A lawsuit filed by Peninsula Pet Lodge in Gig Harbor against PURRR Rescue last September claims that PURRR moved 14 of its dogs 3 times between at least 3 dog rescues and the home of its director over the course of about 30 days in May and June last year.
Peninsula Pet Lodge filed the lawsuit in order to reclaim $7927.58 it says PURRR Rescue owes it for boarding 14 dogs last May and June.
Still shot of one of the pop up tents PURRR uses to store the dogs in their kennels. The video for this shot has since been taken down from the PURRR Facebook page. Image from PURRR Rescue.
The purpose of this post isn’t to make a judgement on whether or not PURRR owes Peninsula Pet Lodge the money – the courts will decide that soon enough. Instead, it shows that PURRR is spending thousands of dollars on bringing dogs to Washington and then basically keeping them in boarding instead of finding homes for them.
Furthermore, moving dogs constantly without providing them any stability or consistent behavioral training can exacerbate any behavioral problems they have or create them in dogs that don’t have them. It will also will make it even more difficult to find the dogs homes.
Here’s how events transpired according to the complaint filed by Peninsula Pet Lodge:
On May 1, 2014, PURRR Rescue was boarding 9 dogs (8 Pit Bulls, 1 German Shepherd mix) at Country Kennels in Tacoma, 11-12 dogs at Pet Ponderosa in Graham, and 7 Pit Bulls at PURRR Director Diana Van Husen’s home in Lakewood, a total of 26-27 dogs.
Around that time, Van Dusen asked the owner of Pet Ponderosa to contact Peninsula Pet Lodge to ask if they could take the 9 dogs at Country Kennels. Peninsula agreed to take the dogs for $20 per day per dog.
On May 5, 2014, the owner of Pet Ponderosa picked up the 9 dogs at Country Kennels and brought them to Peninsula’s facility in Ollala. Peninsula stated in the lawsuit that the dogs “arrived in poor health and presented obvious signs of neglect.” In addition, the dogs were “emaciated, malnourished, and smelled badly from not being bathed.” All the dogs needed medication for worms and fleas.
The lawsuit notes that the German Shepherd mix named Duke was “in particularly poor condition,” “suffering from stress and malnutrition,” and “missing hair all over his body.” His skin is described as “scaly and sloughing off his body,” and he was in “substantial discomfort and extremely sensitive to being touched.”
They took Duke to a vet who said he suffered from a fungus that needed immediate treatment, including “medication and regular baths with a specially formulated shampoo.”
On May 12, 2014, Van Dusen emailed one of Peninsula’s owners asking if she would take the 7 dogs she was keeping in her house, saying she was “in a bad way” because “animal control got [her].” Peninsula agreed to take the dogs at the $20 per day per dog rate.
On May 13, 2014, someone brought 6 dogs to Peninsula from Van Dusen’s house, and Peninsula took 5 of them, bringing the total number of PURRR Rescue dogs boarding at Peninsula to 14 (13 Pit Bulls and 1 German Shepherd).
In the lawsuit, Peninsula said these dogs had similar health problems to the PURRR Rescue dogs already there, stating they were “emaciated, malnourished, smelling badly, and in need of flea and worm medication.”
In this screenshot of a video from the PURRR Facebook page you can see the orange extension chord leading to a pop up tent where the dogs’ kennels are. The video is no longer on PURRR’s Facebook page.
There was no information in the lawsuit explaining what happened to the other 2 dogs.
According to the lawsuit,” all the dogs showed substantial improvement in their health and well-being as a result of the care and service” they received at Peninsula.
In early June, the lawsuit states that PURRR Rescues’s account “was not current, ” and that due to its failure to make payment, Peninsula instructed PURRR “to remove the dogs from [its] business premises.”
On June 9, PURRR transported the 5 of the dogs at Peninsula to Storm Rescue in Thurston County. The remaining 9 dogs were transferred to Storm the next day.
But just 2 days later, PURRR moved the dogs again, this time to the Pet Ponderosa, which was already boarding 11-12 dogs for PURRR, and the Pet Brigade. Both businesses are owned by the same person.
In addition to Peninsula Pet Lodge, the lawsuit alleges that PURRR also owes outstanding balances to Country Kennel, Pet Ponderosa, and/or the Pet Brigade.
The lawsuit says PURRR moved the dogs from Storm Rescue because the dogs were “housed outdoors, exposed to the elements, in metal cages” which is ironic since PURRR is currently keeping some of its dogs outdoors in metal cages inside flimsy tents.
Again, I’m not saying Peninsula should or shouldn’t win this lawsuit. But in my opinion, the information in it provides more evidence that PURRR Rescue is not providing a healthy, safe environment for almost 2 dozen of its dogs that gives them the best possible opportunity to be adopted into permanent homes.
