Largest Puppy Mill Bust in Maine's History

I'm with JillieB. I adopted my dog from J'aime and she's perfectly fine. I toured the kennel on two occasions inside and out and found it to be a clean professionally run facility. I also have pictures of dogs in spotless kennels...which boggles my mind because trying to keep up with poo and wee from just one little puppy, for me has been a challenge. I was given all the medical records and a stack of papers on the care of my dog when I adopted her. Just my luck I guess, I happen to visit the kennel on the only two days in the Frasca's entire 35 years of breeding dogs that they cleaned the kennel.

I just came across this article. I wanted to say that I purchased 2 dogs from this kennel, one in 2005 and one in 2006. Both puppies were extremely healthy, had no parasites, and no fleas. My dogs are breed standard, though one is pet quality and not show.

On my visits to the kennel, the dogs were clean and appeared healthy. Yes, I did see all of the various breeds and did tour the kennel.

While I can't speak to their licensing, etc, and certainly conditions may have gone downhill since my visits, I can say that if giardia is the only infectious disease they found, then it's not a huge issue. I'd be more concerned if they had distemper and parvo running rampant, and if the dogs were infested with parasites.

On my visits I saw nothing that constituted neglect or cruelty, and the dogs looked healthy. And I'm a veterinarian. If any sick dogs were present they were hidden.

My own puppies never even had a bout of diarrhea, nary a sniffle, or anything else. Another person I know (also in the vet field) purchased a puppy also in 2005 who had no issues, and she didn't notice anything out of the ordinary other than the number of dogs present.

does anyone know any updates on this kennel. ?

As a reply to Pati - The woman who wrote the article that you read is friends with Heidi Frasca. She herself has also been charged with numerous counts of animal cruetly and neglect. If you just google her name I'm sure it will pop up! Carol Murphy buys dogs from Heidi and ships them around the country, she's basically a broker. Don't be fooled - people can publish whatever they want.

PLEASE if anyone has a story to tell about the Buxton Kennel, you MUST send a letter to the State's attorney covering this case and the judge who will be hearing the case. The more people they hear from the better it will be for the case against Jaime Kennels.
Please, don't delay, do it today.
Send your letter to:
The Honorable Mark Lawrence

District Attorney

York County District Attorney's Office

P.O. Box 399

Alfred, ME 04002

I purchased a male Brussels Griffon from Jaime Kennels just under four years ago and I have countless things to say about this. By the time I even got to the kennel, I was already disgusted with Heidi and the money situation; she was forceful on the phone and I had already given her money to hold our dog and I was already in love with him from his picture (she actually still has his pic on the website) and when I got there I was appalled at the conditions and just how many dogs were there and how many dogs were put into the same cage. It was gross. When we met Bugsy he clung on to us for dear life and was shaking when she took him from us to give him shots and a some other vaccines; she was incredibly rough with him and from that instant I knew how wrong the whole situation was and I took him home anyway and I probably should have taken them all looking back. It is our first dog and we really didn't know what to expect. The next morning I went to a pet store to pick up a few things and the clerk said to me, "Please don't take this the wrong way, but, you need to take your dog to the vet, he is very sick", we had an appt for a few days later but I brought him to Angell Memorial that same day (again, this being our first dog, i just thought his lethargy was normal pup behavior). He had a host of problems not limited to the following: upper respitory infection, serious skin irrations, ear infections in both ears (they kepy filling up with black soot almost), GIARDIA, worms, .... The first medical bill was a fortune and we were none too pleased but the truth was he had already found a place in our hearts. Our vet urged us to contact Frasca so we did. You could not believe how I was treated! She called me every name in the book and sent me multiple threatening emails calling me "stupid and maybe even retarded", "trailer trash" and told me to "get a man" and this after I told her I wanted nothing from her just to let her know that her dogs are terribly sick and somethig needed to be done. She told me that he got all of this in my house!!!! Needless to say after a series of emails that were beyond scary, I decided to stop contacting her becasue I was quite nervous. I gave everything to my vet and also called the Maine authorities but this was years ago... Bugsy has since had even more serious helath issues; the most serious, a seizure disorder that is not only frightening but has him on a pricey medication 3 times a day. I couldn't be more thrilled to find out that the Frascas might actually be getting what they deserve. The puppy mill that they are running is strictly for money; they have no love for these animals because they are breeding sick dogs and housing them in horrible conditions. I love my dog, Bugsy, and there is nothing I wouldn't do for him but Jaime Kennels is responsible for his health issues and they need to be stopped!

As a trainer in Massachusetts, I saw several of the Frasca's dogs come through my classes. Having already had my suspicions that they were running a puppy mill, I called the Maine state veterinarian's office to report them when one of my students reported that her dog was unsocialized as a puppy because she had to isolate it due to treatment for giardia. I also reported to the state vet that one of the mini Aussies I saw had seriously misshapen spine and hind legs, and asked that they inspect the kennel to see that other dogs were ok. I'm glad these people got busted, and I hope it serves notice to other puppy mills that we are watching and taking action.

As someone who was swindled out of a great deal of money by Heidi Frasca, I couldn't be happier than to see her operation shut down! I arranged to buy a Brussels Griffon puppy from Ms. Frasca over two years ago at the price of $2000. I paid her and made arrangements to fly to Maine to get my dog. First she told me the dog was too tiny to travel, then she told me the dog died. I was heartbroken. She promised to pay me back when another puppy sold. That didn't happen. She told me THAT dog died. Then she tried to get me to take two other dogs and I refused and asked for a refund. I received sporadic payments from her over a year and a half, totalling $1250. I will never see the remaining $750, as she has refused to make any other payments since the end of last year when I went on line to warn others against her. She has called me vindictive and a liar, but she is the one who lied to me, cheated me, and refused to pay me back. She deserves all that she has coming to her and I hope she is never allowed to own or abuse another animal in her life.

Pati, I think you're right; it is extremely difficult to get all the facts in cases like these. I agree that things have to be done in a certain way, as large kennels are not illegal, but many of the things that often go on in them are. Certainly, operating without a license is illegal. I read through the article, and have to disagree with the argument made in it--one that often comes up--that shelters or rescuers or the state or whoever, are out to take dogs away from breeders so they can sell them and make a buck doing it.

Cases like this are extremely costly and are a huge burden on shelters, their staff, the public and volunteers. It always COSTS them money; groups involved in these rescues don't make money even when cases are high-profile. They spend money to have all dogs seen by a vet, tested and treated for parasites including heartworm, they have the dogs spayed and neutered and then the burden of screening potential homes falls to them as well. In the vast majority of situations, groups do not recover the costs of this work with adoption fees.

And thank you for letting readers know about the article. I think on this issue, it is important for us to see different arguments and opinions.

There is a lot of press out there saying that this kennel was 'done wrong.' Personally I think anyone with this many dogs can't have their best interests in mind. Also I am personally opposed to selling dogs over the internet by credit card to anyone with the money.
But this article really does point a lot of fingers and argues that these folks were the victims of a conspiracy.
http://www.americanchronicle.com/articles/viewArticle.asp?articleID=35997

I wonder what the whole truth really is? I figure that the public will never know the absolute truth about much of anything.
Pati