Report concerning the shelter El Galgo Senior in El Campello (Alicante)

Additional reports below and at this website.

Introduction

In the year 2003 I worked as a volunteer at dog shelter El Galgo Senior, also known as Aristogalgo, for four months. The periods: the month April, from the 30th of May to the 25th of August and from the 17th of Oct. to the 24th of Nov. The centre is managed by Particia Osborne and its goal is to shelter and care for discarded and neglected sighthounds (galgos and greyhounds) and to make them ready for adoption abroad after they recuperated. 

I left for El Campello, only to help these dogs as much as possible. I found this help to be a harrowing necessity, but their was no follow up on the provided labour, initiatives and realisations. A few days after my departure the situation was back to the miserable level it was before I arrived there. I will try to make it clear with the next conclusions and remarks. What I experienced and see happen at Pat Osborne’s place is verging on the improbability. That is why I want to state, the following is not from a frustrated or disturbed mind but an objective description of reality. 

Conclusions at arrival 

The following goes for all three periods:

q       What you notice when approaching the area is the penetrating smell of urine and excrements.

q       Dogs being very nervous and "on edge". I.e. every move or event could trigger to fierce tumult (serious fights)

q       The area looked very messy every time: garbage everywhere, paper, plastic,...and especially a lot of dog shit. It was so bad, when entering you could not avoid stepping in to it and you would be smeared by jumping dogs with shit on their paws.

q       All dogs were running loose, no separation of males and females, or wounded and not wounded dogs.

q       Several dogs showed a fear reflex: hiding in a corner or hiding under the cactuses.

q       At arrival at the gate it always took Patricia a long time to show, though her office is at the entrance and the dogs started barking when I was  50 metres distant. When Pat finally showed up, dogs started to, enthusiastically, jump on her. She reacted by shaking them off, or snarl at them. If this wasn't enough she would not hesitate to kick and hit them, after which she would greet me with an angels smile.

q       When entering the office, I always was striked by the same thing, the floor covered with shit, same to the walls and hardly a chair or table to sit on. They were taken by the dogs and so, covered with urine and excrements. Not hard to understand, because there was a whole group of dogs permanently. Later it became clear to me, these were the dogs to scare to step outside: they were so traumatised, when they would dare to go out, they would be torn up by their "loving" own sort. Some of these terrified animals had very serious bite wounds and other wounds: probably sustained at one of the daily fights, occurring when Pat is alone with the dogs. None of these wounds was taken care of. The animals would lie down with the open wounds into the excrements and risk infections and so on. 

q       In the periods April and July-August I noticed the dogs were eating their own excrements ( which was almost fluid).A shortage of food or needed nutrients??

q       In The kennels, the corridors and the patio's the shit had gathered, so much it was impossible to see the floor. The tiles and concrete were almost invisible.

q       Most gutters were clogged up, so urine and excrements where piled up in it. Dogs would regularly lick it up and soon be vomiting.

q       For the whole area there was just one automatic watering place working. The other water places were broken or not working good and full of dead flies, alges and other mess. They were obvious never flushed or cleaned.

q        The whole area was littered with all kinds of rubbish: chewed up plastic, bags, cans, pieces of fabric, pieces of iron, rubber hosepipes, needles... Everything soaked with urine, so bad in the soil under it maggots were thriving.

q       The storage room for the food was every time almost empty. The left food was gnawed at by mice and rats and never enough to feed all dogs one more day. Quality of the dry food was also questionable, it was moulded.

q       In the kennels were the dogs were squeezed together there were sometimes blankets or other cloths, but they all were soaked by the urine and excrements. It seems to me that most people would find the smell unbearable.

q       In spite of the fact there are plenty of kennels, the animals were locked up with as much as possible into one kennel. Pat admitted it to reduce cleaning, to her alone it was to much work... 

q       The sewage disposal from the washing machine was open to the air. Dogs would drink this especially in the summer period.

q       There were males threatening and overawing each other constantly and around the females in season.

q        All the materials ( work and cleaning gear) was piled up and covered with a layer dust and sand.

q       Cleaning gear was unfindable at first. Wheelbarrows, needed to collect shit and garbage all had a flat tire and were useless. 

