Forever Grateful

Dear Mr. Albero,    

    

I cannot thank you enough for all the trouble and time you spent helping us bring our pet dog Frosty back home. 

    

My daughter and I have already been through heartbreak when we were told our Siberian Husky "Lacey" had Lymphoma Cancer that did not show itself until a couple weeks after we had her spayed.  The Pet Medical Center wanted to cremate her and offered my daughter a box with a poem and ashes but at the last minute my daughter backed out and opted to put Lacey on steroids and hold onto her as long as possible.  Lacey has not been on steroids since September and is doing so well I find it harder and harder to believe she is ill.  We pray everyday that she will continue to thrive. 

    

Frosty our Eskimo Spitz has been with us since December 2005.  I  purchased shots for him from Southern States and after moving from a home I had lived in for 5 years due to losing my job between hand surgeries and being forced to wait for compensation after missing 2 weeks rent of 100 each the landlord evicted me but 2 weeks later we soon found a home in Delmar and I still work despite my disabilities. 

    

When my mother died my daughter and I tried to keep renting both homes while I worked and tried to give away to my mother's  closest friends and relatives all she had collected over the years.   Afterwards, my friends and I hauled 9 truck and trailer loads of what was left to the Mason Dixon Auction. 

    

My daughter recently lost the home we had in Delmar and on August 29th I moved all that I could with the help of close friends here to Salisbury.

    

Due to the extreme cold we suffer during the winter month's  I've let our dogs inside at night to protect them from the cold and when my daughter called me at work and told me Frosty had bolted out the door while she was trying to let Lacey in and he had not come back I simply could not do anything as I work closing a store alone and could not leave. 

    

The next day we searched for Frosty up and down the roads and a neighbor called me and told me she had called the Humane Society and he was there.

    

We called and were told we could pick him up if we had 60 dollars and a photo of him.  My daughter immediately went to pick him up with the 60 dollars and a photo as I had to go to work.  My daughter called me later at work upset and related to being treated with disgust and rudeness by the people she spoke with at The Humane Society and told me they would not let her have our dog and kept giving her a hard time over which of us was the owner.  

    

I decided as soon as our busy time at work slowed down that I would call myself and try to reason with them but was shocked at the same rude attitude and demands that my daughter was greeted with from the people I spoke with at the Wicomico County Humane Society.  The 60 dollar fee had suddenly changed to 160 plus and all this changed within an hour or 2 and I was threatened to be taken to court for allowing my dog to run at large leaving me no choise but to tell them I guess you've got yourselves a dog because I don't have that kind of money.   

     

I have high blood pressure and take meds for that and my heart and suffered pains in my chest after listening to the obnoxious manner in which I was treated by the Humane Society worker I spoke with.

    

I deal with rude and obnoxious customers on a daily basis and I have never treated them the way I was treated on the phone or I would not have a job to speak of and could not believe Sandy Hudson spoke to me in this manner as I later learned her name to be. 

    

One of my regular customers after speaking with her about how my daughter and I were treated told me of The Salisbury News Blog and advised me to create a blog or to speak with you about it.  A friend of mine also praised you and spoke of how you helped others.

    

I worked opening one store and closing another and work when others are sick to make extra money and when you sent me an e-mail on 2-8-11 telling me I could pick up my dog I had come home late that night and went right to sleep so when I called The Humane Society the next day I was told it was 110 dollars so on my day off 2-10-11 and after pleading with them beforehand to allow me to make payments, or to give me a week I was told the fee was still 110 dollars and I had to come immedaitely with the money.  This was Thursday and most people get paid on Fridays so on Friday I called back and asked if I brought them the money could I now have my pet back.  Sandy Hudson told me in a snotty tone Quote "That was yesterday".  "He's our dog now and if you want him you'll have to file adoption papers and pay 150 dollars." Thus the fee to purchase my own pet of over 5 years changes again, simply because he got away from my daughter while I was away from home trying to work.  

    

After calling you in tears, I was frustrated and I did not know what to do or who to turn to, but you told me you were going to take care of it immediately and I would like to thank you from the bottom of both my and my daughter's hearts and poor Frosty's heart as well for re-uniting us with our devoted loving friend and protector as he likes to think he is.  Again I would like to thank you and all those involved in helping us. 

    

Frosty is doing well and even Lacey couldn't stop licking his face she was so happy to see him again. 

    

I have repeatedly applied for work with the Wicomico County Humane Society because of my love of animals but  I could never put a dollar bill on the life of an animal insisting and demanding immediate financial compensation for the return of a broken hearted human beings beloved pet.  I suppose this is why they never hired me but they sure could use somebody to answer their phones that has a heart as the people we dealt with there seemed to have none at all.  

    

I don't know what you did,  but when my boss allowed me to leave work as she just happened to stop in the store in the middle of our phone conversation yesterday and allowed me to leave long enough to go pick up my baby boy,  I was suddenly treated respectfully and given instructions as my Frosty is now micro chipped and neutered and resting peacefully except for the lampshade cone we had to purchase around his neck to keep him from infecting his private parts that he won't be needing any longer lol.  He is not happy with his new hat but he won't have to wear it but for another day or 2.  Once again thank you, thank you, thank you.  I will be forever praising you and whoever your contacts may be for helping us.  If not for you I honestly don't know what may have happened to Frosty as I was losing all hope of trying to reason with those who work at The Wicomico County Humane Society. 

    

My daughter even spoke with Linda Lugo herself with her sweetest and kindest tone of voice and after pleading and constantly asking why?? she gave up and after hanging up the phone in defeat she was so upset she jumped from the rocking chair insisting they made her blood boil.  I myself refused to call back there and allow them to verbally, and emotionally abuse me with their demands and rudeness. 

    

I have never experienced such hostile rudeness in dealing with another over a beloved pet and I pray nobody else ever has to go through what we were just put through simply because our pet got loose.  However if  anyone else should find themselves in the same situation I hope they are fortunate enough to come into contact with you as we will be forever grateful for your help in bringing Frosty home.

    

I would also like to plee to those who adopt from the Human Society to ask for the previous owner's phone number before doing so to ensure that the pet they are adopting has not been put up for adoption simply because the previous owner is frantically trying to come up with the financial demands and being threatened to do so within an unreasonable amount of time to get their pet back from running off or getting loose.  You may be adopting a pet that someone else is crying over due to the inability to become wealthy overnight. 

    

Thank you again Joe for your expertise and your heart as it is much larger and warmer then some others in this cold world we live in. 

                    

Forever Grateful,

 

Crystal Massey