Yesterday sources alerted me that the worst dog rescue in Washington recently changed its name and phone number in an attempt to prevent potential dog adopters from discovering its sketchy past.
Sharon Gold’s Furever Homes Rescue is now operating as Heavenly Friends and claims to be located in Olympia (Gold ran Furever Homes out of her house in Tumwater).
How do I know this?
The phone number listed on its Petfinder site is for CruZin Auto Sales which is the former used car business for Gold’s husband Justin Cruz.
This is Heavenly Friends listing on Petfinder.com. Note that the phone number is the same one listed for CruZin Auto Sales, the former business of Sharon Gold’s husband Justin Cruz.
Here are some examples that show why Gold doesn’t want potential dog adopters to discover Furever Homes’ past.
Dog Rescue Has a Sordid History
You don’t have to look far to understand why Sharon Gold changed the name of Furever Homes Rescue.
Two years ago I wrote that Furever Homes rescue had over 100 incident reports on file with Joint Animal Services in Lacey from 2010.
Here are just a few of them:
1/15/2013 – Gold brought in a 2-year-old German Shepherd named Chance that she took back from a recent adopter because of excessive chewing. Gold said Chance “LOVES other dogs, good with cats, housebroken and good with kids.” However, a note on the intake form by JAS staff said the dog was “unpredictable, aggressive without warning” and “not…safe” for adoption,” so JAS had to euthanize him.
The officer also noted that Gold “put down false info on the paperwork.” It appears she gave a false name when she brought in the dog because the officer crossed out the name on the form and wrote in Gold’s name.
This is an old ad for the former business of Sharon Gold’s husband. The phone number is identical to the one listed for Heavenly Friends rescue.
5/22/13 – Someone found an injured dachshund in the middle of the road. It was dead by the time animal control officers arrived. JAS determined it was one of Sharon Gold’s dogs.
11/14/2015 – Claiming a male pit bull was a stray she didn’t want, Gold surrendered it to animal control. She signed a form saying she didn’t own the dog and didn’t know the owner.
But a note on the report dated 11/20 says, “left vm for Sharon regarding her lying about the dog being stray.”
The dog’s profile on adoptapet.com and messages from Gold on screenshots show unequivocally that Forever Homes brought him up from Tijuana at least a month earlier.
3/1/16 – A woman brought a dog to JAS that she adopted from Gold about a month earlier. She said the dog had kennel cough when she adopted it.
JAS had to euthanize the dog because it had distemper. JAS also reported that the dog had a staph infection and herpes.
The officer who took the dog noted in the report that she was “concerned about the health of the animal in this rescue and worried that diseases are being brought up from Mexico.”
This is just a small sample of the confrontations between Sharon Gold/Furever Rescue and Joint Animal Services. Gold used the agency as a dumping ground for her sick dogs and dogs with behavior problems that she couldn’t adopt out.
Sharon Gold Threatens Animal Control Officer
Gold’s hostile relationship with Joint Animal Services culminated in May 2017 confrontation in which Gold and a minor who was with her threatened to kill Animal Control Officer Erika Johnson last year.
Joint Animal Services subsequently banned Gold and the minor from the property.
In addition, after the mom of the military family reported Gold to the police, Gold harassed her to the point where a Thurston County judge approved a restraining order to keep Gold away from her.
Sharon Gold Makes Big Money Selling Dogs
In the last year Seattle DogSpot reported Furever Homes to pet adoption websites Adopt-a-Pet and Petfinder which Gold used to sell dogs and cats.
Sharon Gold dumped dogs she didn’t want at Joint Animal Services. JAS picked up this stray dog and traced it to Sharon Gold. An officer called her about the dog and said it exhibited “frantic, unstable behavior.” She told JAS to euthanize it.
Both companies subsequently removed Furever Homes from their websites.
With no effective outlets to sell her dogs and cats, Gold created a new rescue with her husband’s phone number.
Creating Heavenly Friends allowed her to mislead Petfinder and get a listing on its site.
This gave Gold an aura of legitimacy that enabled her to start selling a high volume of dogs again (she sells cats, too).
And selling high volumes of animal is critical for Gold because it’s a huge cash cow for her.
In 2015 Gold told the Olympian that she adopts out 20-40 dogs a month.
She charges about $350 to adopt a dog, so Furever Homes makes about $84,000 – $168,000 a year.
