Sophie’s Dog Adoption is tired of rescuing people from the clutches of Paws for Life. Since Melissa Di Stefano has started her lucrative business of reselling dogs from pounds and or puppies from puppymills under the name of Paws for Life almost three years ago, Sophie has been receiving calls from frantic people whose hearts went out to these “dogs on death row” that she has posted all over the net.
The problem these people face is they are getting a dog directly from unknown pounds whom absolutely no one knows anything about, have not been seen by a vet and many have parasites and some end up having behavioral issues that these people don’t know how to deal with.
Unfortunately, despite their numerous attempts to reach Melissa and or her staff / volunteers, they either get no response for weeks at a time or are told to tough it out until… And that’s where it usually ends until they call Sophie to the rescue.
Shadow is another perfect example, the woman who is stuck with this dog and has asked Sophie for help is now receiving threats from Melissa that they will charge her with theft if she does not KEEP this dog (in heat, very dominant, and very intimidating for this poor woman who is totally inexperienced).
Any suggestions from anyone out there to help with this particular situation is welcomed.
Shadow has been with this woman for a month now with no help from Paws for Life. Sophie went over to bring her a crate, toys, food and a decent leash as none was supplied.
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Sophie's Dog Adoptions is run solely by me, Sophie. I have been rescuing for over 15 years, one dog at a time and have placed over 600 so far. All my dogs are sterilized and vaccinated before adoption, and all applicants are fully screened before adoption. I believe in making the right matches for each dog and each family in order to give these dogs a real second chance. You can reach me by E-Mail: info@sophiesdogadoption.com or by Phone: (514) 523-5052 Please allow up to 48 hours calls and or emails will be returned in order of importance. 
Sophie, GET A LIFE!!!!!
I have absolutely no idea why people say good things about you? I don’t care if you have helped a dog in your life, you are cruel to people and the few times I have spoke to you over the phone you yapped about all of your lawsuits from dog aggressive dogs you put into foster homes. My boyfriend and I spent an entire morning filing out your pointless foster forms to emphasize that we are unable to take dog aggressive dogs or puppies. And what do you do when you finally honour us with your phone call after 1 week of sitting by the phone……you ask if I could take a dog aggressive pit bull. Then I sheepishly admit I am not familiar with this breed and prefer a breed I know for my first foster experience. She then actually goes onto to tell me that I don’t know dogs very well and that she can teach me how to handle a dominant, dog aggressive pit bull in my small apartment. I take all of my courage to tell her I am not comfortable with this and then she calls me another week later asking if I will take puppies, that just had surgery. She obviously cannot read or understand English so the foster forms were a waste of everyones time. So again with her little memory or her little respect of people she called again asking if I could take another dog aggressive pit bull. Can she really be that stupid???? Yes she can, because she calls me back again yelling at me that I am like everyone else and she can do it all herself.
I am so grateful she let me go, since I had HUGE red flags after she
1) She didn’t bother to read my foster form,
2) Finally calling me 1 week later only to be told that she doesn’t know what computers or cell phones are and that I would have to wait a week to receive any sort of reply from her.
3) She told me I don’t know anything about dogs, when I have volunteered at shelters all of my life, and am a professional dog walker and sitter.
4) Never listened to my fears of fostering an aggressive dog.
5) Pressuring me to foster these dogs,
6) Insulting me for not accepting aggressive dogs.
7) Telling me about all of her lawsuits from aggressive dogs.
8) Bashing other organizations.
I have thankfully found Paws for Life and am a huge advocate for Melissa and everyone involved. I have taken 5 beautiful dogs into my home, after Melissa carefully reading over my foster forms and selecting the dogs that would suit my household best. If there are any problems with my dogs, such as kennel cough, ear infections, fleas, etc, she books an appointment within 5 minutes of me texting her. She has texted me up to 15 times in one day when I needed something and I respect that I can rely on her.
I go to the ends of the earth for my foster dogs. I drive them to vet appointments, adoption days, give them 2-3 long walks a day, bath them, cut their mats, treat them for fleas, interview potential adopters. I have not felt like some potential adopters would be a good fit for my precious dogs, and Paws for Life has supported me 100% in my decisions. They respect my opinion since I know these dogs after living with them in my home. I have seen dogs come to my home from being abused, dirty and neglected and left clean, happy and confident. I wouldn’t say these lives were STUCK with me.
What does Sophie do all day?? She goes to pounds that Paws for Life are helping and criticies them then posts them on U Tube. Really Sophie get a life! We are the ones saving lives Sophie. I know you don’t respect humans enough to let us do this work, but can you at least respect the dogs we are saving? These dogs have saved my life. I love being a part of Paws for Life.
P.S. I know Sophie probably will never find or understand this email, so can someone please read it out to her and then explain what I am saying.
Well it is time to go walk my foster dog, who is curled up in my lap. I am sorry he is not laying on the concrete in the pound. I know you would rather he is there.
Thanks
First of all, Dog Lover, it is obvious you never fostered for me. Since you hide under an alias, I don’t know who you are, and honestly I don’t care.
