Corinth

It's been nine months since my last column about Adirondack Save-A-Stray. I had hoped to never write another, but no such luck.

This time, it's Abby Dickie and John Necroto who had a heartbreaking experience after adopting a dog from the rescue in Corinth. The couple from Troy fell in love with Jagger, only to watch him decline and suffer before they made the painful decision to euthanize the animal.

"We were so excited to get a puppy," Dickie said, "and it turned into such a mess."

I first wrote about Adirondack Save-A-Stray in July when Charlie Jordan and Maura Brondi from Clifton Park spoke about a nearly identical experience. Their dog, Calvin, fell ill with parvovirus and died shortly after he was adopted.

Isolated incidents?

Meredith Fiel, the executive director at the nonprofit Adirondack Save-A-Stray, believes so and notes that there's risk with any animal adoption. She's right, of course, and that's especially true with puppies.

"They aren't washing machines," Fiel told me last summer. "There are no guarantees."

But there are many shelters and rescues in the Capital Region, and none seem to generate so much concern.

Talk to Ivan Coello of Albany, who last month filed a complaint with state attorney general's office after his family adopted Baxter from Adirondack Save-A-Stray and spent $3,000 to successfully treat the puppy for parvo.

Talk to Charline Clothier of Queensbury, who contacted me last week saying her parvo-infected puppy from Adirondack Save-A-Stray was quarantined at the vet.

And then there's Julie Tillson from Vermont, who says she adopted a puppy with rabies from Adirondack Save-A-Stray last fall. It was Vermont's first case of rabies in a domestic dog since 1994, and 15 people — everyone who had been exposed to the dog before it died — endured an expensive and painful series of treatment shots.

Ask Brad Shear, executive director of the Mohawk Hudson Humane Society in Menands. He notes that Adirondack Save-A-Stray doesn't spay or neuter, and he worries that it's therefore contributing to the problem of unwanted animals.

Or talk to Sue Green from Guilderhaven, an Altamont-based animal rescue, who says she's heard just too many horror stories.

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"What bothers me the most," Green said, "is the misery that (Adirondack Save-A-Stray) perpetrates on individuals who are trying to do a good thing by adopting from a shelter."

For sure, most of the dogs adopted from Adirondack Save-A-Stray go to their new homes without significant health issues. And the rescue's prime mission seems heroic: It takes unwanted dogs from Georgia, Tennessee and other places in the South and matches them with families in the puppy-crazed Northeast. The puppies are so desired, in fact, that they often go to new homes as quickly as they arrive.

"Jagger came in on a Saturday," Dickie said, "and they said we could pick him up that same day."

A few days later, the dog became lethargic. Just nine weeks old when adopted, the pup was ultimately diagnosed with parvo and distemper, lost eight pounds in 17 days, and was euthanized when there was no hope he could survive. Dickie and Necroto incurred $2,000 in vet bills.

Fiel declined to speak about Dickie's experience. Julie Cornell, a Vermont-based veterinarian who frequently works for Adirondack Save-A-Stray, said Jagger was examined before and after his journey north. The dog, she said, appeared to be in good health.

Cornell said she's bothered by the "bad rap" that Fiel gets while saving dogs that often come from horrible situations and would otherwise be euthanized. But Cornell acknowledged the special hazards that come with Adirondack Save-A-Stray adoptions.

"The risk is higher just because of the volume of puppies and where they're coming from," the vet said. "They're not from this environment."

Adirondack Save-A-Stray adopts out about 150 dogs monthly, accounting for most of the $283,559 in revenue reported on its 2012 tax return.

It's worth noting that unlike shelters and pet stores, Adirondack Save-A-Stray is not regulated or inspected by New York's Department of Agriculture and Markets. The state agency has oversight only over rescues and shelters that have contracts with municipalities to accept strays — an unfortunate loophole in the law, for sure.

To me, the important question is this: Does the good of Adirondack Save-A-Stray outweigh the bad?

If you've adopted a healthy puppy from the rescue, I suppose it's easy to think it does. But the people who have watched their dogs suffer feel differently.

"The heartbreak that we felt," Dickie said, "I wouldn't want anybody else to feel that."

cchurchill@timesunion.com • 518-454-5700 • @chris_churchill