# Our First Adoption through Brightstar



## B_White (Dec 9, 2008)

Hello all, I hope all is going well.

My family finally adopted our first GSD Rescue. His name was and still is Bear. We was an all black GSD from Brightstar Rescue. He is doing extremely well at this time. He gets along great with the cats, and is very well mannered in our house. He came to use fairly untrained, and within a week or two he has learned a bunch of stuff, and become fairly reliable on it. 

My wife and I started our adoption process looking at rescue dogs at Brightstar and Big Dogs Big Hearts. From my understanding there might have been some problems with one or both of those organizations in the past, but I can say that that has long been taken care of. They were both extremely helpful throughout the whole process. I was actually looking at Henry from BDBH and Bear from Brightstar at the same time. The Fosters were extremely helpful and honest when it came to there foster dogs. I would say that they went above and beyond what I would have expected. 

If you have any questions about these organizations just shoot me a PM and I will tell you more about what I went through, and what it was like. I will be posting pictures shortly.


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## BucksMom (Aug 13, 2007)

That is just wonderful to hear and I'm sure Brightstar and BDBH are also happy to hear the praise. 








on your new boy Bear!!!!


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## Timber1 (May 19, 2007)

Agree, and thanks to the OP's original post.


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## gsdlove212 (Feb 3, 2006)

Congrats on your new family member and my thanks for rescuing!


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## ded37 (Jan 18, 2005)

Congratulations to you and Bear!! It doesn't matter which rescue you adopt from, what matters most is that a rescue dog finds a forever home! Bear's BrightStar fosters have always been a very good foster home!

Henry will find his wonderful forever home too.

So glad to hear you had a great experience working with both rescues.


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## kelso (Jan 22, 2007)

Congrats!!!! Looking forward to the pics


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## Kay13411 (Jul 24, 2003)

Congrats on your adoption, that is just wonderful. Don't forget to post pictures.... I love how your heading says first adoption, must mean you have room for more.


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## kularing (Aug 24, 2006)

Congratulations!!! Can't wait to see the pictures, and thank you so much for the kind words!!!


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## Ruth Urban (Dec 24, 2002)

Congratulations and we appreciate the "praise". We are all looking forward to pictures. 

Hugs to Bear from all of BrightStar GSD Rescue


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## The Stig (Oct 11, 2007)

Oh I am so glad to hear of it. And best of all, congratulations on your newest family member.

I lived in Buffalo, NY for many years and I have a great respect for Brightstar and how they run their organization. I used to head over to a Petsmart on Transit on some weekends to check out their GSDs and talk to the volunteers. They were always very nice and kind, with a selfless love for this breed. 

I would have went through them for a GSD if I had stayed in WNY.


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## ShannonT (May 28, 2007)

Congratulations on your new pack member!! That's awesome and we also look forward to seeing pictures!









Darcy, tell sweet Henry that his friends down here in TN think about him all the time and we miss him!


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## juliet4twins (May 16, 2009)

My adoption experience through Brightstar four years ago was fine.. it wasn't until we had to relocate (sold our home due to job loss) that things were awful with Brightstar.
They were deceptive about their plans to take care of my dog when we moved and foster gave me one week to find a new place to live out of state or else charge me for kennel costs. This is a dog that we adopted four years ago that was part of our family. I was stunned. Then staff at Brightstar put our dog's photo up on the website for adoption.... they must have really wanted the money... more important than keeping a dog with the family that loves and cared for it. Interesting that our dog's pictures, information and any reference to the dog have vanished and no one responds to numerous emails about our dog (still licensed to me).... So if you end up loosing your job, house, etc. and have to move, know that Brightstar doesn't care about keeping the dog with the owner or family... Disgraceful.


