Spotted on EDMW first, then on Ada Ong’s Facebook:

A Tribute to 7mth-old Tammy (April 2013- Oct -2013) 

[Written by Ada Ong, the rescuer]

Tammy was a puppy rescued four months ago together with her 4 other siblings Carrot, Sky, Mocha and Titus. She was fostered by Priscilla for one month before she found a home. During that time, she was a good natured dog and showed zero sign of aggression. We considered her lucky as she was the first to be adopted. However, the “happy ending” was a short-lived one and she was put to sleep on Monday 7th Oct 2013 by her “family”.

Tammy (renamed Coco) was rehomed to Alison McElwee and family on the 1st of June 2013. During the two rounds of house visits, Tammy was settling down well and seemed to get along very well with Alison’s two young kids.The only issue cited at that time was Tammy had not been toilet trained and the usual puppy nipping due to teething. Other than that, everything was getting on fine.

An adoption agreement was then signed, in which it clearly stated that in the event the adopter chooses to give up the dog, the rehomers have to be informed so that we can take our dog back. 

Four months later, a shelter received an email from Alison, indicating that they adopted the puppy from me and asked if they can advise on what to do as the dog was aggressive. The volunteer contacted me and I immediately called Alison to understand the situation. She mentioned that the puppy was having aggression issues and had bitten her and her kids. I told her we understand her concern and will definitely take back our puppy, and reminded her yet again not to leave the puppy anywhere else. I mentioned that at her age, Tammy is almost fully grown and would not be easy to rehome.

I asked if she can help to support part of her boarding fees since we have to board her somewhere while trying to rehome her. She agreed that was reasonable and would get her husband to contact me and discuss when to bring Tammy back.

I waited but did not hear from them for a few days. When I finally managed to get hold of her, her reply was “hi we found someone for Coco to go and she left yesterday afternoon” I asked if she could at least let us know where Tammy has gone to. She refused and asked that I stop contacting her. Anxious, I went to her place on the same day to enquire but still, she refused to reveal Tammy’s whereabouts. I left but not before creating a scene.

Left with no choice, I proceeded to make a report at the police station and sought advise on what could be done. The next day, another rescuer went down with our friends to see Alison who demanded that they leave and subsequently, called the police. Police arrived and we sought their help to ask Alison if she could reveal Tammy’s whereabouts. We only needed to know where our puppy has gone and that she was safe. To our despair, she told the police that Tammy was sent to the vet to be PUT TO SLEEP.

We immediately rushed over to clinic and confirmed that Tammy has been put to sleep. Our minds went blank. We managed to speak to the vet who claimed that she put the dog to sleep because the dog was aggressive to Alison and her kids ‘s on numerous occasions. Ironically, she also mentioned that the puppy was a BRIGHT, HAPPY and HEALTHY dog except for some mites issue.

Dear friends, I am sharing this story to create awareness of what had happened and hope such tragedy will never ever be repeated again. It was a big mistake to trust the family that they will return our puppy and a mistake too late for regrets.

Please help to share the post to let people know who should be banned from adopting our dogs. 

Lastly, Rest in Peace Tammy. I am really sorry.

Credits: Ada Ong (Facebook)

It was so heartbreaking to read about Tammy’s story. RIP to the lovely puppy and shame on the adopter, Alison McElwee for putting her to sleep (and the vet for agreeing to do this to an innocent puppy). Tammy could have easily be returned to Ada if there were any problems instead of doing this. Hope that she is banned from adopting or rehoming any more animals from any welfare groups in Singapore!

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Till later,
♥ mitsueki

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