The Ojai Post

You might wish to check with the Missouri Attorney General's office regarding the 14 complaints of consumer fraud against Heaven Scent Paws.... contact Todd Bickel (the investigator) at 573-751-4022 at the MO. AG's office.
Also, if you look up other articles about clients being "accepted" by HSP you'll notice a familiar tone.... they are all made to feel as if their case is so severe that HSP made special room for them in the upoming class.....
BEWARE!!!

kenwnley is this true? plz advise

I'm not sure, but I can ask my friend Jenn what she knows. Look back soon.

We did call Todd Bickel with the Attorney General's office in MO. They were unable to discuss with us the terms of this "case". I can tell you that I was emailed and called (how this person got my phone number is an entirely bizarre story in and of itself) to be "warned" about HSP. I have seen and found many, many different websites and comments about HSP both negative and positive. I am unsure if these comments are from the same family, or from various families. Regardless, this has not changed my mind about working with HSP.

My family researched HSP extensively prior to making the decision to work with them. We are educated, well-rounded, and not so desperate as to jump into anything we come across. I have spoken to many, many people who have gone through this program and come home with wonderful dogs who alert.

Training these dogs is not an exact science. It takes a lot of work, and these are not "miracle" dogs. The training will have to continue when I come home, and Michele and the staff at HSP have informed me of this fact from the gate. In fact, one of the clients I spoke with told me that he worked with his first dog, was unable to make that relationship work, and Michele (the owner of HSP) drove to Southern Ohio (from MO) to bring him his new dog - who he is extremely happy with now. It's not HSP's fault, or the dog's fault - it's simply and issue of pairing the right dog with the right person - the the person receiving the dog being willing to work HARD at making the relationship work.

I would sincerely hope that whomever has decided to post this information as a comment on this blog would please stop. I respect and understand that you have had a different experience with this organization. However, I think it's sad and unfair to post negative remarks about HSP and to try and deter my fund raising efforts because of your experience.

I am confident that HSP is the right avenue for me, and I would hope that you would respect my decision making ability, and my intuition.

I wish you the best.

Sincerely,

Jenn Mueller

My son graduated from Heaven Scent Paws with his Service Dog and this company is absolutely amazing. It is alot of work to get to your goal but when you get there it is all worth it. My son developed Epilepsy as a complication of his diabetes. When his blood glucose would drop below 55 it was guaranteed that a seizure would follow right behind. Since he has had his Service Dog "Jana" we have not had to worry. She has alerted to those detrimental lows and saved him more times then I can count. Some were amazing alerts where I was just in awe and some were her regular you are going low alerts. My family couldn't have been more thankful for Heaven Scent Paws as they have given our son a much healtier, happy and confident life. I am now a PROUD volunteer of Heaven Scent Paws. I believe in this company and seeing what they have done for us and so many others convinced me that I wanted to be part of it. Jen you have an amazing site and I wish you the best of health and happiness.

My daughter graduated from Heaven Scent Paws with a "service dog" and we have worked our butts off to try to get the dog to alert but it turns out that the dog should never have been a service dog to begin with let alone a scent dog. It had had zero scent discrimination training, practically no socialization and experts believe that this dog will NEVER work in public because of it's lack of socialization and it's personality. After $13,000 we have a nice pet that does NOTHING to help my daughter.

We had an alert yesterday at the doctors office that impacted the way our Endocrinologist looks at these Service Dogs (in a good way) that I just had to share.

Anthony had his Endocrinologist appt. yesterday and I just wanted to share our story about our visit. When we were in the doctor's office Jana gave us a perfect alert. His doctor was never really into the idea of a service dog but after the alert she saw yesterday she is now believing.

Jana was on a down stay for about 15 min (the doctor was checking Anthony's sites to make sure all looked goood. Jana got up from her down stay and came over to me, without hesitation I asked Anthony what his pump said (he has the CGMS), it read 178 with one arrow going down. We told Jana good alert and gave her 1 treat and put her back on a down stay. Anthony is now off the table and back in his chair. The doctor goes back to her desk. After about 5 min of talking, Jana gets up, comes to me and is licking at my hands non-stop. Knowing that Anthony is dropping but now low enough to treat there is nothing for me to do so I say good girl and put her back in a down stay (Anthony is fine, no signs of being low he was playing his Nintendo DS). Again about 5 min later, Jana gets up comes to me and is now nibbling at my fingers. I tell Anthony to check his BG with his meter, the meters reading was 63 (the CGMS was reading 170). Mind you the Endocrinologist watched this whole thing play out. We did our excersises with Jana, gave Anthony a snack and put Jana back on a down stay. Which is where she stayed until the appointment was over. She did her job better then I could have asked her to do.

As the doctor stated "I am completely amazed". The look on her face was shock as to how well it works, esp since the CGMS never picked up the low but the dog did! She did say that the Service Dog has to be alot of work and it IS, but it is SO WORTH IT.

I too have a son that received a service dog from HSP in the February class. I can truly say that Bert has saved my son's life multiple times since coming home in February. Jenn, I wish you all the best in your venture with obtaining a service dog from HSP. Yes this has been a lot of work for a five year old but he knows that he has to work with his dog each and everyday. He will come to me and say okay its time to work with Bert and we do our obedience training. Bert alerts wonderfully and we always receive comments on how well trained he is when he is out in public. Thank you again HSP for all you did for our family and child.

Here are a link to the AG's website to verify that they are indeed moving forward with a lawsuit. Just a reminder: the AG is not going to press charges unless are very sure they will win.

http://ago.mo.gov/newsreleases/2008/Lawsuit_filed_against_Heaven_Scent_Paws_and_Michelle_Reinkemeyer/

Lyndsay:

Can you not respect Ms. Mueller's request to leave her alone? Also, I didn't think you guys were supposed to be talking about this. Please respect other people's wishes. Just because you are not happy does not mean others aren't and won't be.

who the hell are these people??

All this information is great but the facts are the facts HCP is not reg./licensed within it's State's requirements, they are not abiding by the articles described in the articles of their 501(C)3. And there are numerous complaints against them.. maybe some may have gotten some good dogs, that have helped their child but facts are facts. Experts have determined the dogs they evaluated are not capable of picking up scents, and are rick biters.. and not capable of being service dogs.. So research before you buy into this investment for the health of your child.

i live in northern california; san francisco area. my son, age 14, received a diabetic alert dog from heaven scent paws. we just received our dog in february. duke, a 140+lb newfoundland, is nothing short of amazing! heaven scent paws has provided our family with support and guidance through the rigorous training. i wish jean the absolute best with her diabetic alert dog!!! i hope to connect with you one day-since our family does travel to your area!

amy gubser