Get The Word Out: Heavenly Friends is Not a Legitimate Dog Rescue
If you know anyone who plans to adopt a dog from a rescue, please warn them that, like Furever Homes, Heavenly Friends is run by Sharon Gold and is not a legitimate animal rescue group.
Not only is it more of a cash generating business than a real animal rescue group, I haven’t found any evidence that it is even registered to do business in Washington state.
Here are articles I’ve written about Sharon Gold and Furever Homes. They clearly show why no one should adopt dogs from Sharon Gold or any rescue groups connected to her:
- Furever Homes rescue illegally brought puppies from Mexico into Washington (2/6/16)
- Furever Homes Rescue Illegally Brought Puppies from Mexico into Washington (2/8/16)
- Furever Homes rescue is operating in violation of Thurston County codes (2/12/16)
- Thurston County dog rescue turns military family’s fostering experience into a nightmare (2/20/16)
- Thurston County cracks down on Furever Homes Dog Rescue (2/27/16)
- Judge issues restraining order against Furever Homes rescue director Sharon Gold (3/9/16)
- After 3+ months, Furever Homes dog rescue still has too many dogs (6/14/16)
- Furever Homes Dog Rescue: 100+ cases with Thurston County Animal Control since 2010 (7/29/16)
- Fire Kills 18 Dogs at Furever Homes Dog Rescue Near Tumwater (1/6/17)
- Furever Homes Dog Rescue Continued to Lose Dogs in 2016 (2/17/17)
- Furever Homes Founder Banned from Joint Animal Services After Threats Against Staff (3/20/17)
- Adopt-a-Pet Boots Furever Homes Rescue from Its Website (8/20/18)
Many thanks to the people who alerted me about Furever Homes’ name change. I could not have reported it without their help.
That is a horrible name. “Heavenly Friends”. It sounds like the dogs are already dead. More of an omen than a name.
Ugh – hadn’t thought of that.
Hope multiple people/agencies are reporting this to JAS, Petfinder, and Adopt-A-Pet.She needs to be stopped!
Historically people have been good about reporting her.
I reported her to the Department of Agriculture and the head vet of the state (honestly, I didn’t even know our state had a head vet before this). They knew all about her and explained her operation. She has people bringing dogs over the border from Mexico illegally and then they drive them up the coast and dump them off along the way. The dogs are SUPPOSED to be vaccinated before coming over the border, but it is very easy to produce false paperwork. They asked me to email them details and I did. Sharon doesn’t know that I reported her, but she was super suspicious all the time. She had once asked if I had tracked down her landlord and told them about all the dogs she had in the house. I most definitely didn’t and didn’t even know that she was renting the home. That poor, poor landlord…. Then during a phone conversation she asked if I was recording her. I wasn’t, but I was taking notes of all the info she was giving me. I later tried to match her info up with the few documents she had given me and nothing matched up…
Anyway, my point in all of this is that she is being reported and she knows it. Sadly it doesn’t make a difference.
I understand your frustration but it’s important to report her or any other bad rescues. It creates a paper trail that can later be used in legal proceedings, and others can use those reports to warn people to stay away from fake dog rescues.
Why isn’t this person/Felon in prison??
The problem is that Washington has no laws regulating private rescue groups or requiring that they must meet a certain standard of care, and our animal cruelty laws are extremely weak.
Guess we need to work on improved animal cruelty laws and standards of care so those who abuse can be prosecuted.
Yes, we do.
Thank you. We were taken advantage of by this woman. She lied about our pup seeing a vet, he was horribly sick and we had other animals and a newborn baby at home. She never returned our adoption fee even though we returned the dog within 2 days after seeing our vet.
I’m so sorry. I’ve heard lots of stories like yours.
Do u have pix of the dog maybe from TJ
Guess it was too much to hope for that she was done.
Too much money to be made.
Can you please get a picture of this dispicable woman out there so people know what she looks like?
I’m sorry I don’t have one.
If look up her husbands profile on facebook his profile pic has both of them in it.
And the sad part is everything you’ve written about doesn’t even include all the bad that she had done with her rescue organization in California and Arizona before she came to Washington.
This woman seriously needs to be arrested for theft by deception and required to never own dogs again.
She is personally responsible for the death of so many dogs.
She spent some time in jail in CA for something related to stealing funds/checks but I don’t remember exactly what she eventually pled guilty to.