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## Kay13411 (Jul 24, 2003)

> Originally Posted By: de53jn459My adoption experience through Brightstar four years ago was fine.. it wasn't until we had to relocate (sold our home due to job loss) that things were awful with Brightstar.
> They were deceptive about their plans to take care of my dog when we moved and foster gave me one week to find a new place to live out of state or else charge me for kennel costs. This is a dog that we adopted four years ago that was part of our family. I was stunned. Then staff at Brightstar put our dog's photo up on the website for adoption.... they must have really wanted the money... more important than keeping a dog with the family that loves and cared for it. Interesting that our dog's pictures, information and any reference to the dog have vanished and no one responds to numerous emails about our dog (still licensed to me).... So if you end up loosing your job, house, etc. and have to move, know that Brightstar doesn't care about keeping the dog with the owner or family... Disgraceful.


 <span style="color: #993399">There must be more to this story then what you are sharing here. I have 3 wonderful GSD's from BrightStar and have had to contact them for a number of things, they are very helpful. Please do not try and upset this poster, they are happy and the dog deserves to be happy. </span>


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## juliet4twins (May 16, 2009)

I was sharing my recent experience with the list.. While you may have had a good experience, it isn't always this way. 
My story will be shared more openly soon.


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## ShannonT (May 28, 2007)

Hijacking this thread that is about someone else's special adoption story is not a very nice thing to do... especially when your intention is to bash the rescue behind the adoption.
Your personal circumstances are very unfortunate. But it is also unfortunate that so many dogs are being taken to shelters and being put down every day because of similar situations. You may take it personally that the rescue did what they felt necessary to ensure the dog's well-being. But expecting someone else to care for and pay kennel costs for a dog you've owned for 4 years sounds a little entitled and it also sounds like there's alot more to the story than what you are sharing here. They are dog rescuers, not financial advisors and not magicians. 
Please start your own thread if you feel it necessary to continue your rant, so that this thread can go back to the original intention... a story about a special adoption.


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## kularing (Aug 24, 2006)

There is much more to your story that you are not telling and this is not the place to rant about it!!! I am sure the foster you dropped the dog off to will be more than willing to tell her side of the story. Obviously, you got on the board to rant and rave since you only have 2 posts. That is not productive. 

B_White I hope all is going well. Again, congratulations and thank you for giving a gsd a good home!!!


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## buffalodoghouse (May 18, 2009)

I am the person who fostered this dog that supposedly was taken from this woman with no attempt to return the dog to it's original adoptive home. That is not true. This person contacted Brightstar because she was relocating her family to Florida to look for new employment. She contacted Brightstar with hopes that someone could foster the dog until she was able to find a living situation that allowed dogs. Brightstar told her we don't do this and to put the dog in boarding. She begged and said that wouldn't be possible because of finances so I agreed to house the dog for 2 weeks in my home free of charge out of the goodness of my heart because I felt sorry for her. I also told her that 2 weeks was the max as I had a new foster dog arriving from transport and I needed the space. Everyone that does rescue knows that when you are out of space and crates you can't take anymore. End of story! She agreed. Then I didn't hear from her and surprise she shows up at my door, unannounced: dog and all of dogs belongings in hand. I told her that after 2 weeks the dog will be put into boarding at her expense. She agreed and I have a witness here that heard the whole conversation. Two weeks went by and we couldn't reach her. She didn't return messages and avoided all of our calls. After a month she contacted another person from Brightstar not even me and said her new townhouse she was renting didn't allow GSD's so she would be forced to put her dog up for adoption. So we did. The dog went to an already approved adopter that was looking for exactly what her dog was that is why it went so quickly. End of story. The dog is not still licensed to her. In NY state the penal law considers it abandonment after 2 weeks of not returning to get your dog after a such date was agreed upon. She didn't! End of story. The dog is in a home with another GSD and somebody is home with the both of them all the time. Dog is now happy and in her forever home. That's it!!!!


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## Kay13411 (Jul 24, 2003)

buffalodoghouse-Thank you for sharing your story with us..... I am sure you and BrightStar did all they could to keep the family together and gave every option out there to the other people. I for one am very sorry you had to go through this. The only thing I would ask at this time is that a new thread be started if this is going to continue. B-White came you here to share a wonderful adoption experience, I would hate to rain on it now.


