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Dogs supposedly trained to detect and respond to potentially life-threatening blood sugar levels in people with diabetes were, in reality, often untrained, un-housebroken puppies with hefty pricetags—currently set at $25,000. At least, that's according to a lawsuit filed this week by Attorney General Mark Herring on behalf of the Commonwealth of Virginia.
According to the lawsuit, the non-profit company Service Dogs by Warren Retrievers and its owner Charles Warren Jr. made extraordinary claims about their "diabetic alert dogs." The company and Warren said that the dogs were highly trained and that their performance was "backed by science."
[...] Virginia has a bone to pick about almost all of that. Though the prices were real, the dogs' abilities were not, according to the lawsuit. Customers said they received "ready" dogs that were not at all trained to detect and respond to blood sugar levels.
[...] Moreover, SDWR's dogs lacked even basic pet training, according to the lawsuit. Some dogs were merely puppies that were not housebroken, struggled to walk on a leash, chewed on things, and didn't respond to their names. They also displayed behaviors incompatible for service animal work, including frequent barking, jumping on people, and being terrified of loud noises.
[...] "[T]hese hopeful and vulnerable consumers receive poorly trained, ill-behaved dogs that are not equipped to help them manage a life-threatening disability and are little more than very expensive pets," the lawsuit concludes.
(Score: 4, Interesting) by JoeMerchant on Friday May 11 2018, @03:49PM (7 children)
It is not uncommon for people to get donations from others toward purchase of a service dog (of all types, not just diabetes) - so the money is not their own, they get a scam dog, and they are too embarrassed to tell their donors that their money was wasted. I wonder what Charles Warren Jr.'s exit plan was?
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(Score: 5, Insightful) by Thexalon on Friday May 11 2018, @04:43PM (1 child)
All that changes is who is being scammed: Is it the disabled person, or their insurance company, or their friends and family? Either way, it's not cool to scam them.
The only thing that stops a bad guy with a compiler is a good guy with a compiler.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday May 12 2018, @06:24AM
They are mostly smart enough not to scam someone powerful enough to fight back.
(Score: 2) by NewNic on Friday May 11 2018, @05:40PM (4 children)
In the case of at least one organization (Guide Dogs for the Blind), there are no charges for the blind person to receive a dog. More than that, Guide Dogs pays for blind people to fly to their campus and spend 2 weeks on site to receive and be trained to handle their dog. Later, a trainer will visit them once per year. All at no cost to the blind person. They also receive an allowance for veterinary bills.
So, I would say that the $25k charge to receive a dog should have been a huge flag that something was not right.
lib·er·tar·i·an·ism ˌlibərˈterēənizəm/ noun: Magical thinking that useful idiots mistake for serious political theory
(Score: 2) by JoeMerchant on Friday May 11 2018, @06:45PM (3 children)
Guide Dogs for the Blind gets funding from somewhere, probably not far off from $25K per dog placed in service, maybe a bit less since they just have to screen and wait-list recipients - which should be cheaper than sales and marketing for placement with paying customers.
$25K is a realistic cost for a well trained service dog - especially by the time you factor in the travel and training required to acquaint the dog with the person they are serving.
It's also a damn big number compared to "just another bitch from a puppy mill," which is no doubt why Mr. Warren viewed it as an opportunity for scam-profit.
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(Score: 2) by NewNic on Friday May 11 2018, @07:40PM (2 children)
A lot more, I think. At least double.
Betty White is a big donor to Guide Dogs for the Blind.
My point is that legitimate schools do their own fund raising, rather than relying on the people with whom the dogs are placed to pay for the animals. Take the case of "Early Alert Canines" in Concord, CA: this is a very small operation (check out the location), but it only asks for a deposit which is refunded when the team graduates.
lib·er·tar·i·an·ism ˌlibərˈterēənizəm/ noun: Magical thinking that useful idiots mistake for serious political theory
(Score: 2) by JoeMerchant on Saturday May 12 2018, @01:58AM
Well, we live in a capitalist state, so it's not surprising that some things - including very expensive and or valuable things, are only available for a price.
We have a friend who did a GoFundMe like thing to get their Autism companion dog for their 3 year old, maybe some places will pair a dog with a boy for $0 but when you've got a 3 year old who needs something, the prospect of a 5 year long waiting list just isn't an option.
The absolutely abysmal state of health care insurance has sort of trained us: do your research, weigh the cost-benefit for yourself, and if you've got the money and you believe it's something strongly beneficial for you, then forget about what is covered and what isn't, just do it. Of course, when you put the general population out in charge of things like this, they tend to mess up almost as much as a professional system falls prey to graft and corruption.
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(Score: 2) by wisnoskij on Saturday May 12 2018, @02:01PM
Which is why this particular scammer got caught. He scammed the wrong people, if he has simple accepted donations, and give away free puppies, no one would be in a position to complain.