They let Michael Vick get a dog after he was “ barred “ from owning one.what he did was just as bad if not worse that what this person did. It makes me so sick that people like this just keep getting away with this kind of crap. We need to enforce our laws, make them stronger where needed, prosecuted to the fullest. Our animal friends deserve so much more.
So true.
Wonder if she’s using Craigslist now? I really wish Craigslist would stop listing pets. People are asking a “rehoming” fee to comply with CL rules, but are obviously selling which is prohibited. Me, I flag as “prohobited” any ones I see.
I wouldn’t doubt it, but it’s a much less efficient way to sell dogs through Petfinder or Adopt a Pet.
You can report the business to the WA Dept of Revenue, if you haven’t already. For being unlicensed.
Thanks! It’s already on my list. Hope others do it too.
I know Sharon and adopted a dog form her in 2011. While I agree that she is not suitable to run a dog rescue, I do not believe she is profiting from the rescue. I have been in her home. I have met her kids. No one is getting rich here. That arguement undercuts your effort to discredit her.
What makes you think she isn’t profiting from the rescue?
seattledogspot, don’t turn this comment on them. You stated she is making “big money” on animals. Big difference between that and merely turning a profit as you said after backpedaling. For the record I agree with this awful lady needing some justice but don’t manipulate your wording to substantiate your point. Nobody is defending this dog flipper.
I didn’t say she was turning a profit. My question was in response to the statement that “she isn’t profiting from the rescue.”
Many rescues in LA personally know this woman. She IS PROFITTING FROM SELLING SICK AND INNOCENT DOGS…she is in it for the money and cares less about the health of the pets in her possession. Los Angeles rescue groups have considered her a BAD RESCUE and DNA for years now. That is why she moves around and is now in Washington. She tries to stay one step ahead of her bad reputation and goes anywhere that she can get free dogs. She has several ALIAS too. . BEWARE and if you dont believe me GOOGLE her past….you will be appalled. Thank you Seattle DogSpot for making this train wreck abuser known. I HOPE EVERYONE READING THIS WILL KEEP THEIR DISTANCE AND FORCE HER OUT OF THE STATE OF WASHINGTON.
FROM A CALIFORNIA RESCUE WHO KNOWS THIS WOMAN IS A CON.
Thank you. I get lots of help from people who know her history. She spent time in jail in CA as well for some sort of financial malfeasance.
I beg to differ. She is not a dog flipper. She is worse. She is a dog killer. See my comment just posted in reply to another comment just today. I stand by everything I accused her of and can prove it. Cindy
I have personally see Sharon in a Vet office screaming and cussing at the top of her lungs when the vet diagnosed her puppies with Parvo. She would not pay the vet bill and took those poor babies without care. They were so sick that could not have survived without treatment. I have seen her dump dogs that were not adoptable and take dogs that had donations, only to dump them later in emaciated states. SHE IS A CRIMINAL….Just GOOGLE her names and you will find incident after incident of her cruelty to animals . Read how she abandoned many dogs in different locations and never came back for them. Any dog in her control is in DANGER.
She ran her rescue out of my friends house she was renting. In just over a year she and her animals racked up over $70,000 dollars in damage to the house and property. The house was so filthy a biohazard company had to be hired to clean before it could be rehabilitated.
Ugh. Sorry for your friend. Does your friend have any pictures of the damage?
As a director and foster of a rescue called Rescued Paws, Longview, WA my concern is always for the future of the animals left in her care. As a rescue she is supposed to be the care of any animal first. In her care these animals are at risk but what happens if they shut her down. Do they go to a agency run shelter?
I believe so, yes. And she’s already dumped dozens of dogs over the last several years to Joint Animal Services in Lacey. Fortunately JAS doesn’t euthanize adoptable dogs has done a good job of finding them homes.
If she is shut down I hope that other rescues will band together and each take one or two of her dogs. That is what we did in California when left many dogs behind.
I have heard rescue say their is worse things than euthanasia and I never understood that since our rescue is NO-Kill….but after knowing Sharon Gold and seeing her dogs suffer , the saying has been given new meaning. I am very sad for any dog in her control. It is Heartbreaking.
It is, and you’re right, what she does do dogs is worse than euthanasia because they suffer with various illnesses for days or weeks before they die.