The fact that later that summer, 3 dogs adopted from/fostered for PURRR killed two dogs and two cats provides supports my opinion. 2 of those dogs were euthanized and another has been at a boarding facility at Joint Base Lewis McChord (I don’t know if any of those dogs were among the 14 that PURRR moved around earlier in 2014).
PURRR Rescue denies the allegations in the lawsuit just as it has denied every other allegation made against it that I know about. But based on the number and similarity of the allegations, I don’t see how PURRR Rescue can continue to claim none of them are true.
And while I understand that anyone running a dog rescue group faces numerous challenges, I believe responsible rescues don’t take in more dogs that they can handle, don’t put their dogs in multiple boarding facilities, don’t have dogs that are “emaciated, malnourished, and [smell] badly,” and provide the training and care that gives their dogs the best possible opportunity to be adopted.
Here’s the entire document for the lawsuit Peninsula Pet Lodge filed against PURRR Rescue last September:

Yet, she still gets dogs. Are those who send her dogs blind, or just plain careless and stupid? We know those who support her are very stupid.
I wonder where they’re coming from.
Seems all shelters and transporters deny it when questioned. Maybe her buddy Lisa gets them for her somehow. Smh.
Really. You asshat. I don’t pull dogs. I don’t do any of it. So unless you have the balls to call me yourself. Or post your real name. STFU.
“Rescues” like this are not only a danger to the dogs, but are a danger to the PUBLIC. 2 other dogs and 2 cats KILLED by their rescue/foster dogs!!! What if those had been children or elderly?
I can say that if any dog from a rescue were to injure, or kill one of my pets or a family member, the rescue and everyone associated with it would be sued until they were living under a bridge and eating from the dumpster to survive.
I see from their FB page that the Lacey Petsmart is still allowing them to run adoption events. If any of these unstable dogs who mauled, bit, or killed a child or pet came from one of the Petsmart adoption events, then Petsmart should also be sued.
Can you send me a link to where you saw it? Several people have told me PURRR can no longer hold adoption events at PetSmarts in WA. If that’s not true I’d like to know
This is obviously not how good rescues are run. This lady is sick and needs to have her rescue status revoked and be prevented from owning animals. As a foster parent for many rescue I am always getting emaciated dogs with skin conditions. The shelter is a very stressful environment and it affects appetites. And their past is never really know. Keep in mind I am in no way defending this lady!! Her dogs need immediate help! Another thing is a dog can be perfect in their foster home and for meet and greets then have the behavior change once adopted. I had a dog that was great for eight months then when he got adopted was super protective of his doggie sister and would start fights with other males. Since I had no female dogs in my home this wasnt something we had encountered. This wasnt the rescues fault or my fault. The rescue did offer to pay for a behavorist though. Dogs also go kennel crazy if kept caged too long which is what tgis sounds like. This lady needs to have criminal charges brought against her. Shes not doing anything good for these poor babies!
Hi Robert. It’s odd that I spoke to a man name Michael Who adopted a dog from Diana (a pitbull in fact ) and was very happy with the dog and said that he specifically reached out to you to tell you how much of a wonderful experience he had
With the dog he adopted and how much he loves his dog even though ignorant people who like to cause trouble (like you ) are trying to harass him for having a pitbull
so why is it that you don’t post any of the good stories and good feedback that you get I wonder, is it because you like to cause trouble and you like to keep the drama going and you refuse to post any good feedback and you only want to focus on the negative. I feel sorry for you Robert and you must have a very miserable life to be so obsessed with Diana and her dogs
In fact I gave this adopter all of your contact information and I even gave him your personal Facebook link and I still don’t see you posting about how much he loves his dog and how Amazing his dog is doing – with his two young children.
I’m sure you’ve already written about this dog , which is why it’s even more important that you get your facts correct before posting your venom
I haven’t written that every person that adopted a dog from PURRR had a problem with the dog or the organization. I’m sure some people have had a good experience with PURRR. But I’ve read A/C reports and gotten emails from people who have had extremely bad experiences with the dogs they adopted from PURRR and those are the people that concern me and whose stories I want the public to know about. I don’t know of ANY reputable rescue groups that keep their dogs in boarding for months. Or that have multiple dogs they adopted out dogs with behavior problems that have killed cats and dogs. Or adopted out a dog that mauled a 6 year old kid. Or keep their dogs outside in kennels in tents. Or hide some of their dogs from the public. Or have multiple confrontations with multiple animal control agencies.
I never heard from anyone named Michael, but if he wants to get touch with me it isn’t difficult. My email is rpregulman@seattledogspot.com. Or he can message me on Facebook.
I forgot one thing – Regardless of how many successful adoptions a rescue group has, if some of their dogs are killing other pets or mauling kids after being adopted, something is wrong. As I keep saying, this doesn’t happen to responsible rescues.
There are two sides to every story. I plan to do the research and find out what’s what.
If you find any new information please let me know.