02/12/2026
Need thoughts / opinions!
This is long, like LONG. You better like novels if you plan to start reading this. TLDR at the end.
As you may or may not know, we rehomed one of our shelties, Roxy, to a woman in Florida in September (we will call this woman Linda). In Roxy’s listing (and later, in the contract) was that this dog was on prescription meds, and that this dog was to remain on these meds, unless something else could be found to manage her itching better (that line was probably my downfall, but I digress). Roxy went to her new home with about a month’s worth of food, an entire recently-filled prescription worth of meds (apoquel -- $200ish), toys / treats / you name it.
We talked with Linda later about how we are normally the locked second contact on a microchip, but that Roxy’s HomeAgain microchip would not allow for us to add a second contact. Linda asked how we normally accomplish this then, and we explained that we microchip our dogs with AKC Reunite microchips, which allow for multiple secondary contacts to be added. I told her that in the past, we had double microchipped a couple dogs, to at least give the chance of scanning the AKC chip and having us pop up as the secondary contact. Upon hearing that, Linda asked if we could we mail her a microchip for her vet to put in? Maybe a blanket too, with our scents? Our AKC Reunite microchips come pre-loaded in syringes, so why not… my husband and I slept with a puppy blanket for a couple days and then let some of the dogs lay on it as well… and then we mailed it out with the microchip syringe.
Fast forward to the week before Christmas, I got a text message from Linda saying that she was so glad that our contract offered that we would take the dog back, as she was having health issues and was going into inpatient care at the end of January, and had no one to watch Roxy during this time. What was interesting about this was that she had since moved to Colorado… which I knew she was going to do. The point of the move was so that she would be closer to family, so that she would have more support and more help for day to day things. Apparently, not for help with a dog though.
We didn’t want Roxy to be rehomed to just anyone or to end up in a shelter, so we agreed to refund the owner her purchase price ($600) in order to get her back. I sent her half of the refund ($300) before Roxy ever left her possession. I arranged ground transport to get Roxy back… original transport was quoted to be $900-1000, though we found a transport to bring her back at cost ($500), after hearing that this was to get back a failed placement (as opposed to like buying a breeding dog).
January 6th, Roxy was picked up by transport. After her pickup, I had the thought to message Linda and ask her to refer back to her folder (which had Roxy’s microchip info) so she could call up the microchip places when she had a moment and get those swapped back to us. I offered to even look up the info for her if it would be helpful. Her response was “when I find the folder I will do that.”
The transport was an individual we had used before. They called us to tell us that Roxy’s nails were super long, and that Linda only sent one little thing of food with her. That prompted me to ask if her meds had been sent with her, to which the transport said, they didn’t think so. So I texted Linda to ask if she had remembered to send Roxy’s prescription meds with her. Linda replied that Roxy had used up the meds, and she’d been using the kind that she sent with Roxy and that “they work as well as the prescription as far as I could tell.” Linda went on to mention that she would give Roxy two of the chewables with her food daily. Apparently her vet at the time recommended them. I had not seen Roxy yet, so I didn’t know if maybe Linda had found something that worked wonders that wasn’t as costly as the prescription meds.
January 7th, Roxy was back with us.
I will now direct you to look at the upside down naked chest and arm dog pictures… and super red paws from licking…which do not, in my opinion, show a dog that is managing allergies well. If her “vet” recommended the chewables, I wonder if the vet ever saw Roxy after she was on them a while, and saw how she was itching and unhappy. I then looked at the dosage on the packaging for the chewables -- the dosage was one chewable per 25 pounds of weight. So that would be two chewables (the amount Linda was giving Roxy) for a 50 pound dog. Roxy was a bit overweight when she came home, but was, AT MAX, 17 pounds. Waayyyyy overmedicating. Even if they had been working, Linda sent a whopping two of them home with Roxy. So, to recap… Roxy came home with she went one little tub (like the equivalent of one can) of food, two allergy chewables, a couple random OTC meds (that even after all my years with dogs, I’m not sure what they’re for… they clearly weren’t helping), …and the AKC microchip that she had asked me to send. So much for having the vet put it in.
Roxy was dropped off later in the day, when my vet was closed. The next day was the 8th, and I made a call to my vet and we made an appt for the 14th (first available).
Even though Roxy is more or less a Velcro dog, my concern was that, should she somehow “get away,” if someone was to scan the microchip without it being transferred, the only person who would be called would be Linda in Colorado… that wouldn’t do anyone any good. I really did want to make it easy for this Linda, so I pulled out my “Roxy folder” and texted her Roxy’s microchip number, HomeAgain’s customer service phone number, and all of my info needed to transfer the microchip, so she would have it all easy access and could call and transfer everything over.
I also called up AKC Reunite, and I talked to my rep there. She explained to me that if I had proof of ownership of the dog (which I did through the texts), I could submit that, and there was a way to transfer the ownership back to myself (which would be pending, until the proof was reviewed). Oddly enough… I never had to submit proof. My rep said it’s possible that Linda never “claimed” her microchip (I fill them out and submit prior to the dogs going home, due to so many new homes never registering them otherwise), which was why it transferred right back to me. So, I had one microchip back in my name, and I ended up putting that one in Roxy. One down, one to go. On the 9th, Linda responded to my text from the previous day and said she “will do it as soon as possible.”