So sad for these animals. Unfortunately it seems to be everywhere, there’s a Breeder in Lewis County that sells sick puppies also and is nothing more than a back yard Breeder. He has been ran out of a few other counties, he has supposedly moved to New Mexico in the last few months, but brings puppies back here every six weeks selling them at Walmart. He also has changed his business name which was Walabs… so all his horrible reviews are not seen for new customers. ?
If you hear he’s coming up for an adoption event could you please let me know? My info is rpregulman@seattledogspot.com.
She needs to be reported to INTERPOL by someone with firsthand knowledge of her animal abuse and, basically, trafficking. I’ve attached the website for reporting animal abuse.
thank you.
How do u know all
This is true do u have the recsue link about her changing her name bc I know ppl in tJ is no longer sending her dogs so she must have others now to help her cross them over
I don’t but there are always people in Mexico who will grab dogs off the street or breed them for anyone who will pay them.
This B- -CH needs to be shut down and JAILED. If you google her you will see years and years of animal abuse, abandonment and hoarding. She lets sick dogs die for lack for vetting and compassion. We DNA”D her years and years ago and she just keep popping up somewhere else. I had a run in with her in 2009 and she was horrific to her pets back then. This woman is a disaster and DEATH SENTENCE to innocent dogs in her care. RESCUES AND TRANSPORTERS MUST BE TOLD TO BEWARE. Groups in California are still transporting innocents to her.
DNA DNA DNA DNA… Hope Washington Officials put a stop to her and her cruelty.
Thank you!! I’ve been saying this for 10 years!! Because of the exact thing you said, private and even unregistered rescue groups have been allegedly mistreating dogs and funneling pop-up funding from injured strays, personal pets and more. And sadly you won’t find these entities because many have already either cashed out and left, no longer volunteer or backed by ruthless attorneys. So sad!!
Right! Dog rescues in WA are virtually unregulated and often operate only without fear of prosecution.
I’m looking to adopt a dog soon and have only recently become aware that there are “bad” shelters. Trying to vet a shelter is not always easy, especially since many go by several names. It’s horrible that we can’t trust those that are supposed to help some of the most vulnerable.
I know. WA’s lack of regulations on dog rescues make it easy for scam artists like Sharon Gold to operate. Please don’t give up on adopting a rescue dog – most rescues are legitimate. If you like in WA I can send you a list of legitimate dog rescues – let me know if you’d like it.
Yes please! I live in Seattle. I know some shelters that are just fine but because of my life style need a dog with some specific characteristics. The more shelters I can trust, the sooner I am to find my forever pal!
If you’re in Seattle I can give you several:
Seattle Animal Shelter
Seattle Humane Society
Regional Animal Services of King County
PAWS
Homeward Pet Adoption Center
Northwest Organization for Animal Health (NOAH)
If you don’t find what you’re looking for let me know and I’ll find more.
Thank you!
I adopted 2 dogs from her. 1 died from what we believe was parvo within days and the other came home with mange that spread to my husband and I. It took about 2 months to get a handle on the mange. There is no treatment for humans, you just have to treat your pet and wait for the cycle to end. They burrow under your skin and move around at night, so every night we got super itchy. We had to buy skin numbing lotion and put it on our arms, legs and backs every single night until it cleared up. It was horrendous.
I’m almost certain that the vet she works with in Olympia is committing fraud and that none of the dog’s medical paperwork is accurate. I ended up paying to have my dog completely re-vaccinated and declined to bring her back to their vet for the microchip and spaying that was included in her adoption fee.
I called the Dept of Agriculture and they immediately knew who I was talking about and told me that she was actually told to stop selling dogs until she could get her records straight. But she did anyway… I ended up talking to the head vet of the state about my concerns. We have 2 small children and I was terrified that they would catch some horrible disease from these dogs. He was able to ease my fears and now our dog is doing well and our children never caught mange or anything else. But now we want a 2nd dog and I absolutely terrified of ever going through a rescue again. That was a miserable experience and scarred me for life.
I am so sorry. Thank you for not giving up on the dog that survived. Sharon Gold is a predator and a scam article that uses dogs to fleece people out of hundreds of dollars. She doesn’t care about saving dogs. She cares about making money and won’t spend a dime on vaccines or medical treatment.
When did you adopt the dogs from her.
Last December. We love our dog that survived! It took thousands of dollars in vet bills to get her where she is today, but she’s doing great now. She needed rescued from that rescue!
