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Posted by anonymous on May 13th, 2009

I really hope that your experience with that organization does not throw you off on adopting. There are alot of dogs out there that need and deserve a loving home. I suggest that you check out table mountain

Posted by frost on May 14th, 2009

It has not. We went with a Cell Dogs program in Canyon City, CO instead and actually found a dog who is coming home on May 28th

We are excited to get her!

Posted by anonymous on May 18th, 2009

Wow! This story sounds very much like me own. If only I had seen your blog before my family and now extremely disappointed kids had wastes a month of our time trying to jump through ColoradoFurBabies hoops. Still pissed!!!

Posted by frost on May 19th, 2009

Well that is my goal. Posting a link to my blog at other places will help spread the word and save people from the disappointment and frustration.

I would highly recommend the Colorado Cell Dog Program in Canyon City. They have been awesome to work with, and the dogs there are great! They get full training etc. You have to pay a bit more ($450) but the dog that comes home with you is fully house trained, basic commands etc and has all their shots. Every dog we saw when we went up to Canyon city was a dog that looked home worthy, honestly.

I will write a blog about that once we get our new dog

Posted by anonymous on June 20th, 2009

Wow you people are amazing! You people clearly do not understand the operations of a rescue. I volunteer for a rescue in my city and let me tell you it is more than a full time job. I spend 40 plus hours each and every week on fundraisers, applications, recruiting volunteers, etc.... That's all in addition to the nights of no sleep because the puppies are terrified due to the circumstances they just came from. Instead of criticizing everyone maybe you'll want to join in to help solve the problem. My biggest pet peeve in the world is people that complain but never try to help.

Posted by frost on June 21st, 2009

Clearly we "tried" to help. It is not our fault the dog was not right for us and that we did not get the opportunity, which is not our fault or the foster families fault, to meet the dog sooner. I do not blame the foster family because I know family items are more important. I do however blame this place for calling us bad people that we held up the dog, which we did not, the foster person held up the dog by not being available, and for not adopting a dog that we clearly did not want/would not fit our life styles. Would you rather of us adopted the dog, then a month later put it right back in a shelter/foster home? I doubt that.

It is nice that you help, but my biggest pet peeve are people like you who think that putting a dog into the wrong home just to get them out of a shelter/foster home is the right choice. When the chances of the dog being put back in the shelter/foster home would have been high. This may have increased the chances of it getting put down and all for the simple fact that the dog was not right dog for us.

Thanks for your comment.

Posted by anonymous on August 04th, 2009

I do not understand your post at all. I have adopted two pups to date from Colorado Furbabies and my experience was more than wonderful . Thats why we went back to adopt from them the second time.
I dealt with two volunteers, foster homes, that had my babies in their care. I also dealt with Susan and she was more than helpful to us . She talked to me in great length about the pups I was interested in , where they came from and whether she felt they were good matches for my family. My babies are a part of my family and I appreciate Colorado Furbabies Rescue more than I can say.
There are two sides to a story and im sure that you are not telling the side that might show you in a bad light.
Do you know the meaning of the word volunteer? They are unselfish, giving people. They do all of their work on their own time. They often spend tons of their own money to do what they do.
Please ADOPT FROM COLORADO FURBABIES. YOU WILL BE HAPPY YOU DID!!!

Posted by frost on August 04th, 2009

Believe what you like. If you have had a great expierence awesome! More power to you. Really the only reasoning for this post was the un-professional manner that Susan sent the email to us.

All we did was decline a dog, that we tried to schedule a meeting with for 2 weeks, and even drove to their place (which was 1 hour out) and waited for another hour to find out that we could not meet the dog. We tried our best to meet the dog sooner, but as I stated we never wanted the dog to be held for us, we just wanted to meet the dog.

The letter sent to use from Susan was very rude, and completely unnecessary. It was not our fault the dog did not suit us. She needs to learn to be more professional and to ask us "why" it took so long. As it was not our fault that the foster person had personal issues going on. I do not blame the volunteers at all. Please read it thorougly. I understand that they volunteer and that their family issues come first. But Susan needs to understand that as well and not cuss at us, yes the letter had curse words for not choosing to adopt that dog.