Conclusions during work. 

q       Also for the three periods. Pat did not help one day She was nowhere to be found. Or she was gone, or in her office behind the computer e-mailing or playing cards, or she had strategically withdrawn and sleeping some where. If she showed up it was for business concerning herself, like putting clothes in the washer, go through her things or checking if she thought things went to her desire... 

q       Animals she brought back from the vet and needed further care, she never cared for herself. Often I cared ( nursing wounds and covering them,...) for the animals on my own initiative.

q       Though she claimed all animals were treated against ticks, I spent long hours removing these parasites. Wherever I was, there were always dogs filled with them. It was a case of removing them one by one and give the dog 'Kiltix' afterwards. I had it always with me. I had to steal it from her "infirmerie" at moments she was gone, because after I had asked her for it she would remark: not needed, all dogs are treated.

q       Her management regarding the food and water supply left a lot to be desired. With good management you will make sure there is enough food and water for several days. You never know if there is going to happen something not foreseen and you could be forced to get back to your reserves. I had to remind Pat every time to the limited food and water and still she would wait until the last bag of dogfood and the last bucket of water to order new. Result was:  several times the dogs went practically a whole day without food or water. Which lead to other problems. The routine I was working on, to feed the animals on regular hours was interrupted, so I would again need a few days to get the animals back to a steady pattern. And dogs are just like people, no food, big displeasure and protest. the dogs became nervous again and every minor irregularity could lead to skirmishes. On those days I had my hands full, keeping the group under control and avoiding them to eat ( literally) each other. twice I paid for the water myself, because she  had urgent business at the moment of delivery....

q       The quality of the dry dog food was questionable, especially the first two periods. Every bag of dry dogwood, delivered by her ( umpteenths) steady supplier, was moulded. Not once she gave a comment on that to the supplier. The consequence was the shit was as good as liquid and the dogs were not satisfied. It went in on top and came out right away on the back.... To the flies a perfect surrounding to lay their eggs. to me more of a curse, this kind of substances are hard to clean, certainly on bad maintained and broken floorings of concrete with cracks and dents.

q       The better quality dog food, donated by several People and organisations, is not used for the dogs who need it the most. This means: Often Pat was tired of so many dogs in her office. You know what she did? She would get a bag of the more expensive dog woods (Hills, Waldham, Frolic, Eukanuba,...) from the storage room, went back to the office, opened the door and called, while she was tearing the bag open and scattered the food : "come outside sweeties, goodies for you, njam, njam." The result being that not just the dogs from the inside, but also a big part of the dogs outside raced for the food. So there would be a huge uproar, with bites and growls as a result. Not uncommonly I had to jump in to avoid worse. Not seldom I wondered why people had made the effort to bring her expensive, quality food.

q       Pat isn't able to be careful with money. This is what I men: regularly I found pieces of chewed on money and picked it from the ground. Not seldom it were 50 Euro notes. Most frequent finding places were her office and her "sleeping place" ( Pat slept in one of the cages) between the shit and pee. Money was careless pulled out of her pocket and thrown onto the table or closet. No problem for the dogs to fetch it and have fun with it.

q       Medical supplies are kept in Pats “infirmary”. Not in closed closets, but on open shelves on the ground. A hit every day: dogs pulled out all kind of things and "played" with it. From injection needles and syringes to anti-biotics and other drugs, disinfectants, bandages, scalpels, scissors, ... Unbelievable, the medical materials I found back in shit, urine and dirt, irreparable damaged...If the volunteers who made the effort to collect this, would see it...What fortune was eaten here, literally and figuratively spoken!...  

q       Pat didn't want people stay over at night on her domain. She loved her privacy. So every night I left the area to spend the night somewhere else. Consequence was I had no control on things I realised during the day. A few examples.... As I noticed at my arrival, there hardly was any water for the dogs. Seen the heat during summer, water was a necessity. So I placed big barrels and buckets everywhere there were dogs ( the kennels, the patio's, and on the domain) and filled them on a regular base. This went well until the evenings, but when I returned in the morning, Pat had removed the barrels and buckets. I never commented on that but replaced them every morning. Every day again. I was aware that a remark from me would go the wrong way with Pat.

