Spokane Mastiff Rescue Sells Puppies with Health Problems
Last year a “dog rescue” called Spokane Mastiff Rescue and Pet Portraits sold 2 English Mastiff puppies with severe health problems to women who planned to use them as service dogs.
Spokane Mastiff Rescue is not registered with the Washington Department of Revenue.
A woman named Stacey Fincher runs the rescue which does not have business registration or tax reporting accounts with the Washington Department of Revenue.
This means Spokane Mastiff Rescue is not registered to do business in Washington and isn’t paying taxes it owes to the state.
It has no website and no listings on Petfinder or Adopt-a-Pet. All dog adoptions appear to be conducted on the Spokane Mastiff Rescue’s Facebook page, but the adoption process is unclear because the rescue doesn’t mention that it has the dogs either at their location or in foster homes.
The page also had no information saying the dogs Spokane Mastiff Rescue adopts out have been spayed/neutered or had all the appropriate vaccinations from a veterinarian.
Dog Breeders, Not Dog Rescuers
But this post isn’t about the number 0f dogs Ms. Fincher rescues or its adoption process because the rescue appears to be more of a breeding operation that sells mastiff puppies.
If you check the Spokane Mastiff Rescue’s Facebook page you’ll see multiple posts about puppies she has to sell. Prices start at $900 apiece.
Spokane Mastiff Rescue appears to be more of a dog breeding operation than a dog rescue. Image from Spokane Mastiff Rescue and Pet Portraits.
Before going further, I should note that I don’t think all dog breeders are evil or that people should never buy a puppy from a breeder. I have no problems with responsible breeders who only sell a limited number of litters.
Stacey Fincher is not a responsible breeder. Not even close. In the last year, her questionable claims about her puppies and shady business practices devastated the lives of two disabled Washington women who adopted puppies from her.
Here are their stories. I changed their names to protect their identities.
Julie and Hannah. Photo credit withheld.
Julie’s Story
Julie has extensive medical problems. She has Meniere’s disease, which causes severe vertigo attacks lasting 1 to 3 days as well as aural fullness (pressure in her ears), tinnitus (ringing in her ears), and hearing loss (deaf in right ear, hearing impaired in left ear).
During her vertigo attacks, she told me, she can’t walk, crawl, hear, or care for herself.
She also has posterior tibial tendon dysfunction (severe ankle/foot pain), ankle laxity (loose, unstable ankles), and to top it all off, epilepsy.
She Just Wanted to “Live a Normal Life”
Last year, Julie decided she wanted to get a dog from a rescue and train it to be a service dog to help her navigate through the numerous obstacles she faced just to make it through the day. Specifically, she wanted a dog that could do the following so she could more easily “live a normal life”:
- Wake and calm her when she had nightmares
- Warn her when she was about to have a seizure
- Help her to a safe area when she had a panic attack
- Help her maintain her balance while standing or walking
- Give her support going up and down stairs
- Bring her items when she couldn’t walk
Julie found Spokane Mastiff Rescue’s Facebook page last spring. She contacted Ms. Fincher to see if she had any Mastiffs to rehome. Stacy talked her into buying a puppy instead of trying to train an adult dog with an unknown history because she would know the dog’s background.
Ms. Fincher assured Julie that the puppies’ parents had passed their tests for knee and hip problems and were registered with the AKC; however, she never provided the official documents that would verify her claims.
Julie decided to buy a female Mastiff puppy from Spokane Mastiff Rescue. She paid Ms. Fincher $800 for her and named her Hannah.
Medical Problems Emerge
Julie’s first two months with her new puppy were fantastic. She and Hannah bonded immediately, and Hannah took to basic training well.
But in late September, the first of Hannah’s medical problems began to emerge.
Hannah’s trainer told Julie that he was concerned about the way Hannah walked and ran. She kept her legs close together when she stood and crossed one leg in front of the other when she walked; she also began to lose her balance.
Ms. Fincher dismissed his concern, saying it was “super normal” for a mastiff puppy to trip over its own feet. She also said Hannah might have an inner ear infection.
Unfortunately, the trainer’s concern was verified a week later when Hannah tried to get up after falling and “fell down screaming.”
Julie took her to the WSU Teaching Veterinary Hospital where a vet diagnosed her with bilateral Cranial
Hannah health problems began when she was only 5 months old. Photo credit withheld.
Cruciate Disease with joint crepitus in both knees, hip dysplasia, and arthritis.
These ailments usually impact adult dogs, but Hannah was only 5 months old.
Responsible breeders “test prospective parent dogs for defective genes — and avoid breeding them if there are defects.”
As I noted earlier, Ms. Fincher claimed all her dogs had been tested. Julie asked for the test results several times, but Ms. Fincher never provided them.