Thank you for your comments, but please read what I write as I am just trying to prevent some people from having the same expierence with the unprofessional matter in which we were treated by Susan from Colorado Furbabies. Your comments are always welcomed and as you say there are 2 sides to every story. My side is just as important as their side, as I was not the one to write a nasty letter to Susan, she was the one to write it to us.

Posted by anonymous on September 01st, 2009

I have to agree with frost on this one. I recently had a pretty bad experience with Colorado Furbabies as well...especially with communication. To make a long stroy short:
-Application process went fast
-Foster parent set a date to do a home-visit and never showed nor called
-Susan was a bit high-strung for me (going on & on about how she single-handedly "shut down" two shelters).
-We adopted a puppy
-2 hours after we adpot, I recieve a call from the Lending Tree asking if Susan can cash my check...hmmmm...
-The next day the pup was incredibily ill...diahrea, vomiting, lethargic, dry nose, etc.
-We owned the dog for less than 48 hours and spent more than $700 on it (I am MORE than prepared to spend $ on a pup...however, within 48hours???)
- Susan never return my call about my sick pup (I politely asked for suggestions on what to do).
-I contacted the foster mom to let her know that our pup had a parasite (b/c she adpoted a litter mate).
-Foster mom asked for the name of the anitbiotic the vet gave our pup, b/c "Susan has a bunch of those drugs that I can give my dog, so I don't have to take him to the vet."
-WOW! Must be nice to not have to pay $200 for a vet bill

I am not saying that you shouldn't adpot from here...the pups are adorable and they NEED loving homes. I would not, however, expect to get any help for your pup AFTER you've paid for it. Regardless of what vaccines, deowrming, etc that they have "apparrently" had, I would still take your new pup in for a health screening immediately. I am completely in love with our pup and he was worth every dime...but I will not keep in touch with Colorado Furbabies and will not take my pup to any of the places that they'd suggested us to. Yes...the jobs they do are admirable. Yes...they are good people. Yes...they need to work on communication and taking responsbility for selling someone a sick pup.

Posted by anonymous on September 16th, 2009

Why do you have an issue with your check being cashed?? Isnt that what you did paid a fee for your dog?
I know for a fact that the rescue will pay for any illness that occurs within in ten days . You need to follow directions. Take your pup to the vet they use. How hard is that? Thats what I had to do.
Sometimes pups are ill without any signs. Just like a person it can take time to show.
As for the drugs you are bitching about. Many vets give rescues medications such as antibiotics and dewormer so that they do not have to send every pup in. If the vets didnt think it was okay they wouldnt do it. You are just a miserable person and I feel bad for you dog.

Posted by anonymous on October 09th, 2009

I adopted a puppy from Colorado Furbabies in July at an adoption event. We filled out the contract, wrote our checks, took the dog. I was told I would have a home visit and receive the shot records in the mail. Over the next 4 weeks, I spoke with Susan 3 times about not having received the paperwork. The first, she was waiting on someone to get it to her, the second, she had it and was mailing it, the third, she would email it to me right now. I have yet to receive anything. She's not returning my calls. Now, I dont' know where to take my pup to get her fixed. Susan had told me there was a vet they work with. I gave up on the paperwork and have been trying to get the vet information. I've emailed and phoned many times with no response. I understand from someone at Canine Campus that they even have trouble with Colorado Furbabies, and they're fostering one of their dogs and Susan won't call them back either. Just don't do it. I think there are some serious problems with this organization. BTW - I never even had a home visit. I wonder if Colorado Furbabies is doing more harm than good here.

Posted by anonymous on October 20th, 2009

Danita, your records have b een emailed AND mailed to you. They consist of the one vacc your puppy recieved and the deworming.
Your spay appt will be made AS STATED in numerous emails to you when your puppy nears the six month old stage.
This is the way things have been done in CFB since day one. Why are you having such a hard time with this?
Your fee paid to have your puppy spayed and CFB will honor that. Appts arent made two months in advance.

