jdarling Posted April 30, 2009 Report Share Posted April 30, 2009 TN Border Collie Rescue ??? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sue R Posted April 30, 2009 Report Share Posted April 30, 2009 Yes. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jack & Co. Posted April 30, 2009 Report Share Posted April 30, 2009 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Root Beer Posted April 30, 2009 Report Share Posted April 30, 2009 So . . . . who is it? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aljones Posted April 30, 2009 Report Share Posted April 30, 2009 Sigh. Sure is. ETA: Kristine, I'll PM you. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
juliepoudrier Posted April 30, 2009 Report Share Posted April 30, 2009 So, I wonder: Are the puppies in the videos "rescues"? Yuck. J. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bcnewe2 Posted April 30, 2009 Report Share Posted April 30, 2009 Pm me to cause I have no idea. Plus I have no idea with the Pipe test is? Couldn't figure it out and I watched all 3 pipetest vids. too! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aljones Posted April 30, 2009 Report Share Posted April 30, 2009 PM coming your way, too, Kristen, although I don't have any insight on the "pipe test" part at all! (Edited to correct spelling--sorry, Kristen!) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sue R Posted April 30, 2009 Report Share Posted April 30, 2009 Pipetest - I have no idea. I do remember, from several years ago, pictures showing "agility dogs" that had dogs climbing ladders onto the tops of small sheds... Who knows what a "pipe test" might reveal about aptitudes for "useful" or "performance" dogs? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JaderBug Posted April 30, 2009 Report Share Posted April 30, 2009 Maybe it's just me but is there something wrong with those puppies? They don't look right to me... but I could be wrong... and I have no idea who this is supposed to be... :S Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OurBoys Posted April 30, 2009 Report Share Posted April 30, 2009 Let me see if I get this right. This guy sets up his own breeding business then 'donates' 75% of his sales to his own 'rescue' claiming his rescue is tax-exempt. Isn't this a scam to avoid paying more taxes??? Isn't there anything the IRS can do??? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aljones Posted April 30, 2009 Report Share Posted April 30, 2009 Good questions, Brenda! I've been asking them myself but not followed up officially as I should have.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dixie_Girl Posted April 30, 2009 Report Share Posted April 30, 2009 In "pipe test 1" the guy throws the pipe, the dog gets it, runs, the guy yells at dog, dog drops it, guy tells the dog, good boy, good boy, then is upset cuz dog won't get pipe again? The dog is smarter than he is! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Debbie Meier Posted April 30, 2009 Report Share Posted April 30, 2009 Let me see if I get this right. This guy sets up his own breeding business then 'donates' 75% of his sales to his own 'rescue' claiming his rescue is tax-exempt. Isn't this a scam to avoid paying more taxes??? Isn't there anything the IRS can do??? I wonder what percentage of tax-exempt non profits have been set up for the purpose of sheltering income from the IRS... Deb Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OurBoys Posted April 30, 2009 Report Share Posted April 30, 2009 I wonder what percentage of tax-exempt non profits have been set up for the purpose of sheltering income from the IRS... I understand what you're saying and that's a good point but this just seems so blatant (at least to me it does). On his 'rescue' site, he claims to be a tax exempt non-profit organization but he doesn't actually say he's a 501( C ). Is there some other tax exempt he can take? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Soda-pop Posted April 30, 2009 Report Share Posted April 30, 2009 I've done SAR evals for our shelter dogs (unofficial, just doing their little video before I call them to come and do an official eval) and they recommend getting the dog to play with a piece of PVC. They want a dog that regards almost everything as a toy--so... maybe that's it?? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jack & Co. Posted April 30, 2009 Report Share Posted April 30, 2009 Sigh. Sure is. ETA: Kristine, I'll PM you. Angie, aren't you involved with Middle Tennessee BC Rescue? Can y'all do anything to stop him? It seems like he has his hand in every cookie jar around. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sue R Posted April 30, 2009 Report Share Posted April 30, 2009 Reputable rescues in TN include West TNBCR and East TNBCR, but certainly not BCR of Middle TN. Perhaps Angie is involved in one of those, and not this one, I hope. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Debbie Meier Posted April 30, 2009 Report Share Posted April 30, 2009 I understand what you're saying and that's a good point but this just seems so blatant (at least to me it does). On his 'rescue' site, he claims to be a tax exempt non-profit organization but he doesn't actually say he's a 501( C ). Is there some other tax exempt he can take? If I understand it correctly, Federal 501C allows donations to be deducted from doners taxes. From what I've been told you can be a state tax exempt non-profit organization without federal 501C status. The key is that you don't show income above a certain amount and your board members can't recieve pay. If a person had a bunch of dogs and then moved them over into a rescue they formed under a different name they could probably claim the income and expenses differently then they could if they ran it solely as a breeding business, I think that the government would look at the breeding business and the rescue as two seperate entities. I could see where it would have tax advantages, more so to help retain enough money from the income generated by the dogs sold/adopted to support the kept dogs vs. claiming it all as income, basically it's a good way to get your gross adjusted. I suppose a person would just need to do enough rescue to evidence it as a rescue, the website evidences it. Reminds me of the HSUS complaint, saying of all the money donated that only a small portion goes toward directly helping the animals, just enough so that the can maintain their claim. Don't know if the complaint is accurate or not, but same type of theory. I guess I just write if off as a business manuver, the practice is all around us, I just don't think we recognize it. Creating LLC's or small little businesses (raising llama's or something) for the purpose of sheltering income from taxes. It's also interesting the folks that do a little of this or that so that they can get in on a government subsidy. One of the companies Wayne worked for was a tax shelter for it's investors, if it looked like the business was going to turn a profit there would be a huge Christmas party with money flying everywhere. They took us down to the Casino one year, the CEO stood up there with a fistful of 100 dollar bills, just handing them out. Deb Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aljones Posted April 30, 2009 Report Share Posted April 30, 2009 Angie, aren't you involved with Middle Tennessee BC Rescue? Gee, I go off to teach a class and return to find my name associated with He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named! Reputable rescues in TN include West TNBCR and East TNBCR, but certainly not BCR of Middle TN. Perhaps Angie is involved in one of those, and not this one, I hope. Exactly. I know it's confusing in TN that this individual has piggybacked on the geographical naming convention of the two reputable rescues. I suspect that his choice of name was no accident. (We've had a couple of other threads on this topic since he began BCR of Middle TN, in fact.) However, just for clarification, my only "involvement" with BCR of Middle TN is that I unfortunately live near it and have visited the operation twice, once at the request of a reputable rescue and once for my own purposes. I do, however, support ETNBCR and WTNBCR as much as I can (just picked up a stray BC last night, in fact, and took him to meet transport to WTNBCR ). Can y'all do anything to stop him? It seems like he has his hand in every cookie jar around. People have been trying to put an end to this operation for a lot longer than I've been associated with rescue or lived in the area. I would be happy to hear of other suggestions for how to do so--PM is fine, of course, if folks don't want to post such ideas. On his 'rescue' site, he claims to be a tax exempt non-profit organization but he doesn't actually say he's a 501( C ). And, fyi, BCR of Middle TN does have 501( c ) (3) status. I have a copy of the paperwork, in fact. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jack & Co. Posted April 30, 2009 Report Share Posted April 30, 2009 Gee, I go off to teach a class and return to find my name associated with He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named! Exactly. I know it's confusing in TN that this individual has piggybacked on the geographical naming convention of the two reputable rescues. I suspect that his choice of name was no accident. (We've had a couple of other threads on this topic since he began BCR of Middle TN, in fact.) However, just for clarification, my only "involvement" with BCR of Middle TN is that I unfortunately live near it and have visited the operation twice, once at the request of a reputable rescue and once for my own purposes. I do, however, support ETNBCR and WTNBCR as much as I can (just picked up a stray BC last night, in fact, and took him to meet transport to WTNBCR ). People have been trying to put an end to this operation for a lot longer than I've been associated with rescue or lived in the area. I would be happy to hear of other suggestions for how to do so--PM is fine, of course, if folks don't want to post such ideas. Sorry to alarm you! My foggy brain couldn't dredge up the correct regional term for the rescues that you had dealings with! I guess I had visions of the good guys kicking down the doors at the bad guys' place and sweeping all of the "rescues" away to legitimate rescues and forever homes! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eileen Stein Posted April 30, 2009 Report Share Posted April 30, 2009 Border Collie Rescue of Middle Tennessee is Richard Swafford, but Richard Swafford is not the person shown in the video. May be an employee of Swafford's. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jdarling Posted April 30, 2009 Author Report Share Posted April 30, 2009 Thanks Eileen. It's amazing how many dogs you can hear. It's almost deafening. Doesn't AKC have a maximum number of litters you can put on the ground every year? Well, I guess it doesn't matter because he'll just go to IBCA and all those other "quality" registries, or just sell unregistered pregnant dogs or whatever. It's disgusting. I wonder how many of the dogs in his "rescue" (notice how many unspayed females there are) were his former brood bitches. And how many of the older pups are his that he couldn't sell. It's amazing to me that places like this can not only survive, but thrive. And why? Because there are people out there that don't do their research and buy from operations such as these. Apparently scads of them! This guy is not the only one they are keeping in business. There are a lot of large operations that are able to sell puppies to people whose only thought is, "Oh how cute!" How do you close your eyes to the fact that there's so many litters on the ground, and so many dogs, and ... oh it just makes my head spin. The only way I would imagine to shut these people down is to educate the public on what good breeders are. But when people want a puppy, there are many things they are suddenly blind to. And Swafford and people like him depend on that. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
phej Posted May 1, 2009 Report Share Posted May 1, 2009 www.guidestar.org (contains tax and other info on registered non-profits) says he set the organization up in 2008 -- his 08 tax forms are not in yet, but it might be worth a look once they are posted... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BayouBC Posted May 17, 2009 Report Share Posted May 17, 2009 Maybe it's just me but is there something wrong with those puppies? They don't look right to me... but I could be wrong... and I have no idea who this is supposed to be... :S For about as long as I've known who Swafford is, I've noticed that he seems to turn out some odd looking puppies, much like the ones in the videos. They just don't look right or healthy, which would fit considering some of the health issues his puppies have ended up having (second hand knowledge from people who have bought puppies from him). Especially the puppies' heads...the shape and proportion are just strange, Border Collie or otherwise. I've done SAR evals for our shelter dogs (unofficial, just doing their little video before I call them to come and do an official eval) and they recommend getting the dog to play with a piece of PVC. They want a dog that regards almost everything as a toy--so... maybe that's it?? That's kind of what I was thinking. It made me think of a really poorly done temperament or drive test. I've never used PVC pipe, but it seems like what the guy's trying (badly) to do. Doesn't AKC have a maximum number of litters you can put on the ground every year? Well, I guess it doesn't matter because he'll just go to IBCA and all those other "quality" registries, or just sell unregistered pregnant dogs or whatever. It's disgusting. I could be wrong, but I don't think he even usually has AKC puppies. This is one of the guys (I won't even honor him with the term breeder) that the ABCA kicked out a few years ago for fraudulent breeding practices. Also the one that had the website www.abcbordercollies.com that the ABCA sued for the rights too. Now Swafford and a bunch of the ousted backyard breeders are big pushers of one of the new registries. Might be IBCA, but I don't remember. It's amazing to me that places like this can not only survive, but thrive. And why? Because there are people out there that don't do their research and buy from operations such as these. Apparently scads of them! This guy is not the only one they are keeping in business. There are a lot of large operations that are able to sell puppies to people whose only thought is, "Oh how cute!" How do you close your eyes to the fact that there's so many litters on the ground, and so many dogs, and ... oh it just makes my head spin. The only way I would imagine to shut these people down is to educate the public on what good breeders are. But when people want a puppy, there are many things they are suddenly blind to. Unfortunately for everyone and all the dogs involved, he has an extensive system set up. He doesn't just sell puppies locally or fly them out to people. Unless something's changed in the last year or so, he also sends litters or breeding pairs to "foster homes" in other states, where the people then sell the puppies from there and they get a cut of the profits. So while people shouldn't be fooled into thinking the "foster home" is a quality breeder, the buyers still don't see the magnitude of the operation or the worst of the conditions the dogs are kept in. They just think they're buying from a NORMAL backyard breeder (still not good though). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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