfortable. She was very happy but if you raised your voice to tell her “no” when she was getting in to something she was not supposed to she would run and hide in the shed and not come out for some time. It has only been about two weeks now that she has stopped hiding and started realizing regardless of what she doesn’t have to run and hide. To us this told us that she was finally officially completely comfortable with this family. Now that this has happened my wife made an appointment to have Maggie spayed. Unfortunately due to my catching the flu we were unable to keep the appointment and hadn’t re-scheduled it. Two weekends ago, 6 weeks after our adopting Maggie we received the first and only phone call from the former foster family, the daughter in the family had just started school and as a reward for her first week the mother had contacted me and asked if she could bring her daughter over to see Maggie. I said “yes defiantly that would be nice for both of them”. Unfortunately they did not get a hold of us before they stopped by that day and could only see Maggie from outside the fence. Once we arrived home we had checked our phone messages and received a message from the family. We immediately returned the call and asked them if they wanted to come by. They we not able to as they were already on their way home but a conversation ensued between my wife and the mother of the family in which she asked if Maggie had been spayed yet. My wife was honest with her and told her “no we haven’t yet but we are planning to do so”. Another week had gone by (which brings us up to this last Thursday) and we had not yet made the appointment, Somehow Maggie managed to get out of the back yard while we were at work and was picked up by the pound. My wife arrived home at 3:00pm to find Maggie missing. The first thing she did was contact the neighbors who said they haven’t seen her then she contacted the pound that confirmed that they did pick her up. So my wife asked to come and get her but the pound refused to release her to us because since she was not yet spayed she was not considered to be ours. Upon finding this out she immediately called and made the appointment which was to be for this Tuesday, then she called the former foster family and explained the situation and asked to go get Maggie. The response she received was that they couldn’t that day and wouldn’t be able to the next. My wife then asked what to do with no response. She then asked if they would please call us to let us know when we could go get her, they responded that yes they will call us.
   My wife lay on the couch extremely depressed all evening. This brings us to today. After arriving at work my wife made a call to the pound to check on how Maggie did over night. The pound was still closed. She later called on her break to find out Maggie had in fact been picked up the night before. She then called the former foster family to find out what was going on and the answer she received was that they had decided to not give Maggie back to us because she had not yet been spayed. Following this phone call my wife called me at work crying so hard I could barely make out what the problem was. She then had to take a leave from work because she could not cope with this loss. Tonight she has been very depressed along with Cyro. We all feel that we have lost a large part of our family. This company claims to be watching out for the best interest of the pets but I ask you this, is it not more important that a pet have a loving secure family where it feels comfortable and safe then it is to meet some deadline that a company made up. It’s not as though we had no intentions of spaying Maggie in fact we do believe it is important unfortunately we had been unable to accomplish that goal yet. Instead of talking to us and ensuring that Maggie was going to be spayed they choose to rip apart a family and once again move a pet to yet another family, one they know nothing about and can only hope will treat her right. Personally I think it causes more damage to an animal to continually move them around and as soon as they get settled move them again because the family, regardless off how they treated the animal, and regardless of how happy the animal is, was a little slow in fulfilling a minor part of the contract the we had signed. I can understand if someone out and out refuses to do what they had promised, but to tear a family apart simply because we took too long to fulfill what should be the least of the worries is simply cruel to both the pet and the family. I thank everyone who has taken the time to read this letter and apologies to those think I’ve wasted their time. My family (what’s left of it) would greatly appreciate you feedback on this matter if you care to give it to me. My e-mail address is brphunder@ hotmail.com.
   I also ask that you post and send this message where ever and to who ever may listen and want to help us get our Maggie back.
   If you care to send an email to the company responsible for this please do so at [email protected] They also have a website at http://scarscare.org/contact.asp I do feel that their heart is in the right place but that their focus is on the wrong thing, at least in this case. Again our sincere thanks for your time.
Goodnight
Blake and Melissa Hunder