Another example: to avoid fights between male for a female in season, or preventing a cover would be done  I placed  the females in one of the patio's. regularly I could go and get them back from the area, because Pat had let them go at night. The days this happened I would hear this from a far. the dogs would be noisier than usual while I was approaching the area. Ant not seldom there would be several new injuries on the dogs...  

q       Also the dogs who needed recovery for one or another reason and were separated by me, like sterilised females, I found back the next day between the other dogs.

q       As I said before: any remark or suggestion from my side would add up to the tension between me and Pat. Every time she would react infuriated and impulsive, she was always right and I was always wrong, I misunderstood, or there was a misapprehension. So I kept silent and did what I thought was right to the animals.

q       Prove Pat never separates females in season is given by the fact there are always heavily pregnant females around. Pat solves this problem" very simple" she just let the females to fend for themselves. Nature will take care of it, she used to say. Which meant: when the moment of birth was there, the female tries to find a shelter, for example under a bush and gives birth. This is impossible on a mountain where are hundreds of dogs around. Totally desperate and aggressive they try to keep other dogs at a distance. Those will wait until the new-born will make its first noises and will dart on to it. With some luck, the pup will not know to much from it, because several dogs pulling on the little body will immediately tear it into pieces. Sometimes the pup is not so lucky: when a dog will succeed to keep it to itself. That the pup will be eaten with taste, because the dogs are hungry: first the behind part and the head is kept until the last. In this case the pup will live his short live in a gruesome way. Sadly, I had to see this "live" on a few occasions, because I didn't succeed in separating the females in time. Sometimes their bellies didn't show.

q       Because I worked from the early morning to the late evening I was, luckily, able to collect most heavily pregnant females. I would shelter them in one of the kennels and gave them some clean blankets to lay on, so they could give birth in peace. At least, as long Pat was not repeating her daily game: letting the females out again. A few times I was able to separate females in the morning while they were giving birth and put them into a kennel. How many pups were eaten in the meanwhile I didn't know. The image of the terrified, totally desperate and helpless females is engraved into my mind. 

q       With great devotion and love I would take care of the mother and the new-borns. I gave them high protein and extra food and would check up on them regularly. The gratitude I could see in the eyes of the female, would make up for a lot. However...the next thing would happen again and again. The evening before leaving I would check their water and food for the night. When I went looking the next morning, the pups were gone. Only the mother would be in the kennel, looking at me with a question in her eyes. What should she do without her pups? Nature would provide her with enough milk, but what should she do with it? And because of her motherly instincts she was searching the kennel for her pups. Pups " euthanised" by Pat, because she could not take care of all the small fry. A few times I found a plastic bag, filled with dead pups...

q       Twice I forced, with much difficulty, Pat to visit the vet. Both times it was about a female that was bleeding to death. One of them in front of Pats eyes, the other I found, luckily, just in time, in the morning. With the female, that Pat let dead calm, lie in her office, it was a phantom pregnancy, whereby a tumour developed which burst open. With the other female it was a complication during giving birth. Later we found she had three decomposed pups in her womb. .

q       In the beginning of every period, daily fights on live and death occurred. I was so fortunate to prevent, several times, that an animal was eaten. Except for the one time I arrived in the morning and I found a number of dogs to dispose of the remains of a just tore up dog. After a few days ( at the most a week) I had everything under control and there were no more fights. Until I was at home a few days and Pat would tell me in an e-mail there was another "red nose day". Red nose is Pats name for the fact the dogs who helped eating their congener have their noses covered in red blood.

q       At the beginning of my stay, Pat was always swarmed round by dozens of dogs, who would follow her as a shadow. After time passing the number of dogs following her would lessen and they would stay near me. Especially around 11Am this was remarkable. This was a conditioned reflex: if Pat is alone, they will follow her, hoping to get some food. It is impossible for Pat to fill all troughs in the dining area every day, so she will throw an open bag of food on the ground once in a while. So it is grab whatever you can...Being so much dogs around me at 11 AM , was just because they knew I was going to fill the troughs in the dining room. 

q       After spending hours on clearing all the mess (plastic, bags, wood, fabric,...) the area would be cluttered with all kinds of stuff the next day. This wasn't so hard , I noticed Pat doing it: leaving stuff behind and letting bin-bags behind on the area. For the dogs a fine opportunity to search for a new "toy".

q       Dogs that arrived new from Albacete,  Almendralejo, or the Barcelona track, were released into the pack almost immediately. Real spooked dogs she would sometimes keep a few days into her office, but soon she would be fed up with them  and they would meet the same fate. So there was no Quarantaine period, no control on diseases, injuries or parasites...