Posted by anonymous on October 25th, 2009

Interesting Susan. I have no records by email or mail. And my puppy is one week away from 6 months old. I was told I would be contacted when my dog was 4-5 months old. I don't have unreasonable expectations. Words are just words. And yours have been quite empty so far. I'm still waiting...

BTW - I think it's interesting that you have so much time to search around on the internet to defend yourself in blogs, but you dont' have time to do business and meet contractual obligations.

Posted by anonymous on October 29th, 2009

Seriously, don't adopt from shelters that have that kind of system going-- regardless of how it ends up. It's a lot of money out of your pocket that never goes to help the dogs receive adequate veterinary care or foster home attention.

ALL RECORDS SHOULD BE PROVIDED AT THE TIME OF ADOPTION including eating/sleeping/behavioural conduct that the shelter or foster family is aware of. And, trust me, the shelter or foster family should be well aware of any concerns regarding any of those. There should be no discrepency in this. Also, all animals should be spayed or nuetered before the adopting family takes the animal home. Dogs can be spayed/nuetered at young ages. You don't have to wait for the six month mark. A shelter should also be able to provide information regarding sick animals up to eleven or so days after adoption as well as have resources people can call if they have questions about vet services and behavioural issues post adoption. MOST VETS DO ALLOW FOR THE FIRST VISIT (check up to find any problems) FREE FOR SHELTER DOGS ADOPTED TO LOVING FAMILIES.

I'm not saying the above is legal, but it is responsible on behalf of the shelter and, you as a pet owner, to be sure that all communication lines are open and all information is passed down to the new pet owners. It sounds like the pet owners are being responsible, but the shelter is not.


>>>>>>>>>If you've had a bad experience with this shelter concerning a lack of professionalism, missing paperwork (which I do think legally has to be provided upon adoption, but I am not 100% sure), check fraud, or any other type of fraud, suspicion of inadequate animal care (which it sounds like from one of the above posts), or something else gravely concerning, notify the attorney general's office (ago. state. co. us) and/or the Department of Agriculture to have them do an investigation into this shelter.<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<

And, next time, please consider adopting from well known and trustworthy shelters such as MaxFund, Dumb Friends League, any county rescue shelter (those are normally run by the county governements, so you know you're not getting jerked around), or the Colorado Puppy Rescue. Or, go into your nearby doggie daycare and ask staff there for any suggestions and good, safe places to adopt a shelter dog. (As a side note, a lot of doggie daycare provide one free day of daycare to a shelter dog. And, if you do go that route, make sure the daycare has webcams that you can view at home during the day.)

Adopting a new family member is meant to be pleasant for both you and the animal.

Posted by anonymous on October 29th, 2009

Let's face it, rescue dogs can get sick especially puppies who haven't finished all their immunizations. However, it's how the rescue handles it is what counts. A friend of mine adopted a puppy from Colorado Puppy Rescue and it came down with Giardia. The rescue took the puppy back, refunded their money and treated it until it was better and then readopted the puppy back to my friend. Each day they were treating the puppy, they were called with progress.

Posted by anonymous on October 29th, 2009

Wow. I'm a foster mom for the Rocky Mountain Great Dane Rescue and didn't know until now how lucky I am! I can't imagine fostering for a rescue like Colorado Furbabies, much less going through their adoption gauntlet. Very sad as their actions give such a bad name to the rest of the rescues in the area. If you're looking to adopt, I highly recommend RMGDR or Maxfund.

Posted by anonymous on October 31st, 2009

I would not adopt from CO Furbabies again and I recommend if you see this before adoption you don't either. (this is Danita - who has been arguing with Susan in the above post). I contacted both the Attorney General and the BBB. The Attorney General forwarded to the BBB. Susan responded to them with complete lies (that she didn't know why I didn't get the paperwork at the time of adoption, she has returned all my calls and emails, and has sent the paperwork). She also said that the person who contacts regarding the spay has still yet to call me. Come on! The dog is 6 months old now... they say they'll contact between 4-6 months. I won't do this again. Lessons learned...