Fast forward to the 12th, I got a text where Linda said “Hey there, I FINALLY found Roxy’s folder. I will make phone calls to transfer the microchip to your info tomorrow, and I will mail you a package of all the stuff I bought her while I had her. So sorry for the delay.” She actually hadn’t needed the folder to make that call, due to me providing her the info 3 days prior, but regardless… I told her that I understood she was probably busy and had stuff going on, no worries. Meanwhile, I kept an eye on my HomeAgain account, watching for Roxy to pop back up. Fast forward to the 16th…. Roxy still had not re-appeared on my account. I texted again, asking if she had had a chance to call Home Again. She responded on the 19th, saying she forgot, she would do it in the morning. The next day, she told me it should be updated. It still didn’t update on my account, so I ended up calling HomeAgain myself, and while the owner had done the transfer, there was some issue… but we got it resolved.
Finally, Roxy’s vet visit on the 14th rolled around. My vet was horrified at how much she was scratching, how red and inflamed she was, and all the missing fur. They gave her a shot for inflammation, a week of antibiotics to treat the infection from the scratching, and then of course I had to get a prescription for the meds. On top of that, I had no idea if the owner was keeping up with her flea / tick / heartworm meds (and with the luck I’d been having with asking questions, it wasn’t even worth sending a text), so I had the vet run a heartworm test on her (thankfully negative). The vet bill was roughly $160 and then Chewy.com was about another $280 for her script and heartworm preventative meds.
The 25th, I sent another $200 over to Linda, leaving $100 remaining. The same day, I also asked her if she’d gotten a chance to send the rabies certificate over. Her reply was that she “just” found everything she was sending and would send it on Tuesday when she was off. That Tuesday would have been January 27th.
So… I waited… until the following Monday (Feb 2nd). And I will specify, we get USPS informed delivery, so I can see when packages are incoming, and at no point in time did we ever have an incoming package… but I was trying to be understanding and nice and whatnot. So, that Monday, I texted her wanting to check if she had mailed out that package as it had been almost a week, and we hadn’t received it. She waited until Thursday to respond, and then told me, “oh, she must have typed the zip code wrong, as the package came back to her.” Of course it did. Personally… I kind of doubt that she ever sent it.
When the zip code was wrong, she also told me she will “ship it out when she can get to the post office” – which you may notice is (probably intentionally) vague af. It has now been a week since that message. My USPS informed delivery still shows no incoming packages (other than ones I am expecting), so she has not mailed a package yet. My last text to her asked her to let me know when she mailed it, so I could watch for it… so I feel like even if she *just* sent the rabies (like in an envelope), she would have probably let me know… so I’m betting she hasn’t sent anything.
Here’s the thing. I don’t care about the “stuff” that she’s sending… I want the rabies certificate. That’s it. My vet is 90 minutes one-way. For me to drive there and back, and get a new one (even if it was free, which I doubt it would be), would be a 3+ hour round trip. My patience is worn out. I have texts showing that I have been nothing but kind in my messages to her, though I feel like she has been dragging her feet through all of this. I feel like I’m pestering her (she probably feels like I am, too, at this point). I understand that she’s got a life too, outside of this dog. But now, it’s been a solid month+ since the dog has been back, and I feel like what could have been accomplished really easily and quickly, has taken a zillion texts and reminders on my side (and it’s not done yet!), and I guess I’d just like to be DONE with this entire thing.
I’m not sure if she thinks, maybe if she waits, I’ll send her the final payment… but personally, I kind of look at it as -- until I get that rabies cert, she’s not getting the final payment (I still owe her the last $100). Refunding Linda, paying for transport, and paying for Roxy’s vet visit and meds has been just shy of $1500 – this was a big unexpected expense for us and has really set me back. This is an entire mortgage payment! Now, I am happy to take back and care for a dog that I rehomed and take care of her medical needs, that’s not the issue… I simply feel like since I have refunded this lady most of her original fee, PLUS spent about that same amount re-habbing the dog that she neglected to care for properly… I feel like it’s not a lot to ask to have her vet paperwork sent here without me having to beg for it. I have $100 set aside for her, and I am happy to send it to her… but I want that rabies cert.
I’m really not sure what to do here. Would you keep bugging her? Send her a message being really specific as far as, hey, if you don’t send the cert, I’m not sending you the rest of your payment? She had claimed to be going into inpatient care at the end of January (in one of the original messages about not being able to keep Roxy)… but then later texts (about working and days off, after the date she specified she was going in, etc) contradict that... so I really don’t know what to believe, or how “nice” I should continue to be. I'm not trying to be mean but this has dragged on for too long already. It’s not that I can’t get the rabies cert from the vet… google suggests that I most likely can. I’d just like to finalize this with me getting it back from Linda and me sending her her final payment… if at all possible.
The rabies doesn't expire until March 2027... so we've got some time. It's not like the answer is just giving another one early.
Thoughts??
TLDR – sold a dog to a new owner. New owner unable to keep the dog. We refund owner to get the dog back, pay for transport, dog arrives in bad shape, no longer on the prescription meds she was contracted to stay on. Vet visit and meds for dog cost same as what we have refunded previous owner for dog. Previous owner dragging feet in every aspect of transferring dog back. No matter how helpful we are, previous owner delays and delays. Microchips only transferred due to pestering and pestering (and we transferred 1 of 2 ourselves). Now a month+ after dog returned, $100 still owed to previous owner, and we are still due her rabies certificate… previous owner still delaying getting that back to us. Delay after delay. We can likely get a new one at the vet, BUT vet is far and free time limited (and if I do that, for sure not paying previous owner what is owed). What to do?
