Rescue Undercover: Oct 22, 2013

Here is the real story of a dog named Cody, who later became known as Sweeney Todd (or Sweeney for short).

In 2010, Cody, a pit bull (or pit bull mix), who was very underweight and heart worm positive, was in the Chesterfield, SC shelter and he was in need of rescue. His prior history is unknown so we don't know what kind of life he had prior to this, other than he was neglected, or perhaps homeless, before he entered the shelter.

Cody 2010, in the Chesterfield, SC shelter

Amy Verder (who not long afterward founded Let Them Live Rescue) and her daughter LeAndra Verder, somehow became aware of Cody and offered to foster him. The group Where Hope Lives (also known as Paws N Claws then) facilitated this and Cody was brought to the Verder household as a foster dog.

According to Amy at the time, there was an issue between Amy and the two ladies of Where Hope Lives regarding Cody's heart worm treatment and allegedly they could not agree on a treatment plan and the cost was a factor as well. It seemed that they could not work it out peacefully and Amy vowed that she would not return Cody to Where Hope Lives. So she and LeAndra decided that LeAndra would adopt him. We don't know how much truth there was in Amy's version of this but this is what she stated to others for what it's worth.

LeAndra adopted Cody and renamed him "Sweeney Todd" and he became a member of their family. The Verders claimed that he had serious dental issues and that his heart worm disease was stage 4 and it was so bad that he had congestive heart failure as a result, which caused him to have problems breathing. Supposedly he later received treatment for these conditions.

A witness who met him during this time stated that "Sweeney was a good dog. He seemed to be pretty healthy, he was a normal weight, he was very active, and there was no evidence that he had ever been abused. There also were not any visible scars that indicated he may have been used for dog fighting." (This will become relevant in a moment).

Fast forward to 2012.

LeAndra is spotted publicly stating that Sweeney had been one of the dogs that belonged to Michael Vick (who as we all know is notorious for his dog fighting operation that was exposed and shut down a few years prior to this).

4/26/2012

Others promoted this ridiculous propaganda as well.

Not surprising that Manda Cowherd did so since Manda is a huge supporter of Amy Verder, Let Them Live Rescue, and other bad rescues such as Miranda's Rescue (California).

A search revealed that LeAndra had posted on a horse forum that Sweeney had been "part of a fighting ring" before they "rescued him out of Georgia" back on 12/31/2010.

Sweeney seems to have become their rescue's "poster dog" with his photos prominent on both their website and Facebook page.

But Sweeney was adopted before Let Them Live Rescue was even created.

Sweeney was never one of Michael Vick's dogs, there's no evidence he was ever used for dog fighting, and he was adopted, not rescued.

False advertising to say the least.

When they created this fabricated story, Amy Verder wanted to present herself as being some sort of dog trainer for aggressive dogs. She did not get professional training for this. She did not even get informal training for this as far as we can tell.

Amy and LeAndra concocted this story in a pathetic attempt to gain credibility, and most likely it was to boost their image, the one they want you to believe is true. For Amy, it was to appear to be more of an "expert" and of course the Michael Vick dogs are famous. She wanted some of that attention for herself.

Anyone can call themselves a dog trainer. It does not mean they are qualified to train dogs with aggression issues. However, most people don't go around creating outrageous stories to lend themselves false credibility.

But this is exactly what the Let Them Live Rescue women have done.

It was seriously stupid to make such a claim when the Michael Vick dogs have been highly publicized. As usual, they make unbelievable claims and never produce a shred of evidence to substantiate them.

Amy and LeAndra Verder, I will put this in words I know you can understand...

EPIC FAIL.