09/11/2023
Update and additional information about Jojo:
I apologize in advance, and give you fair warning that this is a very long read.
Tanglewood family, I’d like to update you all to clarify, and make clear all information concerning the adoptable girl Jojo. First I want to tell you she is not in my possession, and likely will not be without a court battle. Her original owner is homeless, but will not return the dog to me like our contract stipulates. Her puppy name was Rogue in case anybody wants to go back and look at pics of her as a pup.
The owner of JoJo also was the owner of Luna and she later decided she also wanted Rohan who had recently been returned to me.
It all started when I was contacted in mid December and told by her owner that Jojo had gotten loose from her and killed some chickens. It turned out they were her own chickens but her Landlord did not want the dog there anymore. So I was too nice and stupid as usual, and I agreed to help her while she figured out her housing situation because she told me she was looking for a new place.
The agreement we made was that she was borrowing some Kennel space here, but the dogs were still clearly hers, not being rehomed or fostered to me which for some reason she indicated on a recent social media post.
She came back-and-forth to my property and I even gave her a house key so that she could go wherever she needed to, even when I wasn’t home. She continued to take care of her dogs, which I could not help her too much with because JoJo was aggressive to anyone but her, as far as I could tell. I really would’ve loved to be able to go pet Luna because we absolutely loved her, and she us, but JoJo’s presence prevented that, which her owner was very well aware of. I had let the owner take Jojo, then named Rogue, at seven weeks old as soon as she had gotten her first puppy shots. The owner wanted to bond very strongly with her, which she absolutely did but she obviously did not continue her proper socialization with others.
The reason I’m posting all of this detailed information is because this owner has had the gall to post in wolfdog groups claiming some completely fabricated and absurd lies, including that I did not properly socialize the pup before she got her, but when I called her out on it, pointing out that the entire litter was well socialized, and everyone else who got one can attest to it so it was her that did not continue the job after getting the pup. Her reply was, “How was I supposed to continue to socialize her during Covid?“ which just proves that she knew she was lying all along.
If my son, or I noticed that the water bucket was low, we would fill it with the hose from outside of the pen. We would also occasionally put dog food into the kennel from the outside if the owner asked us to, but usually she fed them since she used different food than we did anyway.
After deciding she wanted Rohan, who was housed in an adjoining kennel to her girls, she began working with him and was doing very well developing a trust bond with him. The situation continued like this and we had differing schedules so we often didn’t se one another. I never got rent or anything from her for using my kennels and property, as I was trying to help her be able to afford a new place to move the dogs. She did help me by getting a friend of hers to finish building my second dog pen and shed for my dogs. He was a big help even though he could’ve listened a bit better and paid more attention to detail. It could’ve been better built but it contains the dogs and that’s the most important thing.
On May 12th my son, Connor, and I were not home because it happened to be my birthday and we were visiting with my twin sister. I got a text from JoJo’s owner that Rohan attacked her. After questioning to find out exactly what happened it turned out she had deliberately put all three dogs together in the girls’ pen even though she knew that Jojo and Rohan were not yet fixed. We had previously discussed this and I made it clear to her that I did not think it a good idea to them put together until at least one of the animals was fixed even if Jojo was not in heat, but she took that chance anyway and it turned out it was far worse than just risking an unwanted pregnancy. According to her, she corrected one of the girls and Rohan went crazy in a protective manner and attacked her, biting her leg pretty badly and trying to pull her down. Luckily, she was able to slide out the kennel door and shut it behind her. She told me she secured the kennel and left, I assumed to get medical attention. The dogs were secured together when I got home so I continue to text with her to find out if she was OK and see what she needed from me to help. She said she would not be around for a couple days so she asked us to put food and water into the kennel from the outside because we could not go in safely and just to keep an eye on them so that’s what we did.
Now here’s the part that really involves JoJo. On May 16. Connor came home before me from school and went out back to check on the dogs like he always does and he found the girls having a bad fight. JoJo kept attacking Luna, and Luna was hurt and bleeding very badly. Luna was only attacking back as much as she could in self-defense, which sadly was not effective enough. This situation traumatized my son terribly because he wanted so much to go in and save Luna but he could not safely enter the kennel and I had to stress to him on the phone not to try. He was very close to Luna.
During the intervening time before this occurred, I had reached out to Rohan’s original owner to see if he could come help me remove Rohan from the pen with the girls, and I was expecting him to be available in a day or so, but it just so happened that he called me right when all of this was occurring and told me he was on the way to my house after returning to the state early, so that was very lucky.
I quickly contacted Jojo and Luna’s owner to tell her what was happening and let her know that we needed her to come help because Jojo wouldn’t let anyone but her handle her.
The owner had not even been back to the property since Rohan bit her. Connor and I had been checking on her dogs every day and giving them fresh food and water as best we could without going into the pen.
So we all rushed there and had to create an extra airlock type structure to try to lead Rohan and Jojo out by throwing treats where we wanted them to go, and then blocking that section off so we could finally contain them both and enter the pen where Luna was completely down with two badly broken front legs. At this point we had to guard a bit against Luna biting us out of pain when we tried to move her. Rohan’s original owner, who is a police officer, manage to come up with a plan to get Luna out of the pen and the owner and I rushed her to the vet.