q       It happened a few times that Pat would go to pick up a dog from a patio, to get there she would have to pass the supply room were all the food is stored. Almost every time she succeeded to let a dog go in there. Consequences: half of the bags and /or cans was destroyed by a enthusiastic dog that was having a party for himself. This would also go for the expensive food.

q       It was not uncommonly for dogs to escape the territory, when food or water was delivered. Not strange, the gates had to be open wide to enter with the truck. Sometimes the animals returned by themselves, sometimes we never heard anything again. Except for the few occasions we heard from the police, that these animals drowned in a pool or water reservoir...

q       To Pat these dogs were a group of defenceless individuals, she could vent her frustrations and moods on. It wasn't always “hello sweethearts, hello lovelies…” but also often “fucking dogs, you bastards,…”accompanied or not by hitting or kicking. Of course this would not happen when there were visitors...

Personal conclusions

As a 43 year old man I already had my hands filled with keeping the shelter under control and had to little time to give the animals the attention they really needed. Pat, being a 61 year old woman is physically totally unfit to run a animal shelter all by herself.

q       Her knowledge of giving first aid is inadequate. This showed a few times when it was necessary to give first aid to animals.

q       Luckily I always succeeded to stop fights by throwing myself, literally, between the fighting animals. the only thing pat seemed capable off, was yelling "no, no", and hoping it would stop... 

q       Hygiene on the property is appalling. it may be called a miracle there are no more diseases and infections... 

q       There is no order in the centre for the animals. They are living in a constant stress situation. Never knowing when there is food or water available. And on occasions there is something, the law of the strongest will apply.

q       On the area is nothing like a living space for humans. Every thing will happen between the dogs, sleep, wash, eat, go to the bathroom,... 

q       It is my opinion that Pat has not a grain of love for animals and for the dogs that are put into her care no sense of responsibility. Except for some favourite dogs, the others are left to fend for themselves. Just think of the males and females living together, males not being castrated to prevent aggression and pregnancies, the place is filling with dogs who have mange, are covered with flees and ticks, with wounds that aren't cared for,...

q       On a human level there is also something wrong I think. An open conversation with Pat is absolute impossible. She is always right and never open to other ideas. The work of the may volunteers is barely appreciated. The only thing she actually  does is make demands. One should think she would be thankful for any help.   

q       Either the shelter must be managed by a more capable person, or the centre should be closed. A compromise is not possible I think. Decreasing the number of dogs will be no solution, because Pat will for sure will again bring in a number from the Barcelona track. They pay her 100 Euro a dog and treat her( she said) like a VIP... something she can pull her self up on.... 

Summing-up

I tried to represent this as objective as I could. I hope I succeeded at least for a part. I am sure I wasn't complete. My experiences on that mountain won't leave me. I am still constantly thinking about it and can't sleep over it. But, I no longer will help Pat, because it would keep a disgraceful situation for the dogs maintained. Maybe this way I can add to force a solution in a long term. If one wishes to  hear more about the situation over there, they can always contact me personally. My data are known.   

Hans Smet

Belgium

smet.hans@pandora.be

0032-(o)-483250

More Volunteers' Reports on Conditions at Alicante.......

I had the opportunity, with three others, to visit El Galgo Senior in October 2002. From the sounds of your dissertation, nothing has changed since I was there. How discouraging. As I read through, everything that I have worked so hard to forget came flooding back in my memory.

Your pictures, while graphic, did not portray the filth, arid heat, lack of water and close quartered deplorable conditions. I wonder if it's possible? I came home, had my pictures developed and nothing of the horror I saw and felt showed up on film. People looked at pictures of a flat planed nature but got none of the raw savagery and desperateness behind the visual. I took pictures of dogs guarding the skulls of other dogs and dogs in "surgery" from an attack that occurred when we approached the gate the first day. Impossible to capture was the smell of a carcass three days old (that we know of) left to rot in the back of her truck that she took to town each day. There were also dogs circling the "burning pit" trying to pull out the parts of dead animals that had not yet been completely burned.

ALL of the things that you talked about, from medical supplies out in the open, to food occasionally thrown on the ground for the most aggressive dogs to guard and consume, to dogs escaping out the gates and Pat's screams and obscenities when the inevitable dog fights broke out. Her "personal quarters" in the kennel, her office, the "surgery" with no electricity, no anesthesia and no running water. We even took one of the dogs that had been degloved in a fight into the emergency vet in town, only to have the dog succumb later in the evening. At least that one wasn't eaten. I personally saw everything you described except the pregnant females or the puppies. I'm very sad to know that nothing has changed.