Posted by anonymous on November 11th, 2009

Shocker. After many a complaint, phone call, email to Susan and the vet coordinator, I (Danita from above) finally got a call from the vet coordinator who scheduled an appointment for my dogs spay. I still don't have the paperwork from her initial shots, but they pulled through. They are working with a vet that they just began working with recently. I'm grateful to have had the spay of my dog covered, and by a seemingly competent and caring facility. I do still believe that CO Furbabies should be approached with caution.

Posted by anonymous on December 09th, 2009

WE adopted our puppy through CFB and our puppy is now 6 months and still have not received a call to get our pup spayed. We have gone back and fourth with Susan through some nasty e-mails and still no answer on why she cashed our fifty dollars and why NO ONE HAS CALLED US BACK TO GET HER SPAYED. We are very upset with them because we have been lied too. We talked to the foster parent and she told us that she left the rescue because Susan was doing some bad stuff to people like stealing their money. I feel like she is using these poor animals for her own gain and needs to be stopped.

Posted by anonymous on December 10th, 2009

My experience with Colorado Furbabies was a nightmare - ongoing actually. The application process went well but when it came time to have our visit the dog had escaped from the yard and was picked up by Animal control. When the process was finally complete it took months to get any kind of response regarding having her spayed, only after sending nasty emails were we able to get a reply. Once that was taken care of we thought we were home free - not even close. The check we wrote for $50 (the REFUND FOR SPAYING) in February was actually CASHED by Colorado Furbabies yesterday 12/9/09, nearly 10 months later. How disappointing and unfair to all of the animals and people being taken advantage of.

Posted by anonymous on December 10th, 2009

OMG!!! The same thing has happened to me! I wrote my $50 check back in February and it was just cashed on 12/02...I wished I would have read some blogs before going with Colorado Furbabies, I can't believe someone would lie and take advantage of good honest people. I've left tons of voicemails and sent emails to them and not a single response. Did anyone's check have a phone number written on the top? Mine did but I can't make it out cleary. Its either 303-993-7095 or 7895 either way I called both numbers and no one answered. I am really pissed off with Colorado Furbabies!!!!!!!

Posted by sruiz on December 10th, 2009

I'm the one that commented on the above post and I don't feel I need to be anonymous, I want Colorado Furbabies to know SHAWN RUIZ is going to post bad stuff about them until I get my money back!

Posted by anonymous on December 11th, 2009

I posed the first comment from 12/10, my name is Jackie Dunn- No need to be anonymous. I did notice that Colorado Furbabies raised their adoption fee from $175 (which is what it was in February) to $225 - up $50, hmmm. I do have a copy of the check that was cashed - at the Moneytree, Inc. Store # 131 - for deposit only - account # 4944942481. The check is signed CFB. I have also filed a complaint with the BBB.

Posted by anonymous on December 11th, 2009

I, too, have had a pretty tough experience with Susan Matthews of Colorado Fur Babies. I love my dog very much and am grateful for the service this organization claims to provide, but it sure would be great if they would do what they say they are going to do. I am still waiting for my $50 refund of a deposit check they cashed after telling me they wouldn't. Getting my dog's vaccination papers, tag, and spay procedure done was like pulling teeth. The company is almost completely non-responsive to email, voicemail, and US Mail. What else are we to do? Both the shelter where my dog came from and Petco say they no longer do business with Colorado Fur Babies. I must not be the only one who has suffered issues.

Posted by anonymous on December 12th, 2009

Here is what the BBB has to say about Colorado Furbabies:

"Customer Complaint History

The Denver/Boulder BBB has noticed a pattern in complaints filed against the organization. Complaints allege issues with a $50 deposit requirement where the complainant writes the organization a $50 check to be held until the animal is either spayed or neutered. Once this is completed and records are sent to the organization, the un-cashed check is to be returned or destroyed. Complaints allege that at this time, the check is actually cashed instead. The organization indicates that all of its animals have been vaccinated and complainants allege that when they request copies of vaccination records, the organization does not send them and claims they have already been mailed. Furthermore, complainants allege that the organization fails to respond to phone messages and emails. The organization does not have a main phone number and asks, (on its Web site) people to call and leave a message at their voice mail system: 1-888-95-RESCUE. The organization has a note on its Web site about issues with the phone system that states:

"We are sorry for any inconvenience however we are currently experiencing difficulties with our rented mailbox message system. We hope to have this corrected soon and hoping to be able to keep same phone number. Please email us at fortheloveofthedogs@yahoo.com for a quick and timely response to any and all questions. If you have a vetting question please use our cfbvetting@yahoo.com address. Thanks for understanding."