Big Vet Bills
The WSU veterinarian recommended surgery to fix Hannah’s knees and hip. She estimated that the total cost of pre-surgery radiographs and the surgery itself would be approximately $7000. That price didn’t include medications, post-surgery vet visits, or rehabilitation expenses.
Julie was devastated after learning about Hannah’s numerous medical problems and the cost of surgery to fix them. With limited income and several of her own health issues, she couldn’t afford the surgery that Hannah needed. She also knew that, without surgery, Hannah could never be a service dog for her.
Returning Hannah
So in early October, 3 months after she got Hannah, Julie told Ms. Fincher that she would have to return Hannah because she could not afford to pay for the surgery she needed:
“Stacey I have to bring Hannah back to you or have you pick her up. I can not emotionally, physically or financially care for her. I have to still take her to work with me every day to care for her and I have to pick her weight up at least 12 times a day, loading and unloading her from the car and carrying her in and out of the house because she can not climb stairs. My back hurts extremely bad and every time I pick her up I piss my pants. I am afraid in another week I won’t be able to move her at all. She has to stay crated because if she moves too much she falls down or is unable to move at all and she cries because she doesn’t understand. She is only eating 1/3 of what she was consuming before this happened and In the few months I have had her I have went into debt three thousand dollars and I cannot afford to give her the medical care she needs now or in the future. So, as much as this breaks my heart I just need to make arrangements to return her to you.”
Ms. Fincher tried to talk her out of returning Hannah. She suggested that Hannah could just have a sprain because “Mastiff puppies are big clumsy babies.” She also said that Hannah’s problems could “heal on (their) own with rest.”
I guess she thought she knew more than the veterinarians at one of the country’s most highly respected veterinary schools.
This is Hannah. You can see how her hind legs don’t work well. A vet diagnosed her with hip displasia and arthritis when she was only 5 months old.
Hannah Finds Another Home
Julie said she could pay half of the cost of surgery if Ms. Fincher could raise the money for the other half. Ms. Fincher agreed to do it, but she never attempted to raise any money for the surgery.
After about a month, Ms. Fincher took Hannah back. She never refunded the $800 that Julie paid for the dog. Julie ended up paying about $3000 in vet bills.
Eventually, Julie found an0ther English Mastiff to be her service dog. So far his training is going well, but, she is still recovering from the physical, emotional, and financial pain caused by her dealings with Stacey Fincher.
Ms. Fincher kept Hannah in a kennel for about 3 months until a woman adopted her last February. She told the woman nothing about Hannah’s diagnosis from the WSU veterinarian. She only said Hannah had a possible ligament tear but that she would eventually be ok.
Hannah’s symptoms had improved when the woman adopted her, most likely because she was basically immobile in a kennel for 3 months. But recently the person who does water therapy with Hannah said she’s going to need knee surgery, so her physical problems appear to be cropping up again.
Amy and Belle. Photo credit withheld.
Amy ‘s Story
Like Julie, Amy has several medical problems which include fused vertebrae in her neck, severe arthritis, PTSD, and depression. Her ailments give her an easy excuse to avoid exercise, so she last summer she decided to get a dog that would force her to take walks and help her maintain her balance. She also wanted a dog for companionship and protection.
After researching several breeds she decided that a mastiff would be the ideal dog for her because they require some, but not extensive exercise and are good watchdogs.
Her search led her to Spokane Mastiff Rescue. Last July she paid Fincher $900 for a puppy from the same litter as Hannah. She named her Belle.
Belle’s Health Problems
Like Hannah, Belle’s physical problems surfaced a few weeks later when she started limping. She also had severe, recurring, vaginal MSRP infections.
Her vet diagnosed the cause of Belle’s limping as Osteochondritis Dissecans (OCD),
an inflammatory condition that occurs when diseased cartilage separates from the underlying bone.
The cause of the disease is attributed to “a genetic link between parents and offspring and the formation of the disease...Careful screening of parents against this disease is recommended during the selection of all breeding animals.”
Cartilage acts “as a cushion and protects the underlying bone. If anything disrupts this smooth cartilage surface, movement of the joint becomes painful. In a dog with OCD, this cartilage is damaged or grows abnormally. Instead of attaching to the bone it covers, it separates or cracks” which allows the bones to grind together painfully.
Belle after surgery to repair the cartilage in her hind leg. Photo credit withheld.
Belle’s vaginal infections were caused by a Hypoplastic (Recessed) Vulva, which is a “common condition of canine conformation in which the vulva is at least partially engulfed by the skin folds that surround it.”
And like Hannah, a vet diagnosed her with hip dysplasia.
Vet Says Belle Needs 2 Hip Replacements
When Amy told Ms. Fincher about Belle’s diagnosis, she told Amy that none of the other puppies in the litter had problems despite the fact that Julie had already alerted her about Hannah’s physical ailments.