When we left Alicante, the four of us took 17 dogs with us in a 9 passenger van. Obviously, that move was not the solution to the problem, but it was all we could do at that time. I sincerely hope that your letter opens the eyes of others and that further steps will be taken to remedy the neglect and fear that permeate that facility.

We visited four other "shelters" in the week that we were in Spain and no where were the conditions even close to being the deplorable, horrid mess they were in El Campello. We spent almost 3 days at Alicante (and had to leave in the evening) and it was very apparent that 3 months would not have been enough to resolve issues that are embedded in the domain that is, "Pat Osborne". She is the "Queen of the Hill" so to speak and I wonder what it will take to bring her down and let the dogs that she keeps in her care have a life free of fear and inhumane conditions?

Merrie in Michigan, U.S.A.

-------------

In summer 2001, the US vet team of Dr. Karen Michalski (2 ladies, 2 men) had asked me to help with the organisation of their visit to Spain and to the EGS shelter. As all 4 of them had bookd their flight back to the states early in the morning of Oct. 29th, they had planned to stay with the 8 sighthounds in a hotel in Barcelona. On their arrival there the hotel rejected the four volunteers because of their 8 hounds.

Both, my husband and I have tried for hours to find another hotel but finally ended up offering our own home (a city flat) for all of them, of course including the 8 galgos.

We were completely shocked when the americans with the 8 galgos (spanish greyhounds) from Pat Osborne arrived. One was pregnant in a very advanced state (and gave birth on the flight to the US) and the other 7 were all awfully thin and with untreated bite wounds all over. The wounds had swollen and infected edges, several had puss and it was just disgusting to see those skinny dogs with 5-6 bites on each side of the ribs. One wound had even shown little larvaes in it and I pulled 6 out of the badly infected bite!

The most shocking of it was to see that those dogs somehow lived in a kind of daze. It was as if they had hidden in a kind of daydream to forget or to survive their experiences. Like people under shock after an accident...

You should have seen the hungry dogs sniffing all the house and one even stole a sausage out of the sizzling!!! pan. She must have burnt her mouth terribly but she still ate the whole piece. All the other dogs ran immediately into the kitchen and tired hysterically to get some food. Our own 5 dogs even let them eat all the dry food and never tried to defend it. They must have realized that those dogs needed every bite of it.

From the date of issue of the vaccination booklets of those EGS dogs, it was visible that the pregnant dog had been mated at EGS. Also we could see that many dogs had been there for a long time and their bad state of health was not due to any neglect from the hunters.

Most of the 8 dogs came in season the very next day after their arrival in our house. It is very typical for bitches that were under stress and had found a safe place. The bitches in season also are the proof that EGS does not spay/neuter their dogs as it should be and bitches and males are not separated (see pregnant bitch).

Two days later the americans were gone but nothing was back to normal after having seen those dogs. I swore to myself that I will do everything possible to investigate EL GALGO SENIOR and the above mentioned reports made my worst suspicions come true.

Weeks after the departure of the 8 dogs we both still had nightmares, horrible dreams of very skinny dogs with wounds looking like lips, the lips like obscene mouths asking for food. Horrible!!

We ask the authorities to investigate and close this place once and for all!

Mo Swatek & Carlos Garcia

Vic, Spain

REPORT – EL GALGO SENIOR 2002

In the summer of 2002 I found myself very tearfully driving our family car to Alicante to try and find this awful place I had been hearing about. As an animal lover I could not believe there could be such a place on earth. I had adopted a lurcher and was surfing the internet to find more information about them when I seemed to be hearing disturbing things about a lady called Pat Osbourne. If this place existed then I needed to help. I got into the car alone and set off.

To this day I don’t know quite where I got the courage from but in some ways I’m glad I know the facts and in other ways I wish I’d never seen what I saw because I still have nightmares and cry when I think of there.

I had no idea of where to find her and asked all and sundry until I found a retired British policeman who was walking his dog. Obviously an animal lover he just shook his head and drew me a map, he knew something I didn’t. I had also heard that she left her dogs unattended for long periods of time. I was prepared to get any desperate animals out and even took wire cutters as an extreme measure.

I thought I had found it as I proceeded up a dirt track to some buildings. I asked and got sworn at and people started shouting at me, I knew that there was something terribly wrong. They shouted about dead dogs on the road and dogs running loose over the hillside.