When considering complaint information, please take into account the company's size and volume of transactions, and understand that the nature of complaints and a firm's responses to them are often more important than the number of complaints.

BBB processed a total of 5 complaints about this company in the last 36 months, our standard reporting period. Of the total of 5 complaints closed in 36 months, 5 were closed in the last year."

Ugh. Susan, I hope you see this because I am going to the police. You stole $50 from me and countless others. You are a very sick person and need to be stopped.

Posted by anonymous on December 12th, 2009

More from the BBB:
"Colorado Furbabies Rescue indicates on its website, that "Colorado Furbabies Rescue is a state licensed, non profit 501c3 PENDING rescue." According to the Colorado Department of Agriculture, Colorado Furbabies Rescue is not a legally licensed animal rescue."

Posted by anonymous on December 12th, 2009

They might be skipping town now. Their website is suddenly "being switched."

Posted by anonymous on December 12th, 2009

We reported them to the Attorney General's office and filed a complaint with the BBB. Hopefully we can get this resolved and get our $50 back that she stole from us.

Posted by anonymous on December 15th, 2009

My name is Heather and I am also having the same issue with my money being stolen. I adopted a wonderful dog named Brodin in April and was reassured when THEY scheduled his neuter that the check I wrote would be SHREDDED. Well as of November 20th it was cashed. I have left numerous voicemails and emails with no answer. As far as I found with some research and a few contacts Susan is MIA with all of this money and no more dogs are being adopted. I have also contacted the Head of the Vetinarary (sp) in the State of Colorado and am currently waiting on a phone call back. Apparently he is doing a full investigation. I am hoping the money is returned but I was not aware of how many people this has actually happened to. I am unable to read the stamp on the back of the check that was cashed. We need to get the word out that this lady is scamming everyone and wonderful dogs are at risk. If any more information is found out can anyone please email me at hmcgregor89@live.com. I just dont know how someone could do this, wouldnt that bank think something was up, Susan cashing all these checks that are written 6 or more months ago.....

Posted by anonymous on December 15th, 2009

Read the story that the 9news website is running about Colorado Furbabies. There is a number to call to file a complaint....

Posted by anonymous on December 15th, 2009

I called the Aurora police department and they have instructed me to go to the Arapahoe County Court as this is a civil case. The filing fee for documents is $45, and you have to make your own arrangements to have the summons served. If anyone is serious about working together to stop this woman from ripping others off and most of all from using poor animals as a front for her scam, please send an email to archden2009@yahoo.com. We can split the costs associated with the legal work and get this woman hauled to court. She needs to be stopped.

Posted by anonymous on December 16th, 2009

Hey its Heather again, Colorado Fur babies was shut down as of yesterday, the website is supposed to come down soon also. The investigation is pending so The Dept of Agriculture can't tell us very much information other than that. I'll keep posting if I know more.... If she isnt taken to court I will split the cost of taking her to civil court to get this money back

Posted by anonymous on December 16th, 2009

My posting of my email was incorrect above. Sorry, it is archden2008@yahoo.com. I would like to group together to file the civil case documents. This has been a terrible experience and as a long-time adopter from and supporter of the Dumb Friends League, I may just stick with them forever after this. At least you know you will get your dog's paperwork and the dog has truly been under veterinary supervision and care.