If it took you and your boyfriend a whole day to fill out a 2 page document, that says a lot about you. Secondly, if I called and asked if you could take dogs you had said you couldn’t, I would like to know where you said it, as there is no section on my form about dog aggressive dogs. As well, I would not have called you to see if you could take puppies who just had surgery, as I have no puppies in need of fostering who had surgery. The last one was back in June …. she needed reconstructive surgery… So if that’s the one you’re referring to, again, there is no section on my form about puppies who have had surgery.
The questions are stuff like: would you take a dog that has issues (including fear aggression), not good with kids, recovering from a medical condition, pregnant, etc… and I do get applications from people who only want to take perfect, easy, no trouble dogs. I would never tell you you know nothing about dogs, as I don’t even know you. I may have offered to show you how to deal with issues, I may even have asked if you would take Tyson 4 (he is my only dog who is dog aggressive right now – and it’s not aggression – read the post about him).
I never force someone’s hand, I never insist, but I do ask as sometimes people are afraid of the unknown, but willing to give it a try if educated and informed….
I am very happy that you are rescuing for Melissa, and delighted to hear that someone actually has access to a number in order to “text” her…. How wonderful technology is…. Most of her foster homes have squat… No number, just an e-mail address for volunteers to get back to. Obviously you are VERY IMPORTANT in Melissa’s eyes. Good for you.
As for all your bashing about me spending my days at pounds to hurt the dogs Melissa wants to save, the fact I am not computer literate, and all other trashing you may have done, I DON”T GIVE A DAMN.
What I do is for the dogs, you can have the opinion of me that you wish, unlike Melissa I don’t go crying that someone hates me… Boo hoo hoo…
Just so you know, I am very happy not to have you as a foster home, and I do hope all the dogs you have fostered have in fact found a good home. That is the bottom line. I don’t care about how you feel about me, I don’t do it for the foster homes, I do it strictly for the dogs.
If you feel I somehow overlooked your answers and called you to waste your time, I do apologize. I, unlike Melissa, do not have little Indians running the show, I do it all and can sometimes overlook things, or not be clear in your answers. Of course, I have no clue who you are, so I don’t even know if this is true or not, but assuming you are not lying or making this up, I do admit I could have called you to see if you would take dogs, that you had mentioned were not good fits.
As for insulting you or what-not, get a life girl. I don’t insult, nor put down people who don’t want to take a specific dog, unlike Melissa I try to make sure before the dog goes in, he/she will be a good match. Obviously there was NO good match in the dogs I needed a foster for at the time we were in touch, and that is fine. Unless you are saying I stuck you with a dog aggressive dog when you had specifically said no, then you have nothing to bitch about. I do ask, and sometimes I confuse people… It happens, I am only human.
Sophie
I know Sophie very well. She is extremely dedicated, very smart, and would never say anything that wasn’t proven and the real truth. You can bet your dog’s life on it…
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Debby is absolutely correct.
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Rob and Martha are in complete denial, and also a couple of idiots.
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I must say that support all efforts to help animals. I happened across this posting conflict while looking to help out.
It’s extremely disturbing to read. I was very pro PFL but feel skeptical now that I’ve read the comments above. Dusty is so freakishly angry, I don’t think he should be working with animals.
As for PFL, the reason I was poking around the net was because I was looking to donate funds. I know it’s a volunteer org but Paypal or transferring funds to a private email is just sketchy. I wanted to pay the release fees for a dog on death row but without the name of the pound ( you say apparently silenced under contract?) I was to wire money to some woman? Who was she? The pound owner?
There are Canadian organizations that will set up sites and help gather funds for non- profit orgs. I guarantee that many more people would ve comfortable donating their money and time.
The truth is PFL “saves” hundreds of dogs and cats a year. The other truth is these dogs would have been killed on death row. The other truth is all of the puppy mills feed pounds like the now closed Saint Hubert SCDD pound and the Berger Blanc etc etc pet shops who make money selling and killing dogs – usually in that order – often the same dog. The truth is PFL is a quasi-cult followed by some well meaning but lost ignorant folk, bleeding hearts, and out and out evil people. Those who have more recently gotten involved now implicated in a rescue group cannot possibly wrap their heads around this one. The truth is no normal person can wrap their head around this except for Melissa, her loyal followers, and the men and women who can shove dogs into a gas chamber or stick a needle through a dog or cat’s heart while the creature fights for its life. The truth is the pet and veterinarian industry are just that – industries.
Rescue groups of all kinds actually unfortunately do feed into the dog and cat industry. There must be a coalition and order to stop all this non stop cycle of selling saving and killing. It’s insanity. Too many well meaning groups (not PFL in this bunch), many well meaning but the aim and trajectory are lost – and more animals die – vivre le Quebec.
Sophie, you clearly have an axe to grind about Paws for Life, but you are really not helping matters. If even a few volunteers are put off by your malice from helping Paws for Life, animals are dying because of you – bottom line. Rescuing animals from death-row is inherently imperfect and very occasionally a person may find themselves with a problem animal, but wouldn’t you say that is still better than the death of that animal?
Matthew