On April 24, 2003 I found an ad on Puppydogweb.com advertising Coton de tulears (a rare dog breed). I responded to the ad by the only contact information listed, an email address. I asked for a female, show or pet quality Coton de Tulear. Lisa Crocker responded immediately and said she had a show quality female available. I told her I needed to speak to her by telephone. We spoke for almost three hours by telephone. After our conversation, I felt very comfortable with buying a dog from her. She did her homework on the breed and had an answer for every question I confronted her with. She sent me photos of the pup’s parents and weekly photos of the puppy.
I sent her a deposit for $500.00 and was to pay the remaining $2200.00 balance a week before the puppy was shipped. On April 29, 2003, Lisa told me she was going to Europe to the World Dog Show on May 30, 2003 and needed the check for the balance now so it would clear and she could ship the puppy before she left. Normally, you cannot ship a dog until it is at least 8 weeks old. Lisa told me she could get it on Northwest Airlines only at 7 weeks old because she knew people there. I sent her the check.
On May 14, 2003 she told me she would ship the puppy on May 29, 2003. On, May 27, 2003 she wrote telling me the puppy was very sick and she could not ship her because she was bringing the whole liter to the vet. She claimed her husband gave them bad Biljac food and the vet said it was a bacterial infection. Next, I heard from her on June 9, 2003 when she wrote to tell me my puppy died and offered alternative females from liters she had coming up or pups that were owed to her. I wrote her several times expressing I was not comfortable with getting a puppy from another breeder and wanted my money back. She ignored all those emails and when I phoned her on June 19, 2003 she said she never got the emails. I can see a receipt on AOL as to when she read them so she was lying. She told me getting my money back was not an option. At that time I thought getting a puppy would be better than being out $2700.00 but that was a mistake.
I told her to let me see photos of the puppy. I did not hear back from her. On July 10, 2003, I wrote her again demanding my money and got no response. On July 16, 2003, she wrote sending a photo of this puppy and told me it was show quality and correct in all ways. I asked her many questions about the dog and needed to speak to her by phone because all the numbers I had for her were disconnected. She gave me a new home phone number and we spoke. I did not feel I had any alternative but to take the puppy. She said she would ship her July 23, 2003.
Lisa Crocker called me July 22, 2003 at 11:00pm telling me a Hurricane had hit her town and the roof was taken off her house. She claimed Tennessee was in a state of emergency. I did not know it at the time but she actually lived in Mississippi. Tennessee is just where her Post Office Box was located.
The next day a man called me saying he was a friend of Lisa Crocker’s and the puppy would be shipped on Northwest to Newark International from Memphis at 12:30 on July 24, 2003. I went to the airport not knowing if it would be there or not. I went to the baggage claim and the puppy was in the cargo area, a different building. I paid Lisa $200.00 to ship the puppy priority and it was sent in cargo. The puppy was in a gross crate with shredded paper. It looked like a Maltese and its nails were so long. It was very dirty with green ink on the inner hind leg. The pup had a tattoo Lisa put on herself of a series of dots. Tattoos can only be of legible numbers or letters.
Cute,
but not a showquality Coton de Tulear
I noticed the under bite on the pup immediately. I was furious because the under bite is immediate disqualification as a show quality dog. The puppy came with no shot records, no registration papers, only a copy of a health certificate. I called her immediately and the new phone numbers she gave me were disconnected. I emailed her when I got home and I saw she read them and signed off. I would keep emailing until she responded telling me she was at the library to get her emails and the computers went down as she was reading my emails. She tried to give an excuse for all my complaints but now I did not believe anything she told me. I expressed my anger and told her I was shipping the dog back. This is when she disappeared.
I found out later they moved in the middle of the night to Florida. I started to try to find her on the internet by putting her name in the search engine. I found a post on the Animal Network Forum about people looking for her and my nightmares began.
I took the puppy to the vet on July 26, 2003. The vet told me she seemed fine but did not want to do anything until I knew when she got her shots. I never heard from Lisa again to find out when or if she was given shots. I do not even know the pup’s date of birth. The next day, July 27, 2003, all my dogs and the puppy were sick with kennel cough. I have four other dogs. It was horrible. My dogs have a fenced in yard and were not exposed to anything but this new puppy. The vet said there were no animals with kennel cough that came in and it was not from her office.
After speaking with Marian who started the Forum on Animal Network, looking for Lisa Crocker, we compared notes on Lisa. We noticed our health certificates were issued from the same vet, Bowling Animal clinic. Then, I noticed the white out areas and the vet name being Ramsey and not Bowling. I called the vet and asked the receptionist if Lisa Crocker had been in recently and if they issued health certificate number 128944 to her. She told me they had not seen Lisa Crocker since May. Then, I asked if Dr. Bowling was the only vet that issued health certificates and she said he is the only vet there. I asked her if I could fax my health certificate to her and told her the situation. She told me I could fax it if I wanted and I never heard from her again.
Next, I called the Tennessee Department of Agriculture and was told to speak with Linda Evans. When we spoke I faxed the health certificate and asked her if she could find the original. She said they did not have the original and she would tell Dr. Wilson, the state veterinarian, about this situation. Two weeks later, I called her again and she said all my information was forwarded to the USDA and they would be contacting me.
In the mean time, I found many people scammed by Lisa Crocker with horrific stories. I learned Lisa Crocker is a puppy broker importing puppies of many breeds from a woman named Marina in Russia. Her website is dogworld.ru. lisa has many alias names and many email addresses.
I wrote the IFCC, all the Breed clubs and filed in small claims court. I have spent a lot of time tracking her down and consoling her victims. I finally found her and on October 31, 2003, she moved from Florida in the middle of the night again. They left a car in the driveway and personal belongings behind. I have photos of the house she left from the owner she was renting from.