South Side Dogs reviews and complaints

June 6, 2012
Area kennel owner faces new felony charges
By Denise Richardson
Staff Writer

The owner of South Side Dogs and South Side Farms in Worcester was arrested during a court appearance Tuesday on additional charges related to his business activities, Otsego County deputies said in a media release.

Frank Michael Popolizio, 66, of Schenectady, was charged with first-degree scheme to defraud, third-degree grand larceny and fourth-degree grand larceny, all felonies, and petit larceny, a misdemeanor, deputies said.

Popolizio was arrested when he appeared at the Worcester Town Court to answer previous animal abuse charges, deputies said. He was arraigned on the new charges by Worcester Judge William J. Fisher and released on his own recognizance, pending another court appearance at 4 p.m. July 3.

Popolizio was arrested after a six-week investigation by the Otsego County Sheriff's Office Criminal Investigation Division.

Deputies received a complaint in late April from a Virginia resident who said she sent Popolizio $2, 100 as a down payment for miniature livestock in September, but she didn't receive the cattle or her money back.

Based on further investigation, Popolizio is accused of stealing $26, 435 from numerous customers during the past five years as he "engaged in an ongoing fraudulent course of conduct by using false or fraudulent pretenses, representations and/or promises, " the release said.

The customers lived in Virginia, Maryland, California, Pennsylvania as well as New York, deputies said.

If convicted on the additional charges filed Tuesday, Popolizio faces up to 26 years in prison, deputies said.

Otsego County Assistant District Attorney Marvin D. Parshall Jr. is prosecuting the case. Anyone else who believes they have been subjected to fraud by Popolizio is asked to call deputies at 547-4363 to file a complaint.

On Feb. 2, Popolizio was charged with 49 counts of animal cruelty after state police, who investigated complaints that dogs there appeared to be neglected, raided South Side Dogs. The dogs were confiscated.

The Susquehanna SPCA is caring for dozens of the seized dogs, and Popolizio's attorney said recently that he is opposing action that his client pay for their care. In a separate case, Popolizio already faces potential state prison time if he is convicted of any of five felony charges brought against him by the state Department of Taxation and Finance. Those charges related to his alleged failure to pay sales taxes collected at his now-closed Schenectady restaurant, The Pentagon.

My husband and I found Southside Dogs on the web. We immediately called Frank when the website said "limited availabilty".
Frank had told us a litter has just been born a few weeks ago, however, Only 1 male was born from the litter, which was exactly what we wanted. My husband immediately made arrangements to make a 5-hour trip from Long Island to Worcester to see his place...We were impressed to see how clean and how nicely the dogs were cared for. Frank told us our puppy would be available the beginning of August. We picked our new bundle of joy August 6, 2011 with no hassles, I think we hassled Frank weekly on the puppies progress! Every week, the puppies were getting bigger and we had NO ISSUES at all. I'm sorry some of you all had troubles, BUT puppies are babies . . . and like babies . . . THINGS HAPPEN! Our male Vizsla, is the LOVE of our LIFE. We couldn't be more happy with how smart, obedient and truly fabulous the Vizsla breed is! My husband has been training him daily and I'm not sure who's more tired at the end of the day, ROSCOE or my husband? The Vet said besides, a small ear infection, which is no reflection on the breeder, He's in perfect health! Anyone who is reading this please go visit Frank At Southside for youself before sending money. We got lucky because we wanted a male and he had one available...Simple as that! He's truly a beautiful puppy :) Our new child w/Fur ! We would recommend Frank!

I wouldnt be suprised if Frank or his assistant wrote "the real story". Frank Popolizio is nothing but a smooth talking liar. Believe me, i was his tenant for about a year and it was the worst experience of my life. I have no doubt he swindled these people out of there money and hopes of a puppy. When i rented from frank i could not find a single person that had one nice thing to say about him. The lady at tenants rights even called him frank poposleezio. Even the cops felt bad for me and gave me an earfull when i told them frank wrote me and my roommate bad checks for our security deposit back. The guy at the hardware store had nothing nice to say. the guy from national grid who came to look at my heat after frank never called me back for 3 days and if was 30 degrees out had alot to say about his run in with frank . the lady at the bank whos daughter got swindeled had nothing nice to say. The lady at the relastate office when our house went on the market had her own run in with frank and nothing nice to say. oh and our house we rented was in foreclosure and going to action and i found out when i read it in the paper. i could go on and on.

This Frank, from South Side is contacting breeders of Miniature Bull Terriers all over the country trying to buy puppies so he can start selling them too. He seems to have told many of these breeders lies about why he wants them and what he is going to do with them. Good breeders talk to each other and everyone is talking about Frank and his wanting to buy yet another breed he can sell and make money off of! Everyone beware!

June 6, 2012
Area kennel owner faces new felony charges
By Denise Richardson
Staff Writer

The owner of South Side Dogs and South Side Farms in Worcester was arrested during a court appearance Tuesday on additional charges related to his business activities, Otsego County deputies said in a media release.

Frank Michael Popolizio, 66, of Schenectady, was charged with first-degree scheme to defraud, third-degree grand larceny and fourth-degree grand larceny, all felonies, and petit larceny, a misdemeanor, deputies said.

Popolizio was arrested when he appeared at the Worcester Town Court to answer previous animal abuse charges, deputies said. He was arraigned on the new charges by Worcester Judge William J. Fisher and released on his own recognizance, pending another court appearance at 4 p.m. July 3.

Popolizio was arrested after a six-week investigation by the Otsego County Sheriff's Office Criminal Investigation Division.

