A cruel hoax

Right now I feel like I've been kicked in the stomach. . . hard.

Last night I had dinner with my friends, I'll call them Sue and Tom. They have lost two of their very much loved dogs in the last couple of months. One died suddenly, the other had to be put down. Sue and Tom love animals and would give any animal they own a good home. They are not the type that can get along without a dog in their life. When I arrived at their home, they showed me a copy of a picture of two beautiful Labrador Retrievers, Coco and Cookie. It seems their owners were facing foreclosure and had to go to an apartment and could not take these dogs with them. The story was these dogs were inseparable and it would be inhumane to separate them, therefore, the owners were looking for someone who would take both dogs. This information was given to Sue and Tom by reliable sources. Sue was hesitant. . . coming up with every excuse she could on why they should not take these dogs. I really believe she wanted these dogs, but she was just "scared", for lack of a better word.

I admit, at this point, leaning on my knowledge of Labs, I had one quick thought - Labs are very adaptable dogs. . . they can be happy on a farm, in a suburban home, all they require is a loving owner and adequate exercise and food. So why is it that these dogs reportedly could not get along without one another? But, caught up in the moment. . . and a couple of glasses of wine. . . I went to work on Sue. "Sue", I pleaded, "How can you even think of turning down an offer like this???" When I got down on my knees in front of Sue with my hands folded in prayer, she broke out in laughter. I've known Sue and Tom for over 30 years. I know how to push the right buttons with them. I was relentless in my campaign to get Sue to give in. Tom e-mailed the couple and asked them to call him. Nothing happened. "Okay," I said, "They are just not home at the moment."

I could see Sue was warming to the idea. . . what choice did she have?. . . there were three of us "working" on her and we weren't going to back down. When I left their house, she promised to call me today to let me know how this turned out. By 5:00 today I had heard nothing and I couldn't be patient anymore, so I called and left a message for her to call me. A few minutes later she called.

I was not prepared for what she told me. This was a hoax and the people that put her on to this were duped also. If you go to snopes.com, there is a message about this.

We all feel just terrible over this incident. It doesn't matter how it got started, who promoted this vicious scam. The pain is there.

Sue and Tom have extremely different ideas about acquiring dogs than I do. Their mindset is to go to a shelter or take in a dog who the owner can no longer care for. Many of their dogs over the years were adopted from Lollypop Farm (an animal rescue center here in the Rochester area). I, on the other hand, will never have a dog other than a puppy acquired from a reputable breeder who I have checked out extensively. I have had three Labs, two came from the same breeder, Molly, from another breeder. Two opposite mindsets. But what does it matter as long as you get the puppy that is right for you?

From what I understand, this scam has been making the rounds of the e-mail circuit for weeks. There is no telling how many unsuspecting victims have been hurt.

Please pass this along to anyone you know who may be looking for a puppy.