Grammy Rose Dog Rescue & Sanctuary — Local services in Acton

From a friend... I just want to warn everyone about a “rescue” we dealt with a few weeks ago when we rescued our puppy. Please avoid Alpha Dog Rescue in Lebanon, Maine. This place is a puppy mill at best and if you check their reviews, you can see it’s a persistent issue. Especially in the last puppy litters they’ve received. Here’s the review I attempted to leave before they blocked me for asking for a compassionate refund:

“We adopted a puppy from Alpha Dog Rescue three weeks ago. We were assured she was seen by a veterinarian prior to adoption and were supplied with vaccine records from the southern agency they transported them from. No less than 24 hours after bringing her home, she started in with explosive, bloody stools and discharge (now diagnosed UTI and puppy vaginitis). She was seen by our vet who diagnosed her with Giardia, a UTI, puppy vaginitis.

To be clear, I understand that this is a risk you take when you get a puppy. Puppies can be sick. My issue lies with AlPha Dog Rescue and their practices. After seeing an ad on FB, I drove 8 total hours to adopt our little girl. Upon reaching the “rescue”, I pulled up to Liz’s house, where the puppies were kept in a dark, concrete basement with a few kennels, and almost zero light. The puppies were all mingling amongst each other. While there, I watched multiple puppies urinate and defecate on the floor. It was wiped up with paper towels and the puppies were allowed to continue to play with each other. I repeatedly asked her assistant if she had witnessed any blood in the stool of any of the puppies. Her response: “Well, we’ve only had them a few hours so in that time, no”.

So you’re meaning to tell me, they are asking $475 dollars for puppies they have monitored for a few hours, did not have their own veterinarian check, and then just sending people on their way. It’s a puppy mill. Period. Honestly, I was so appalled and sad for the dogs, I probably would have adopted one regardless because it was disgusting. And the whole house smelled of urine and dogs.

I was hopeful that whatever place they came from was better than where they were. She claims they were tested on February 27th. She has finally sent me the “records”. There was zero testing done to check for Giardia or any other parasite for that matter.

I have given Alpha Dog the option to compassionately refund the puppy adoption fee to which I was met with refusal and told I signed a contract that there were no refunds. What ever happened to just doing the right thing? They had no right selling these puppies. They promised me they were healthy and then blamed the transport vehicle for giving them Giardia. My vet today told me Giardia is spread through contaminated water or in the case of puppies and exchange of fecal matter.

Do NOT adopt from here. THIS IS A PUPPY MILL!! They pay a transport fee for these puppies in the name of “saving them”, do nothing to ensure they’re healthy, and then charge you top dollar. They are even selling leashes and collars and toys that I am SURE are donated to them in the name of charity. If you check the other reviews, you can see this is not a new issue. Shame on me for not doing enough due diligence. I would absolutely not have adopted here if I knew what I would be facing. Luckily, I loved my puppy from the second I met her and will do whatever it takes to restore her health. Something Alpha Dog could have done prior to just raking in the cash!

Yes, puppies come with health risks, especially in rescue situations. But this… this is irresponsible. Three other people who saved puppies from this litter have either had to euthanize theirs or are in similar situations with expenses. Expenses that surpass just that of standard vaccinations and office visits.”

Thank you for reading if you’ve made it this far. I just don’t want people to make the same mistake as we did. We absolutely love our girl, but it’s sad she has to go through all these treatments because she...

This rescue advertises its mission as finding homes for "adoptable dogs"; I would be highly wary of their definition of "adoptable", after myself and my family's experience with one of their dogs (Izzy- who is now back on the website for adoption, an extremely reckless and dangerous decision, in my opinion).

I would attach photos of the BITE to my right leg that I received from Izzy, but they would likely be removed from Google due to its severity and grotesqueness. Our other dog suffered a bite to his head, as well. This occured in mid-late August; two ER visits and rounds of antibiotics later, I am STILL undergoing medical treatment for it.

We adopted Izzy after two (seemingly) successful visits, the second being with our previously owned dog. They got along well and she was energetic but appeared good natured. We were informed by multiple employees at the rescue that she had been returned a handful of times due to "having a lot of energy" and "not doing well around cats"; but NO mentions of an inclination to bite or become aggressive. Considering she bit several times and attempted several more within the 36 HOURS she was with us, I find it quite hard to believe this was not previously observed behavior. Nothing in her adoption file regarding this either. Not to mention that it is highly negligent and distressing for a dog to be bounced around from household to household, without a period in between to reacclimate.

I find this lack of transparency and negligence appalling, and myself, my family and my dog have suffered greatly from it. Proceed with EXTREME caution if adopting from...

I'll start by saying a while back we had a friend who adopted a small dog from this place, and while she said it was mostly a good experience with staff, the dog she got was aggressive and tried to bite several people and very aggressive towards cats. I understand they may have been unaware of cat aggression but people aggression should have been obvious. The friend tried to work it out but ultimately it was just not a good fit. Fast forward a year or so, my family decided to check the place out ourselves. Google reviews looked good and hours stated they were open, it was a nice day so we figured we'd try their putt putt and ice-cream and then check out the dogs up for adoption. As soon as we walked in there was a bitter faced lady just staring at us and didn't say a word. We continued in and saw another woman behind the counter , this woman looked very irritated and the awkward silence made my husband speak up first. He happily said we are just here to check out some fun stuff and pet some pups! The lady behind the desk immediately said they only adopt to people that are serious about adoption. I believe she took his lighthearted comment wrong. He was just attempting to fill the awkward silence. She said there was no putt putt or ice-cream for the day and then she sat there silently. She offered no info about the place or when we should come back. My personal opinion is, you're the face of that business, do better. I understand that you can have a bad day but that had nothing...