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Nobody Wants Poor Emmi The German Shepherd
By
Garth Johnston
Published Oct 12, 2011
Modified Oct 12, 2011
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By
Garth Johnston
Published Oct 12, 2011
Modified Oct 12, 2011
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The last time we talked about an animal from way out West moving to New York City and then heading back it was the happy story of Willow the cat. The Times's story today about Emmi the German shepherd? Not so happy! Unlike Willow, nobody seems to want poor 5-year-old Emmi. Not the New Yorker who paid $7,500 to buy her, nor the training company, Kraftwerk K9, who trained and sold her.
On October 4, Jason Dubin picked up Emmi from La Guardia airport, where Kraftwerk had shipped her. Six days later, he brought her right back, after finding her unwieldy. But Kraftwerk initially refused to accept the return, saying that Dubin had missed the company's 72-hour return period, and made the poor pup stay in a kennel for a night before finally relenting and taking the dog back (without returning any money, natch).
According to Dubin, Emmi was not the dog he was promised. Despite being trained in Germany, he says she wouldn't follow commands, terrorized his cat and tried to bite his 8-year-old son. And when he tried to complain before the 72-hour deadline he says that Kraftwerk gave him the runaround ("I spoke to someone else there and waited for Mr. Curry to call me back, but he never did. They just waited me out until the return period expired," he said). Kraftwerk, for its part, says that is false. They even put videos up online that show Emmi responding to commands.
“That’s not even near correct," the company's owner told the paper. "Mr. Dubin called us the day after he received Emmi and told us that she wasn’t getting along with his cat, but never said anything about wanting to return her to us. It wasn’t until Saturday, Oct. 8, that he expressed a desire, via e-mail, to return Emmi, and by that time, he was already too late."
Still, Dubin was insistant that the pup go back, so he bought her a ticket on a Continental flight and shipped her back to Seattle anyway, assuming that Kraftwerk would pick her up. And, after making the canine stew, they eventually did. Sigh. This is a great example of why it is generally better to get your pets locally and preferably from a shelter. Because even designer dogs don't always turn out the way you expect them!
Tagged
airport
emmi the dog
german shepherd
reasons to adopt strays
sad story
seattle
Garth Johnston
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