I know your pain on catching the Mange. Doctors said it was impossible for humans to catch it. Well I have the mental and physical scars to show. Mange is no joke
December of 2017.
We spent about $2,000 on vet bills to get our dog to where she is today. But she’s doing great and we love her. She just needed to be rescued from that rescue.
Sharon gold takes her dogs and gets meds from a vet in olympia it shares a parking lot with a shell gas station and a taco time off phones road across street is an Albertsons do you know where that is. Cause that vet is allowing her to do this I’ll try and find the name
I hope you were able to do this. Aug of 2016 we got 2 dogs from Sharon Gold (Furever Homes). When I took to Banfield here in Renton the vet was appalled by the condition. Both of their ears were crusted over inside and he had never seen a dog in such poor health. SG had promised to get doxycycline for their kennel cough and had to get it from that vet you speak of in the tiny office with a little parking lot. I remember so well! The pills came from Mexico and after translating brand and dosage, my vet said it was 4 times the strength for dogs our size and had they taken it they would have been within days after the 1st/2nd dose. And the mange! OMG. I have never been so miserable. I felt dirty and my arms were bleeding from itching and it took so much time and money to get rid of it on them and us! What do you say to people when they ask? Uhhh I got mange. No, you have scabies. And Iris had a parasite that they had to research that was indicative to the area in Mexico. I love Stanley and Iris. They love us and despite that evil woman, they have a good home and have survived the torment of being snatched in Mexico and thrown in a van and mistreated, only to get here to their stop before their “forever” home, and it happens to be in the stinky, mange ridden, garage of Sharon Gold with feces and stench everywhere. I was in her home to set up paypal. She doesn’t live like that. But she lets them live in filth. I remember reading about the fire and she lost dogs. I wondered, after reading that, did she have the dogs insured? I wouldn’t doubt her doing something like that. Collecting insurance on the deaths of those poor animals.
Thanks for not giving up on those dogs.
We all here do our part. And in doing so we make a difference. If those dogs were children sharon gold would be locked up. Until such time as the authorities understand they “ARE” our children we still have challenges. But the more we raise concerns and the more noise we make in olympia, the closer we get to our end goal. A voice for those pups that have none. I would be willing to band together to make ourselves heard. I’m willing to park myself on their doorsteps with “our children” and see how much press we get. If someone has done this already, let’s do it again. Effect change!
Sharon has over 60 dogs at her current address at all times off henderson Rd in Tumwater. Inside her home is covered with dog poo and pee ever room has piles of poop in them and her garage is full of dogs. Her kids and husband all do this work. I went to get a dog there and you could smell the pee. It looks like the husband is using his house as a car dealer ship and a puppy mill. I did not buy a dog cause of the condition and the paper work as at best all forged documents. I started to ask questions and Sharon got agressive and changed the price of the dog three times. So her home is a used car lot and puppy mill. I lost my breath when I got close to the garage door. Do to the smell of pee. And piles of sheets and blankets next to front door and dog poo all over drive way it was unbelievable how loud it was the barking from the home and all the traffic coming and going from the barn. I hope someone can get a warrant to surch that place it sounded like there were over 100 dogs in that house. And in the barn the horses looked like there gonna die. She should not have animals at all.
So many people have reported the same thing. When were you there?
Can someone forward Marks comment to JAS?? My heart breaks for the innocent pet in the care of this Troll!
We just purchased two female lab puppies from Pawsitively feline, we found the listing through Petco adoption. The person we corresponded with went by another name but the person we sent money to is Sharon Gold. After reading this article I’ll be taking the pups to my vet, it has only been one night, she said she needed to come by within one week to do a home check and to continue giving the pups their shots.
This woman goes to a dog park near us and always brings at least 15 dogs with her. They are all aggressive and constantly attacking the nice dogs that are there. My dog has been attacked three times. I said something to her about needing to control her dogs and she got very aggressive with me cursing and getting in my face. My dog and others also developed kennel
Cough after being around her dogs. Some of the puppies are limping and one cries all the time when he walks. She is completely crazy and reading the comments make me sick. If I see her there now I leave or don’t go. She drives a nice grey Audi SUV and 15 dogs come out of that car. I told her I would call the police if her dogs attacked my dog or any dog there ever again. It disgusts me nothing can be done. These poor dogs need to be removed. There is so much online about her and she’s allowed to continue to do this? Horrible.
Did you report this to anyone? This testimony alone is enough to get authorities involved.