Deputies received a complaint in late April from a Virginia resident who said she sent Popolizio $2, 100 as a down payment for miniature livestock in September, but she didn't receive the cattle or her money back.

Based on further investigation, Popolizio is accused of stealing $26, 435 from numerous customers during the past five years as he "engaged in an ongoing fraudulent course of conduct by using false or fraudulent pretenses, representations and/or promises, " the release said.

The customers lived in Virginia, Maryland, California, Pennsylvania as well as New York, deputies said.

If convicted on the additional charges filed Tuesday, Popolizio faces up to 26 years in prison, deputies said.

Otsego County Assistant District Attorney Marvin D. Parshall Jr. is prosecuting the case. Anyone else who believes they have been subjected to fraud by Popolizio is asked to call deputies at 547-4363 to file a complaint.

On Feb. 2, Popolizio was charged with 49 counts of animal cruelty after state police, who investigated complaints that dogs there appeared to be neglected, raided South Side Dogs. The dogs were confiscated.

The Susquehanna SPCA is caring for dozens of the seized dogs, and Popolizio's attorney said recently that he is opposing action that his client pay for their care. In a separate case, Popolizio already faces potential state prison time if he is convicted of any of five felony charges brought against him by the state Department of Taxation and Finance. Those charges related to his alleged failure to pay sales taxes collected at his now-closed Schenectady restaurant, The Pentagon.

My husband and I found Southside Dogs on the web. We immediately called Frank when the website said "limited availabilty".
Frank had told us a litter has just been born a few weeks ago, however, Only 1 male was born from the litter, which was exactly what we wanted. My husband immediately made arrangements to make a 5-hour trip from Long Island to Worcester to see his place...We were impressed to see how clean and how nicely the dogs were cared for. Frank told us our puppy would be available the beginning of August. We picked our new bundle of joy August 6, 2011 with no hassles, I think we hassled Frank weekly on the puppies progress! Every week, the puppies were getting bigger and we had NO ISSUES at all. I'm sorry some of you all had troubles, BUT puppies are babies . . . and like babies . . . THINGS HAPPEN! Our male Vizsla, is the LOVE of our LIFE. We couldn't be more happy with how smart, obedient and truly fabulous the Vizsla breed is! My husband has been training him daily and I'm not sure who's more tired at the end of the day, ROSCOE or my husband? The Vet said besides, a small ear infection, which is no reflection on the breeder, He's in perfect health! Anyone who is reading this please go visit Frank At Southside for youself before sending money. We got lucky because we wanted a male and he had one available...Simple as that! He's truly a beautiful puppy :) Our new child w/Fur !

I did a lot of research into this breeder before I bought my German Shorthair from him. I saw where there were pages of great testimonials on South Side Dogs, and I asked Frank for ways to contact some of the people. It turns out a person who lives in my area bought a dog from Frank and she had nothing but wonderful things to say about the kennel, the dog, and Frank. I'm glad I had the good sense to listen to her and went ahead to buy this fantastic dog from South Side. I hope other people who read this complaint boards will go a step further and check the testimonials he has on his website. It shows hundreds of happy people versus the few impatient people who are on the Complaints website.

I have nothing but kind things to say about Frank and his staff at South Side Dogs. We went to Worcester to see his place and were very impressed. It is spotless, his dogs are great, his staff is knowledgeable and after visiting 3 other kennels we knew this is where we wanted to get our puppy. We had put a deposit on a Weimarner puppy that was due about a month later. Three weeks after we placed the deposit we had an unexpected turn of events and we were not able to buy the puppy at that time. We were fully aware there was a non refundable deposit policy, as it is stated in the website. Frank told us that he would hold the deposit and when we were ready he would work with us. About 6 months later we decided the time was right and my husband called Frank. Frank had a litter that was going to be born in 2 weeks and he didn't know if we could make that litter, but either way we would get a puppy from that litter or the next one. We didn't make that first litter, but we got a beautiful female Weimarner from the next litter. She is great-it is as though she was made for our family! Everyone who meets her tells us she is one of the most beautiful Weimarners they have ever see. As a matter of fact, our Vet's daughter bought one also. I think it is terrible that people are so small that they don't look at the whole picture and try to tarnish a good person's reputation. It is clear on the website that the deposits are non refundable-which if anyone researched as much as we have they would see this is the policy of 90% of the reputable breeders.

We had the same experience with Frank "dog is pregnant, ultrasound, maybe the dog isn't pregnant, etc...". After providing Frank a deposit, we finally requested a refund and said we would look elsewhere for a Ridgeback. Frank said he would mail the refund check but it never came - when the check finally did arrive (after numerous follow-up calls) the check bounced. Frank finally provided a check with sufficient funds which didn't bounce. I STRONGLY RECOMMEND YOU DO NOT DEAL WITH THIS BREEDER. FIND SOMEONE ELSE WHO CAN MEET YOUR NEEDS. We eventually found a beautiful Ridgeback pup from a very well known and respected breeder in New York State.

Odd. First, I went to the site and the first thing I wondered was how does he deal with and appropriately place (and educate and support so many new parents) so many specialized breeds (4)? No breed is right for everyone but some fit with a much smaller group of people (all of those). Then I see each breed has a litter coming up September/October. Next day pet's has what appear's to be pup's from each breed currently listed (different ages and pic's don't match as the Weimy says around 1 week and the pic is of an older pup). Says will be ready to go October and November. http://www.nextdaypets.com/directory/dogs/uid/888225.aspx