Patti Schaefer didn't meet Shep (GV Ch Bionic Black Smoke of Zion) until she visited my kennel in 1996 when she came to attend the Homecoming.  At that point she had just moved to North Carolina from California and I was helping her by letting her whelp some of my bitches. She begged me to let her "borrow" Shep for a short time so that she could breed him to some of the c/o bitches I gave her.  I tried to explain to her that Shep was Lisa's dog and she had been showing him all over the country since he was a pup. He also spent most of his time in the house with her and would not be very happy living in her muddy kennels. In '94 shortly after Josh was born, Lisa moved into her own place and took Shep and Megan with her, so no, I could not let Patti just "borrow" him!

Instead, I agreed to give her a solid black Shep grandson that she could breed to her bitches too. Yet in her article she wrote that "The majestic, Grand Victor, sire of over 20 litters, highest ROM, etc. was shoved away in one of the very back kennels. I had a hard time even finding him, his kennel was over grown with weeds all around it."

She also wrote that this occurred when she came to pick up Phantom.  This was in September 1997. The Phantom LER was performed shortly after Homecoming. It amazes me to imagine him covered in mud and feces only a few weeks after this picture was taken.   I can't even picture what "weed covered" kennel I had "hidden out back" when all of my runs were easy to see and either graveled with pea stone or concreted!

Then Patti claims "Lucky for me she clearly showed she had no use for him and agreed to let me buy him without hesitation.  At that time she could have asked just about anything, I just wanted to free Shep from that existence."

Well, first of all, Shep was Lisa's dog and not for sale at any price! I had already explained that to her. Second of all, I had to loan Patti money to buy dog food! Judy and others also helped her move into her rental farm, just after Homecoming in 1997, because she HAD NO MONEY! If I hadn't brought frozen chicken to her home her poor dogs (most of which she had gotten from me) would have starved! She even used my credit cards to get dog supplies.  I am sure that a court order could summon those records proving that the deliveries went to Grampian, PA!

Patti said "I went right back and got him.  The next day I met my friend, Judy at her house and we bathed him and bathed him to get the filth off. He had horrible diarrhea and was skin and bones so next, off to the Vet we went.  He had every imaginable parasite that took months of repeated worming to finally get him worm free."  Well, in reality, I was with her when we went to Judy's home to show her the Yetti pups, born on July 25, 1997 at about 6-7 weeks of age.  That's when we talked about Patti bathing Shep in her garage--for the upcoming dog show! Shep was not even with us. Why? because he got all muddy in Patti's mud runs! There were no stones or pebbles and no concrete inside the make-shift panels she threw up on that farm! Poor Shep was a mud ball within a week of arrival.

Patti wrote "Shep was now a happy spoiled house dog. He held his head high again, his coat had a nice shine to it, he learned how to play with toys, he was one happy boy." Hardly! The last time he looked good was at the Penns Creek show held on Thanksgiving weekend in 1997 where I took pictures of him at the Bucknell soccer fields before allowing Patti to take him back to her shit hole.  Two of the photos on the tribute to Shep page were taken by me on that occasion.

Patti wrote "Unfortunately this was short lived. Seven months after I rescued Shep he became ill.  It showed first in his front legs, then his rear. He had every imaginable blood test, was x-rayed from head to tow, had a myelogram, and I consulted with a number of specialists.  No one could find anything wrong."  Of course not--because Patti never told those vets the truth! Karen and Lisa noticed something was wrong with him in the kennel run on April 18th when they went to Patti's to help with the Kiva/Shep LER.  I freaked out when I saw him two weeks later! Lisa had begged me to bring him home, but Patti still had one additional bitch she wanted to breed to him.  She assured me that he only pulled a muscle while breeding Midnight (breeding occurred just prior to Lisa and Karen's visit with puppies born on 6/17/98). Although when I inspected that kennel, I saw the fur right on the corner of that dilapidated dog house! I had guessed that she slammed him (his back) into that sharp edge and that's what hurt him! Patti assured me that Dr. Mackey was dealing with it and that Shep would be fine in a few weeks.

When he did not get better, I demanded that she return him! I had already made arrangements to have him examined at Cornell. Patti promised me that she would drive him to New York.  She never did. Instead she hustled him off to Texas so she could hide him out at Colleen Gott's. 

Patti claims "The only thing that showed during all of the tests was a broken transverse process in the cervical spine. All of the Vets said it was an old injury, had years of calcification and felt that it had nothing to do with his symptoms. They felt it looked like an old injury from having his neck slammed in a door (gate) or something years previous."  What a bunch of hog wash! I was trying to get him out of that hell hole and was told that if I entered her land, I would be shot for trespassing!

Patti whelped 10 litters of pups with/for me in just under 25 months (between July 1996 and August 1998).  Two of those litters (born Feb. 1998 and June 1998) were sired by Shep prior to his injury.
 

This woman was a motel clerk prior to meeting me and thought she found a pot of gold! When she moved to North Carolina I flew out there several times, bringing her pregnant dogs to whelp and other dogs to breed.

In August 1997 (just after Homecoming), Judy and I even helped her move to Grampian so that she would be closer to us! Everyone tried to help poor Patti! But she was only interested in taking what she could get! She wanted to be my #1 "Breeder/comrade"--whatever these sick people think they have by being #1 "Teacher's pet". 

By the spring of 1998 when Patti realized that I was going to be heavily promoting Artus and she didn't have a "part" in that picture she had already started to freak.  She even tried to boycott Artus from the FORB show in early July 1998.  

This was the final straw! I had had it with her and demanded that she return Shep (Lisa's dog) as well as the bitches she had on double co-ownerships.  Of course, this led to a major court case that she ended up losing.  All she had to do was return Shep, but she was terrified of what Cornell would find caused the damage (her broken dog house) so she claimed that he was being tested/treated out of Texas A & M.  To this day I have not even seen one report!

Patti wrote "While my heart was breaking and I was spending a fortune trying to find out what was wrong with Shep, his breeder kept telling me she wanted to breed him. Needless to say I said no. Then it was "well at least get him collected", again I explained we had no idea what was wrong with him and I wouldn't risk hurting him further. I also told her he had already over 20 litters and if this was something genetic I would not  permit him to sire more. I  was harrassed constantly about her wanting to breed him, and I remained firm that due to his health and the health of any future puppies I would not allow it."

She sounds pretty noble, doesn't she? Well, it's just a line of BS she keeps singing in order to cover up what she had done to that poor dog!

Despite the fact that he was already crippled, Lisa wanted her dog back! It had nothing to do with breeding, he already had sons that were taking care of that for him. Lisa just wanted to get him home.  Patti's excuses were totally uncalled for.

With proper vet care he might have been able to live out a peaceful life--with his family! Instead he was stolen and shoved off to Texas to die! What a shame!  Poor Lisa has been broken hearted about that dog ever since! She spent a lot of time with him while he was still with us and we have all missed him since.

Our biggest regret now is that all of those great (private) family pics we had of him were lost in the fire.

All Patti Schaefer ever did for that dog was to cripple and kill him! Yet she has the gall to post this BS? I guess some people just don't have any sense of decency!

Look at the way she takes care of her puppies!

What comes around, goes around.  Even though we were the first to take her to court in an attempt to get Shep back, others have filed suits against her since and presently there is a warrant out for her arrest.  Maybe that's why she has been in hiding for some time now and selling her pups as AKC shepherds in the local papers.

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