Scarlett's Puppies: Help Set us Free

Please help save Scarlett’s puppies who are stuck in the middle of a legal battle by breeder {redacted} of {redacted}. This sad saga was exposed on A Current Affair, 9 News, 7 News and the front page of the Sunday Mail.

This litter of 7 gorgeous Labradoodle puppies should have gone to forever homes at 8 weeks old. But they are now 4 months old and deliberately being used by {redacted} as pawns in a ridiculous custody battle over the pupppy’s mummy in Court. 

We desperately need to raise money to ask a Judge to set them free and help pay for their care and welfare. 

Mrs Rhodes purchased Scarlett from {redacted} with a verbal agreement for him to breed 3 litters. In October 21 at least 15 families with puppies from {redacted} were brave enough to speak out about {redacted} illegal backyard breeding and stealing dogs by deception and shattering the hearts of children.

It started with Matilda who was owned by the Golchert family under a similar breeding agreement with {redacted}. He requested Matilda go to his vet for some breeding tests. Mrs Goldchert along with her two little girls were told to collect her later that day. But instead {redacted} collected and on-sold her, leaving two completely shattered girls crying themselves to sleep at night.

At the same time, Scarlett was pregnant with her third and last litter. Mrs Rhode’s daughter also had a breeding dog named Lucy from {redacted} and was being held captive by him and at undisclosed location and he was refusing to return her after giving birth to a litter. {redacted} was now under investigation by the Police for taking Matilda and the RSPCA and Council for illegal breeding without a permit in unfit conditions. The stories of Matilda, Scarlett, Lucy and other families who also had their dogs taken by {redacted} were exposed on A Current Affair.

{redacted} demanded that Mrs Rhodes pay him $5000 or he would also keep Scarlett claiming he owned her. She didn’t have the money he was trying to extort from her and was scared he would try to take Scarlett like her daughter’s dog and the others before her. Could you imagine the heartbreak of a mother and daughter never seeing their dogs again. Scarlett and Lucy were best friends and would probably end up being sold off to other unsuspecting families and separated.

A sympathetic Gold Coast Labradoodle lover offered to care for the litter and an experienced midwife would birth and supervise the them. Scarlett already had 2 difficult births and she required an emergency caesarean to save 2 of the puppies.

{redacted} then filed a ridiculous Claim in the District Court for $270,000 in damages and an urgent injunction seeking for Scarlett and her 3-week-old puppies to be handed over to him pending a trial that could take years. Mrs Rhodes couldn’t afford a lawyer and didn’t have time to raise money for one as she only had 7 days to appear in court. 

At court on 3 December, {redacted} claims they had an agreement that Giselle pays for all Scarlett’s day-to-day expenses. And he gets to profit from 3 litters and he pays all breeding costs. 

Mrs Rhodes agreed! And the Judge also agreed she has held up her end of the deal! So, Giselle gets to keep Scarlett as the rightful owner and {redacted} gets the puppies and pays the breeding costs. 

Simple right? Everyone agrees. Case closed and there is no need for a full trial.

WRONG! {redacted} is a greedy man with a vendetta for being exposed ! He wants the puppies and the profits but refuses to pay the expenses for the birth of the litter. And he makes the person who is currently caring for the litter a Co-Defendant claiming false imprisonment of the puppies. He squabbled over every expense right down to the cost of a bag of dog food. And he still wants Scarlett claiming she breached a contract, but ooops he can’t find the written contract. Wait what!!??

Mrs Rhodes represented herself against his Barrister and Solicitor. Clearly a waste of court’s time, the judge denies {redacted} and ordered possession of Scarlett to Mrs Rhodes.. Yay! And the puppies remain with the carer until further ordered by the court. And {redacted} must pay a weekly fee for the care of the puppies, including food and all reasonable expenses and go squabble over the breeding costs he refuses to pay at Mediation. 

So he didn’t get custody of Scarlett or the puppies and instead is being made to pay weekly!

What happens next shows that {redacted} thinks he is above the law and does not care about the welfare of the puppies. His legal team squabble over the wording of the Order to deliberately force the puppies being held captive and he refuses to attend mediation. He breaches every part of the Order by refusing to pay the vet bills and reasonable expenses and stopped paying the weekly fee on 10 January. The Judge ordered that by 11 February, {redacted} must file in court the outcome of mediation. And of course, he has not, and his legal team continue to deliberately stall and refuse every settlement offer.

Meanwhile, the puppies are now 4 months and the puppies carer and co-defendant cannot part with possession. The puppies have been under the supervision of the mid-wife and vets and have had the best start to life in a perfect environment. But they are the largest size of Labradoodles and now 15kg each. They have outgrown their space that was supposed to be only for 8 weeks. The carer has now been forced to keep the puppies for an extra two months and has had to quit work as the puppies require constant supervision and stimulation.

Can you imagine being a single mum with septuplets that are the equivalent of 2 year-olds? It takes and army of people and a lot of money.

So now it is destined to a full-blown trial that could take years. Mrs Rhodes and the Co-Defendants have had to hire a legal team to apply back to court to ask for the puppies to be set free. The puppies are gorgeous with excellent temperaments and there has been so much interest for them to go onto to be therapy or assistance dogs. They have already missed the most important two months of their lives where they should have been bonding with their future families. 

We desperately need to fund lawyers, dog walkers, groomers, trainers, vets and buy bigger beds, fences, crates, food bowls, collars, leashes, toys and the vast amount of food these big bold and beautiful puppies need.

And to top it all off! He is now doing the same to at least 15 other families demanding they pay him $5000 each or they go to court too. And there are still the many children whose hearts are broken still missing their dogs and their ongoing battles to have their dogs return back into the arms of their childrn.

The puppies need to be set free and the carer needs to get back to work. But most importantly, the torment he has caused so many people, dogs and puppies needs to be stopped.  Help..!

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Watch the story on A Current Affair: 

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Watch the story on 9 News: 

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Watch the story on 7 News: 

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Front Pge of the Sunday May Brisbane - Boxing Day