I am appalled at the complaints against Susan Sarao and VMF. If one looks closely, the complaints are from only about 5 people; 2 who are competitor breeders having a vested interest in the failure of her business. It is truly suspect that those of you who have had such terrible experiences are just coming forward. What led you to this site just when Susan's website went down? You bought puppies over 5 years ago and just when there is an employer/employee issue you make your concerns public in an obscure website. If you truly had problems, you should have taken a more viable route to resolve your issues rather than using vindictive tactics to ensure that there was no judicial means to hear both sides and find the truth.
The complaint has been investigated and resolved to the customer’s satisfaction.
I completely agree. Common sense would dictate that Keith is no more than a vindictive associate who did not get his way and is lashing out against a business that supported him for 5 years. If this is not the case, then why did it take 5 years of torture on his part to finally "come clean" about the business dealings of Irish Jacks. In fact, I purchased 4 puppies from Irish Jacks - 2 thru Keith who enthusiastically "sold" each dog as being a perfect breeding stud (one from the Heff line which he now is bashing).
I personally visited the Irish Jacks facility, unannounced, on several occasions and found the dogs to be well-socialized, friendly, and thriving in roomy indoor and outdoor pens and within Susan's home. It is unfortunate that a local town resident who was unable to obtain a kennel license chose to pursue the Violet Meadow Farm location and cause them to seek another facility for the dogs.
I have owned and bred other breeds of dogs; it was my choice to purchase puppies at Irish Jacks and would do so again without hesitation. Whether imported or from local breeders, I have no reservation that these pups are raised with a lot of attention and love and socialization to be exactly what they are advertised to be.
The cyber-bullying and attempts to take retribution against Irish Jacks by Keith is nothing short of disgusting and I would only encourage anyone jumping on this bandwagon to investigate the actual facts, rather than assuming that Keith's allegations are truth.
My hat is off to Susan Sarao for having more class than to dignify Keith's poison pen posting with a response, however, I would implore everyone reading it to consider the motives and what would have prompted someone like Keith to wait so long to have a "conscience".
Thank god...the voices of reason vs. the psychology of the mob. Let's just stick to some facts, shall we?
Keith stole the website folks and he is attempting to ruin Susan's business via a public forum! DOES THIS REALLY MAKE SENSE TO ANY OF YOU? This is an angry man and not because of anything "puppy". And from some of the frothing and wild imaginings I'm seeing in this site, Keith's crap has been built upon. Saying "puppy mill" is like yelling "fire" in a theatre and in this forum Susan was instantly guilty by association and I don't even know where this came from. Some of us are witnessing the death of common sense.
If Keith "saw god", why did HE not go to the AG or the better biz bureau and handle it correctly? I find him extremely unethical by his own acts. But..well...for some of you - he didn't need to bother to go to any authorities. He decided to gather you up into a mob by highjacking the website. Those of you who are mobbing up behind him need to calm yourselves and ask...where is the proof? You who are so ready to hang Susan from the highest tree and have no proof should really take a good hard look at yourselves and your motivations.
Folks - let the bad karma take care of itself. Call the AG, the better biz bureau, but you'll need to get some FACTS together. And please stop complaining about the $$ - that's really, really lame.
Whether or not you agree with the cost is what it is and no more. Its just piling on more garbage to this.
I applaud Susan for not going negative. But then - if you know Susan, she wouldn't. And she took the high road with me in conversation about this awful business. She is really saddened by it and I'm saddened also, as is my partner. We recently acquired one of Susan's puppies and this puppy passed the vet with flying colors and we love him so and he's s-o-o-o smart and s-o-o-o sweet. Her puppies are well-kept and loved. And Susan has been nothing but wonderful from the first conversation and visit. She is not the problem here and thankfully, the problem is gone but leaves a trail of really bad karma.
And so we have the disgruntled leading the disgruntled but thankfully this too shall end.
Susan will come out of this on top and she'll be stronger for it. She's a really good person, folks, and its simply in the cards for someone who loves and cares for these wonderful puppies as she does.
http://www.thewrongpuppy.org/puppy_import_law.htm
THE WRONG PUPPY website is worth checking out - It may enlighten most readers.
This is all ridiculous. We bought our first dog from Susan 7 years ago. She is the smartest, most loving, most excellent dog of all time. And a great ball player too.
When we purchased her, Susan was totally up front about the fact that "Irish Jacks" are not a board-recognized dog breed. What that means is that Irish Jacks are expensive mutts that have been bred to have certain characteristics, like having super awesome calm and sweet dispositions.
What we got from Susan was exactly what we wanted, which was a great pet. If you are the kind of person who cares exactly what breed you want, what are you doing buying a dog you know is not a purebreed anyway? And then freaking out about it years later?
Irish Jacks are much better dogs than purebred Jack Russells. Parson Jacks are much more high strung and prone to be nippy. In others words, pure from a paperwork sense but not nearly as good as pets.
We also used Susan to breed our dog and now have two Elvis puppies in addition to our original dog. Same thing, they are super ultra sweet dogs, and have all been great and super gentle with our baby.
Anyway, this is just to say that I support Susan and trust her and if I was looking for a dog she'd be the first person I would contact.
Just to clarify my comment. "Irish Jacks" are a specific breed, they are just a newer breed. And the dogs that Susan sells are real "Irish Jacks".
The point is that these are awesome dogs that are worth every penny, and I trust Susan and would not hesitate to purchase another dog from her in the future.
Where does VMF get their puppies from? What is the name of the breeder?
Two posts above this one the writer says "Just to clarify my comment. "Irish Jacks" are a specific breed, they are just a newer breed. And the dogs that Susan sells are real 'Irish Jacks'."
This is an incorrect statement and only further confuses people. There is NO SUCH BREED.
If you have pure Jack Russell Terriers, you could have a specific line from (insert country) but you do not have a new breed. DIfferent lines from different countries can have a specific look to them - but they are still recognizable as a JRT. Taking an established breed like the JRT and then infusing it with blue eyes, ### ears, brindle coats, solid coats and drastically changing the size (in some cases 30-40lbs instead of the typical standard 10-20lbs) does not mean you have a 'new breed'. It only means you have a mix of several breeds with no consistency what-so-ever. This same type can be picked up at most any rescue, shelter or in any local paper in Ireland. Ireland has this type of mixed dogs of little to unknown origin all over the place and they are usually about 50euro ($80).
Olive Dempsey in the Galway area has supplied many puppies, probably hundred's... to brokers in the USA peddling brokered pups to uneducated americans. Do an internet search on the name. I know of 4-5 brokers in the USA she has sold them to. This 'new breed' is pretty easy to spot; They have no consistency in color, size, coat type, height, weight, build, eye color, temperament etc. Some do in fact look like what is recognized as a JRT. Most look like small shepherds, corgi's, chihuahuas, patterdales, fell terriers, poodle mixes etc. Don't be fooled - do your homework if you want a Jack Russell Terrier and do it VERY carefully if you desire one from Ireland and/or Irish lineage.
This appears to be human nature - It is sometimes hard to convince someone that something is credible and that they should believe it... But if they have already been taken/scammed... it will be three times more difficult to get them to see that and admit it.