Almost Heaven Kennels

Like all puppies mills should be, I understand this one was shut down. Hope the laws become better to protect the abused and neglected animals coming from places like this. more

can i rate a negative star? In 2008 after researching the kind of dog that would be a good fit with me I decided on a goldendoodle. My uncle is a vet and gave me specific things to look for - breeder should not give shots, make sure to see at least one of the dogs parent but better to see both, etc.. I found Almost Heaven on line, called skip to ask if he had any white male pups, which i had seen pics on his website, and he did. the white ones were $1000.00. i made arrangements to go see the white pup. when i got there I saw the 'dad' and skip gave me a pic of the mom dog. he said dog mom of the puppies owner had a hard time letting the pups go since this was her first litter and for whatever reason couldn't bring the mom dog for me to see. he brought one red guy out and said he had 2 white females but promised a woman coming the next day to hold them for her to see... my guy was precious (what puppy ISN'T?!!). I had to have him, and since he was red skip told me he was $1500. Ok shady again, so we negotiated down a bit. He gave me some brochure for vitamins and said if i ordered them i would get a one year health guarantee and said if i ever decided i couldn't keep the pup to bring him back to almost heaven. He had monkeys in a big cage attached to his house who were able to inside or stay outside if they wanted. I asked if i could pet them and he said no that they were mean, they were his moms and blah blah blah... anyway, of course i took my pup to the vet to be checked. he had worms and they gave him an 'official' worm shot (skip said he had given him the worm shot himself...). my pup was really sick and had to have an iv put into his little arm for antibiotics since he was found to have had a parasite that came from sheep and something else (unusual). he almost didn't make it. skip never returned any of my calls or emails. my guy is fine now and is 4.5 yrs old. the first year or so i sent pics to skip so he could show the woman whose dog had mine and let her know he has a great life with me. never heard back. it wasn't until a friend asked me where i got my pup that i pulled up the website and found all of these horror stories! I was sooo sad to read all of this. and i'm sooo glad to have saved my pup. he is the best, most precious dog in the world! almost heaven... really???? should more appropriately be named hell according to all of this. so sad. more

This puppy mill was busted again by the SPCA on June 25, 2009. Over 200 dogs were retrieved and taken to Harrisburg for treatment. Thereafter, they were disseminated to various animal shelters. I adopted my dog from a shelter in Virginia. After I adopted him, I discovered that he had a serious heart defect that required heart surgery (at a cost of $3,700), which has been taken care of. He also has a very hoarse cough and we believe he was debarked with a pole shoved down his throat so Mr. Derbe would not have to pay vet expenses for either condition. We were wondering why his mouth was locked shut when we tried to administer post-operative medication. Now we know that he was abused beyond our belief. He is now in a loving and caring Virginia home. I pray that the other rescued dogs from this inhumane puppy mill are also as lucky as my loving puppy. more

I am in total shock over this, a friend and myself have purchased 3 doodle pups from Skip and related to Skips doodles. We have never had any problems with our dogs, we also know several dogs who have come from this kennel and ""NO PROBLEMS"" with them either. We have never witnessed any foul ordors from his kennel or heard of problems. This is a total shock to us. We are happy and pleased with our dogs, we are at a loss to see how the adult dogs are being taken care of on TV. All kennels have ordors, even the SPCA! All dogs are at a risk for chemical burns when they go to a groomer and you won't hear about it unless it happens to your dog. I don't know where this all went wrong for Skip again, thought from what I read the last time he changed, thought his kennel and he was a very caring person and really cared for his dogs, guess I and others are blind sided. But again as I said above I have seen lots of dogs who have come from his kennel and they are beautiful dogs with NO Health problmes. I also dont understand why people who are complaining do not use their Health guarentee if they have a problem with their dogs Health. I know Skip stands behind his guarentee, he would work with you for the best of the pup you purchased and not make you give up a pup you are attached to if something is wrong with it he would replace the pup. As for the dead dogs found in a freezer, again he leaves us speechless, I still can not understand how all of this has gone on and NO neighbors have complained enough to get something done sooner. Where was the inspector who gave him his kennel license, maybe this inspector should live at almost heaven kennel for a week or so with Skip and his wife in a Kennel next to them and let them see what it is like to have lived like these dogs who have suffered. more

This place is a puppy mill. They are being busted as I type this message. Dogs are being packed up and taken out of there by the SPCA Cons: Puppy Mill more