KANSING, Mich. — Imagine this, you pick out a dog, it steals your heart, and now the original owners don't want to give up the dog after all.
One local woman is claiming that's what happened to her. The dog was part of a breeding program and, at the end of the program, she was supposed to go home with the woman who has been helping with her care.
"I was absolutely devastated, devastated, I was speechless. And I'm still, two weeks later, walking around in a fog because I don't understand she acts as if we don't have a contract, and since they choose to keep her, it doesn't matter your feelings, your investment in this entire process," said Monica Sanders, dog guardian.
Sanders was looking for a hypoallergenic dog. In December 2017, she met Maggie, her perfect match, at Newfypoo Zoo. The zoo is a dog breeding company based in Adrian.
"And once I saw her face, I knew it was meant to be for the both of us. We bonded, we went everywhere together," said Sanders.
Even though Newfypoo owns Maggie, Sanders was her guardian. She would keep Maggie for the majority of the time, and take her to the zoo for a week to a week and a half to get her pregnant.
"And then, once we confirmed she's pregnant, we set the dates for the delivery and arrange our times to be there a week before she's due," said Sanders.
Maggie would stay at the zoo for eight weeks when she gave birth, and then come back home with Sanders.
Maggie did that twice and the most recent time ran into a doggy dilemma.
Sanders provided texts from February from Newfypoo saying that Maggie was ready to be picked up and that she needed to be brought back to the company in April for a spay.
However, Sanders had a leg injury and was unable to drive in February. She said she would let them know when she was better.
Nearly a month later, Sanders texted the company trying to arrange a pickup time for Maggie.
According to the contract, Sanders would be Maggie's new owner once breeding was complete and she was spayed.
"And that's when they responded, 'Sorry, we decided to keep her.' I'm not sure what changed from her being prepared to turn her over to me and now," said Sanders.
The texts state that the owners became attached to the dog and Maggie was living happily and the transition would not be fair to her.
A transition that, Sanders said, Maggie had been through twice before, so she didn't understand.
"I want my Maggie, I want my Maggie back, she was such a good dog," said Sanders.
We have reached out to Newfypoo Zoo and they said they can't comment at this time.
Sanders has hired a lawyer to help her with this matter.
In Michigan, there are not a lot of animal rights laws.
However, we did talk to an attorney who says the courts will most likely follow the obligations of the contract if it gets that far.
News 10 will let you know how this one ends.