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## geokon_2000 (Jan 25, 2005)

Thank you for adopting a rescue! I look forward to hearing updates!!!


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## lakota757 (Apr 10, 2008)

> Originally Posted By: ShannonTHijacking this thread that is about someone else's special adoption story is not a very nice thing to do... especially when your intention is to bash the rescue behind the adoption.


I agree!!! Congrats on your new family member and thank you Brightstar and BDBH for all you do!


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## prlegal (Jun 16, 2009)

Heidi
I have to respond to your email which contains many false statements.. I have all the emails sent to Mark Rimmer requesting my dog Laney be temporarily fostered in June 2008. It was always our desire to keep our dog with our family. We adopted her five years ago- miss her and want her with us. You have not responded to any emails nor has the organization's "leaders". I understand that there are accountability issues with Brightstar Rescue, a 501c3 and many volunteers have left due to serious problems here. Our dog LANEY is still registered to me in NYS and we will continue to request information through an attorney now. I have tried to get info from Brighstar since last year... It is amazing that you only respond online when the problems are exposed publicly here and in the media.


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## prlegal (Jun 16, 2009)

--- On Mon, 7/21/08, Monica Moshenko <[email protected]> wrote:

From: Monica Moshenko <[email protected]>
Subject: RE: Laney
To: [email protected]
Date: Monday, July 21, 2008, 9:55 AM

Hi Mark

We are suppose to close on the house on the Friday – still tentative but I am hopeful. We have a moving truck on Thursday to pack, so it would be better to drop off Laney on Wednesday. Please provide the contact info and address of the foster family in Alden. 



We want to make sure that they understand that we are moving to Tampa area, looking for a place to rent there that will accept GSD dogs, so we can have Laney with us too.

Thanks

Monica




DisAbility News & Views Radio
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From: Mark Rimmer [mailto:[email protected]] 
Sent: Monday, July 21, 2008 9:23 AM
To: [email protected]
Subject: Laney



Hi Monica,



Are you still leaving Friday for Florida ? I was thinking you could bring Laney to Heidi's on Friday. Does that sound okay?



Mark

Mark Rimmer 

Intake/Foster Coordinator

Webmaster

Database Administrator

BrightStar German Shepherd Rescue



Please don't breed or buy while shelter pets die!


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## prlegal (Jun 16, 2009)

Rather interesting that responses to my post have been so partial to the foster and all that she supposedly did for us. She didn't mention that she didn't answer repreated calls before we moved I drove to her house with a fully packed moving truck with my son after finally attaining her address from another foster family. It was only at this point that Heidi (has six dogs registered to her)told me her intention of taking care of our dog Laney- which was one week (to drive to Florida and find a place a place to live!). I was shocked as no one at Brighstar GSD told me this prior! Then she said she would watch Laney for an additional week @$25/day kennel fee.. I agreed because I wanted to keep her. I did not sign any paperwork giving her up. Heidi took Laney to Petsmart (close to where we lived in Clarence, NY) to show her off as a Brightstar Rescue dog!. Laney's picture was on Brightstar's website for a week and I contacted them about it but Laney had already been adopted.

They really must have needed the $350 fee - this was more important than keeping her with our family? Brightstar GSD took advantage of an unfortunate situation and wasn't upfront about their plans to rehome her instead of keeping her with our family.

So Brightstar GSD agrees to "temporarily foster" our dog, then puts her up for adoption, changes her name and gets a new license in a new name so the registered owners can't get her? I never said I couldn't have Laney...my lease actually states I can have a dog (no restriction on breed). I just wasn't fast enough for Brighstar- they had other plans all along. Surely they could have set up a transport to assist with uniting us? But that $350 fee was more important. My son Alex with autism still hopes he will his dog Laney again.. 


Our story isn't over yet... more to come soon.


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