Posted by anonymous on December 18th, 2009

This is Jackie from 12/10/09. My BBB complaint has been closed - UNRESOLVED because " It is with great sadness that we inform you CFB is no longer an operating rescue. Intent of the rescue was to save as many deserving furbabies as we could. High costs of rescuing these babies from horrific conditions and properly vetting them with several needing hospitalization was the downfall of the rescue. CFB intends to refund all monies due to families that had faith in our rescue. Please send your info to this address for an immediate response. Dates of these refunds is yet to be determined".

Hopefully all who have had money stolen will receive a refund.

Posted by anonymous on December 18th, 2009

This is Jackie again. I just received an email from Susan regarding refunds -

Unfortunately refunds will take a while to be sent out. The rescue has not one dime and is now closed meaning no monies coming in.
I will be personally refunding money from my own pocket to families that are owed.
However at the present time due to domestic issues and illness im not employed. I am however in the process of interviewing and will find something soon. When I do find work I will refund monies as soon as possible.
It was never the intent of the rescue to do harm to anyone. Unfortunately the cost of vetting , to save many lives became overwhelming . In the year that CFB was operating I personally put in over four thousand dollars to transport pups, as well as treat for illness, ect.
Although I dont have answers as of yet I am working diligently to find some .
Susan

Posted by anonymous on December 27th, 2009

Well, these are really nice words, Susan. If only you were trustworthy enough to believe. You are nuts and need professional help. You have ripped us off, just admit it when you have to go in front of a judge. I would love to hear your "story" then.

Posted by anonymous on January 28th, 2010

Application and adoption went pretty smoothly for us, but I had a bit of a time getting info from CFB after adoption. Never did receive medical records for my pup, but Susan did email with description of shots he'd had. Definitely felt the organization is unprofessional, and wouldn't use them again or recommend them. Not surprised to see they are now closed. I can't believe the checks were cashed! So far my neuter deposit check HAS NOT been cashed, but thanks to you all, I'll be checking my transactions regularly. I know running rescues is a tough business, and I deeply respect all the individuals who take time out of their lives to conduct this important work. I just know there is a better way to do it, and CFB didn't.

Posted by anonymous on February 04th, 2010

My neuter check was cashed AND I had to pay for the neutering myself. This means I have spent $400 dollars more than planned. I love my puppy and wouldn't give him up, but I am very upset about all of this. Unlike many others here, my adoption process was great, but I think my puppy was one of the last ones adoptied out from CFB. I chose to go through CFB because Golden Retriever Rescue of the Rockies never contacted me after sending in applications. I think PetCo should be partially held responsible for the CFB fiasco. I asked the manager if CFB was a good rescue and she said "absolutely". I am in the process of writing a formal complaint to the company.

Posted by anonymous on February 05th, 2010

I think you (above poster) and I must have both adopted from the last puppies available before CFB disappeared.

I, too, adopted an adorable puppy from CFB in November. My $50.00 neuter deposit was cashed just a few days later. Susan wrote me an email claiming that her husband had "accidently" grabbed it with the other checks that were deposited that day.

She was very apologetic (although now I realize it was all an act). She gave me the option of either sending me a check for $50.OO and I would send her another check to hold in return...OR... just waiting until the pup was neutered and she'd refund the $50.00 then. I was annoyed, but said let's just wait until he's neutered, to save all of the swapping of checks.

Well... as others have said, shortly afterward, the CFB site went down, then when I emailed to question this, I received the automated response that CFB was no longer in operation.

I've sent repeated emails since then, only getting a response when I threatened her with legal action. Her only reply email, received a few days ago, stated she is now virtually homeless for a variety of reasons, doesn't have regular access to a computer, and that my $50.00 will be refunded at some point after she finds a job.... blah, blah, blah.

I am furious about this... especially from someone operating under the guise of a puppy rescue. How low can a person get?

I assume my $50.00 is a lost cause.

Posted by anonymous on February 05th, 2010

I am afraid none of us will ever see a dime of our money back. Susan Matthew is a thief. She will most probably start her scam up again in another state. Don't know how it is possible to track her but I have a very bad feeling.

Posted by fiona on May 09th, 2010

Wow! I started reading this because of the adopting a dog part. This was pretty interesting. I used to do humane work and never charged anything for it.