In January, Belle had surgery to fix her damaged knee. Although it was a success, Amy said the surgery couldn’t repair or reverse the damage; it could only prevent further degeneration of Belle’s knee. A veterinarian who examined her in May said she still had grade 3 (out of 5) lameness in her knee.
The surgery also couldn’t eliminate all of Belle’s pain, so she has to take medication to control it for the rest of her life.
Belle’s vet recommended that she have surgery to fix her recessed vagina and replace her damaged hips which will continue to degenerate. Amy had already spent about $3000 on Belle’s vet bills, and she couldn’t afford more surgery; replacing both hips would cost about $16,000.
Currently Belle is doing well – meds and hydrotherapy have eased her pain and given her more mobility.
Her hip dysplasia will likely get worse as she ages, and Amy knows that at some point she will have to figure out a way to pay for hip replacement surgery or euthanize her.
Fake Pedigrees
One last thing about Amy and Belle – Ms. Fincher claimed Belle was registered with the AKC as a purebred English Mastiff. But the certificates she gave Amy were not for Belle or any other dog in the litter.
Valid Pedigree Certificates must have the name of the breeder (in this case it was Stacey Fincher) and the name of the dog (Belle). The certificates Ms. Fincher provided did not list Fincher as the breeder or have Belle’s name.
This one of the pedigree certificates for Belle that Ms. Fincher gave to Amy. According to the AKC both certificates are invalid because they didn’t have the breeder or Belle listed on them.
This certificate may be valid for other dogs, but not Belle or any other puppy in that litter.
I attempted to contact Ms. Fincher to giver her an opportunity to respond to Julie and Amy’s claims. Since the rescue has no website and no phone number or email address on its Facebook page, I sent her several questions in a Facebook direct message, but just before I finished this message appeared: “This person isn’t available right now.”
The next day she blocked me from the page . And no one has responded to the questions I did post before someone blocked me from the rescue’s direct mail on Facebook.
Spokane Mastiff Rescue and Pet Portrait’s main activity appears to be selling the puppies that Ms. Fincher breeds and not rescuing dogs. And the fact that many of Hannah and Belle’s ailments are often hereditary indicates that she is not breeding her dogs responsibly either.
Belle can only stand for a few minutes at a time so she eats lying down. Photo credit withheld.
Considering the average English Mastiff litter has 8 puppies, Ms. Fincher pulls in about $7200 dollars per litter.
Tax free, apparently.
But her questionable breeding and business practices have devastated the lives of 2 disabled women with limited income who simply wanted service dogs that could provide companionship and make their lives more manageable.
Instead, they got two puppies that couldn’t be service dogs and thousands of dollars in veterinary bills, not to mention crushing heartache.
While adopting these dogs caused major financial problems for Julie and Amy, it also exacerbated some of the demons that they carry. Here’s how one of them explained it to me:
“I have been isolated and spending all my money on my puppy who is 3/5 lame and my depression has gotten a bit worse and my trust issues – well you can only imagine.”
“It has left me and so many others broken hearted, broke from Vet bills and, as in my case, isolated which is not good for people suffering from emotional issues.”
“(Belle) is a little crazy from having to be isolated for her own protection to heal from all this – Its a lot for only one year and has caused me depression, isolation, even some injuries to my back and neck. I’m trying to keep her as it is a real financial burden and I am physically disabled a bit myself.”
What happened to these two women is shameful. If you or anyone you know had a similar experience with Spokane Mastiff Rescue and Pet Portrait or Stacey Fincher, please let me know. My email is info@seattledogspot.com.
If Ms. Fincher ever responds to the questions I sent I’ll add add it to the post.
This illegal breeder of lame Mastiffs needs to be in jail or fined by the county and state. How can this person even do this with out getting in trouble with the law . I guess evil people enjoy fooling good hearted citizens.
I don’t know if law enforcement knows about her but WA’s animal cruelty laws are so weak people often get away with this sort of thing.
NOT a rescue! Rescue DO NOT CHARGE $900.00 SHE HAS TO BE A BREEDER. SHE NEEDS TO REFUND THESE POOR LADIES, AND ANIMAL CONTROL NEEDS TO LOOK INTO HER!
I agree.
An excellent article. I am heart sick. That woman is awful. I know one of the women in your story. She is the best pet mama ever. Her dog will have the best life possible. I wonder if you can find more people and at least file a class action suit. Maybe, just maybe WSU will do the surgeries. Has this article been sent to them?
Hi everyone, my new name is Georgia, you can follow me on mom’s facebook, I am started a go fund me page as mom was told my knee is worn out and needs fixed. Check me out on Facebook at:
https://www.facebook.com/debsfxdwg/posts/1533198413398753
Deb Owen who posted above as Georgia has turned Jorgi ? AKA Hannah over to Oregon Mastiff Rescue. She didn’t even bother to ask me if I wanted her back.