by mnp13 » September 27th, 2006, 2:35 pm
The brief version -
A complaint was made about me and Ruby by a third party who heard "from someone" that Ruby was behaving unsafely at therapy vists.
TDI contacted me and informed me that Ruby was suspended pending investigation and that I was to submit a letter if I wanted to contest the suspension.
I called them and asked who had made the complaint and what exactly the complaint was. the wouldn't tell me the person's name or even what the "charges" were.
I wrote them a letter and provided four references - all people who had seen, worked with or evaluated Ruby. In my opinion, speaking to credentialed trainers, therapy visit supervisors and people who have been with Ruby many times on visits meant more than me defending my own dog. I had to guess as to what the complaint was specifically aimed at, so I covered all of the bases that I could think of.
They responded in writing that she was removed from TDI and that she was unsuitable for therapy work.
I called and spoke to them. They didn't call a single reference. They didn't contact any of the places I had done therapy. They went on the word of someone who had never seen Ruby in a therapy situation. They said it "wasn't their policy" (direct quote) to contact references, that the owner needed to respond directly. In other words - they wanted a completley biased evaluation of the dog - what owner is going to be unbiased!!!
I do not recommend TDI to anyone after this incident. They didn't care about the truth, they just dumped us because it was easier. I would hate for someone else to put that amount of time and effort into working with their dog just to be kicked out over a spiteful person's lies.
Yes, I know who made the complaint. It was a member of my training club who had a personal issue with me. Was there a kernel of truth to the complaint? yes. However it was blown so far out of proportion that there was almost no truth left.
Michelle
Inside me is a thin woman trying to get out. I usually shut the bitch up with a martini.