During the exam, the vet discovered that both of Luna’s front legs were very badly damaged and there was a previous wound that was infected and had some maggots in it. The vet did not believe this wound was only a few days old so it’s very likely that JoJo had bitten Luna on previous occasions as well, not just a result of having Rohan put in with them. This was confirmed to me by their owner, who told me that the girls had fought before, so she never should have contained them together at my place in the first place.
Sadly, Luna’s injuries were too extensive and the vet felt that she likely would not have survived, even if we had spent a lot of money on her treatment so the decision was made for her to be euthanized. I was with the owner at the vet, so I know everything that was said.
I was very very upset with the owner after this whole ordeal. Her stupid choices have lead to beautiful and sweet Luna dying far too young. But I was still supportive and compassionate towards her in spite of my inner feelings about it. What I did not expect was for her to turn around and act like it was Rohan‘s fault even though he had never bit either of the girls, and it had been her own dumb choice to ignore my advice and put him in there with them, which made Jojo get jealous enough to get more aggressive than she had already been to Luna. After this event, the owner decided to take Jojo back with her, even though she was homeless and living out of the store of her new job or something like that.
Then I didn’t hear from her for three months, which was great and during that time we’ve been working a little bit with Rohan and things were blessedly peaceful, quiet, and drama free which is the norm here at Tanglewood. Handling wily wolfdogs is so much easier than dealing with stupid humans.
Then on September 3rd she reached out to me again and said she was having medical problems and that there were issues with Jojo, mostly because no one else could care for her since she did not allow many others to handle her safely. So I asked the owner if she needed temporary help or if she was looking for a permanent rehome situation. She told me at that time that she wanted a permanent rehome for Jojo so I began to talk to other Wolfdog people to help. I also offered the temporary place on my property again if there was a time crunch involved just so I knew that she would be safe even though I did not really want her here after what had occurred.
We were texting back-and-forth open till Friday and then I texted her back something on Saturday before I stumbled upon a post she had made that she thought I could not see where she replied to someone who inquired if the breeder could take her back, and she completely lies pretending I refuse to help or answer her and then lies about what had occurred, implying that the dogs were in my care when all this occurred, and that I had been neglecting them, and that Rohan had somehow “gotten into” the girls pen, and that he was responsible for hurting them both.
I have never read a more dishonest fabrication in my life. So, of course, I replied to her post and told everyone the truth. Then the admin’s decided to delete her post, which I don’t blame them for at all.
I texted her and told her to return the pup in my house, key immediately and get the few parts of a kennel that she had been storing here. I was home on Sunday and I instructed her that is when I wanted her to come but of course she did not. She decided to come today, when no one else was home. And would I cannot believe is that she somehow got a state trooper to come with her and believe her about what belonged to her. She did not return the dog, she did leave my house key (hopefully without copying it, which could be a possibility), and she took many kennel panels. Oddly, she left one that I know was hers because I did not ever own any that had the rounded corners because I hate them. And she took all of my other spare panels that have been mine and moved with me from three properties. She claims they were hers and they absolutely were not.
So, in a nutshell, I have been slandered, traumatized, mistreated, and robbed, all for the crime of being too damn nice and a responsible and honest breeder.
These are the facts and nothing but the facts, and I have all of the text messages between us that I will gladly post or send to anyone who would like to read them all. This woman was a total mistake on my part and leaves a trail of disaster behind her. She has no business owning a wolfdog. At this point, I honestly believe there is a mental illness involved because so much of what she has done and said does not make any sense. No one is to blame for the catastrophe that occurred on my property except for her. The Wolfdogs cannot be blamed for being the animals that they are. Their people are supposed to be smarter.
If anyone wants to contact her to see if they can find out what is going on with Jojo, and if she still needs placement, please feel free to do so. You also have my blessing to share this post as you wish.. My only goal, as it has always been with any of my pups, is that Jojo ends up somewhere where they can safely address the concerns so that she, people, and other animals are all safe and properly cared for. She is still young, so I’m hoping that if she is spayed and worked with her behavior can turn around, just like I hope for Rohan.
The owner’s name is Victoria and on Facebook it’s Tori Iacono from Cherry Hill. I’m not giving her info for you to bully her or anything like that even though she really deserves it for stealing my property, but unlike her I don’t have any problem with people hearing from both sides, because I have nothing to hide and I believe you’re all intelligent enough to see the truth shine through. Anyone who knows can attest that I am honest to a fault, and I guarantee, probably the most honest person you’ve ever met.
I live by total truth and believe that lies and omissions do not belong in the world at all, let alone when speaking about a Wolfdog. Hiding facts is not the way to go and only endangers everyone involved, including the animal, so I will not allow that to happen to any of mine.
One last addition: I have seen a picture of Jojo sleeping peacefully with the owner’s standard poodle, who also reports that they get along great (trust that as much as you will), so I think she is dog friendly when there is no male around. I’d still be cautious but I’m not saying that she can’t ever be trusted.
