Thirteen handicapping modalities are listed on this site which offers donated then trained service dogs as assistants to children and adults with special needs. Some of these dogs, as young as 7 months and with little Veterinarian care (one with an unreported previously broken leg) are placed with families who can pay as much as $8,000 for the dog. Some of those handicapping conditions which are to be served and included on the site are: autism, visual and auditory impairment, spina bifada, multiple sclerosis (see site advertising for handicapping conditions listed).
In order to provide this "service", one would expect the internet site would contain both a Board of Directors and a list of certified consultants in these handicapping modalities, not to mention an identifiable Veterinarian. Specialized and expensive training materials for these modalities would need to be present (e.G. Motorized wheelchairs, ports, tubing, etc) and extensive indoor training facilities and storage of equipment and dog supplies, present.
Sanitary, indoor, and outdoor conditions for the dogs, and on-going Veterinarian and consultant input would be absolutely necessary as would comprehensive socialization of the dogs. None of these conditions appear to be present either on the internet site or as observed by parents with, specifically, autistic children who have reported the conditions at the physical site. Local and State oversight should also be required.
Rather, dogs are primarily (but not necessarily) solicited as donations from breeders under false pretenses, and it is possible some are from shelters, kept outdoors in cargo kennels under a picnic-like covered area surrounded by a chain link fence. It was 100 degress I believe yesterday in Westfield, NC.
Those parents who have contacted me via a number of forums have indicated the property consists of a single wide trailer in a very rural (remote) area in Spokes County, and that complaints or investigations have been met with a do-nothing attitude by animal control and the nearest humane society. Further, owners of HSD do not respond to questions in any obligatory period either by e-mail or telephone. Parents report not having seen any specialized equipment to meet the multiple and varying handicapping conditions Heritage Specialty Dogs proports on its website offerings. Nor are multiple trainings of the owners listed on the site listed or verifiable (this training would have to be handicapped-specific to dogs being trained).
This is one of the most potentially terrible bait and switch abuse of people and dogs imaginable, and one apparently flying under the radar for quite some time. A complete and thorough investigation of this facility and its so-called training processses is necessary, immediately. I call on the Attorney General
of North Carolina, animal rights advocates, and advocates of the included disabilities listed on the site, and including ADA representatives to carry out this investigation. Potential purchasers from HSD should proceed with caution and risk taking with them a knowledgable ombudsperson when visiting this facility.
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