Eventually I found it, as I walked up to the gates I just froze. There was a bonfire with dead carcasses and what looked like two heads of dogs. A crowd of dogs stood at the gate and Pat was walking towards me. There were loose dogs that ran past me and a small mongrel started biting my ankle. Pat crashed through the gates and a black dog put his head through and Pat purposely slammed the gate onto him, not once but twice. When I asked her to call the dog biting my ankles she just walked up to me and kicked it underneath the stomach propelling it through the air…She said “I call him “Yakult” because he is a germ. Don’t worry he will not bother you I will have him destroyed tomorrow.” I was just stunned. She shut him in her old car parked outside the gates with windows shut in the blazing sun.

I told her that my father-in-law lived in Alicante and I was visiting and had seen her website and offered to transport some dogs to Calais. She agreed and said I could take ten the following morning. I went through the first set of gates and could not believe what I saw. There had been rain for a couple of days prior to my visit and dogs drank out of filthy puddles that others urinated in. Screams echoed across the hillside as dogs fought each other. Every dog was gashed and torn. The smell of rotting flesh and death will always stick in my mind. A poor Galgo approached me dragging its legs, two of them broken. I just stood there and the worst of it is I did nothing I was so shocked I could not move. Pat brought out a bag of food, ripped it open and tipped the whole bag on the floor on top of the mud. A big strong looking dog stood on top, growling. Others daringly nibbled at the edges. When Pat went out of sight I filled my pockets and took some over to those too weak and injured to move. I could hear a metallic sort of sound and couldn’t work out what it was. I was definitely not welcome through the inner set of gates. I looked over to the next compound where blind dogs were crashing into the fences. That was the noise. There were lots of them; I did not know then that dogs could be blinded by a disease caused by rats’ urine. When Pat had walked down to the gates the dogs had followed her but when I entered the gates they followed me instead, I saw the look on her face that they had chosen me. Pat’s attitude to me then changed noticeably.

The next day I returned early to collect the dogs.”Yakult” was gone and I felt awful that this comment I made to her probably sealed his fate. Pat was a lot unsure of me and asked for my name and address and would only let me take four dogs instead of ten. I was disappointed but four would be saved. Pat made me stand outside the gates for an hour and a half whist she prepared their paperwork. I was in the blazing sun and felt so horrified at the sight of these helpless animals. What could I do, I was there on my own and ill equipped. Pat seemed to think there was nothing wrong and that shocked me even more. I saw dogs that had been on Pat’s website for months. These dogs had not arrived in this condition.

 I was told Josephine would meet me in Calais at a hotel and collect the dogs.

After leaving Pat’s premises the shock hit home. I just collapsed and woke when one of the dogs “Tigreton” started licking my face. I lay out in the back of the car and all four lay by my side to keep me warm. I was totally delirious and I know it sounds dramatic but “Tigreton” and “King” kept me going. I took the dogs to a hotel in Calais and wanted to spend some time with them. To my dismay Josephine turned up early and very suspicious of me obviously acting on Pat’s opinion. She burst through the door and took my photograph, snatched the dogs from me and I was hysterical. She would not listen to my pleas and what I was telling her about conditions there.

Eventually I set off for England but could not rest. I found myself back on the ferry to Calais and drove to Antwerp to Josephine’s house to plead with her. As I walked through the door my friend “Tigreton” rushed to meet me. That was the last time we saw one another. Poor Josephine was shocked as I burst in the house asking if she had been to Alicante and seen what was happening there. Josephine threatened to call the police so I left. Josephine had not been to Alicante for a long time. I begged with her to go and she did and soon after stopped working with Pat. I have the greatest admiration for Josephine and we have since apologised to one another.

There are other shelters and refuges in Spain that are very basic because the people have no money, volunteers and help. Pat had financial help and an army of volunteers so it didn’t have to be this way. Later that year I met two volunteers who had been there on separate occasions and been tricked out of their savings by a staged confrontation between Pat and her veterinarian , Nicasio,  where he would demand his money and Pat would start crying saying she had no money. As one described the incident the other broke down and started crying. They had both stepped in and given money.

Laura, UK

Email: houndsaver@aol.com

This dog has a very large open sore that the other dogs continually licked at.

Pat Osbourne with the dogs.

Pat Osbourne with the dogs.

More reports here.