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The recent dismissal of the SLAPP (Suit Against Public Participation) suit brought against me by Dawn Abrams and Donna Roberts was very welcome and much appreciated.  For more coverage of the case, please read this and this.

While the case seemingly was about a dispute between a disreputable group of dog breeders and a pet owner, the case had much more to do about the First Amendment and free speech.  Please read the amicus brief submitted to the court on my behalf by the Humane Society of the United States. SLAPP suits are becoming increasingly popular vehicles to intimidate and silence bloggers and others. 

The sad thing about the current American judicial system is that anyone can sue you--with or without a good reason.  I think that  it is time that legislation is passed that seriously punishes litigants and their lawyers who willfully and knowingly file SLAPP suits. The current penalties and sanctions are a joke.

Although I was able to defend myself against a frivolous lawsuit that had no merit, it DID silence me (and the rest of the blogosphere) and it cost me an enormous amount of money!  Unfortunately, the people who brought the suit against me continued to sell dogs to would-be pet owners while my hands were tied because of pending litigation.

I find it ironic that I had to spend tens of thousands of dollars to be able to exercise my right to free speech which is supposedly guaranteed--at no cost--to all Americans.  To that end, if you would like to help to defray my legal expenses please visit StopPuppyFraud  or our Crowdrise page and make a donation. 

Until next time...

Good Luck and Good Job Hunting!!!!!!

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As you may know, BioJobBlogger was recently sued for defamation, invasion of privacy and punitive damages by Donna Roberts and Dawn Abrams two so called dog breeder.

To that end, a group of concerned dog advocates and friends have created a website called Stop Puppy Fraud to help to raise awareness about fraudulent dog breeders and to help raise money to defray legal expenses.

P.S. The dog in the pic is Moose-- a two to five year old mixed breed dog (misrepresented as a 9 month old Havanese purebred) rescued from Abrams and Roberts.

Thankfully, he is in much better shape today than in the pic (taken less than a week after we purchased him from Dawn Abrams) with bilateral ear infections, a fulminant urinary tract infection that prevented him from urinating and necrotic gums and rotting front teeth that were ultimately saved by a veterinary dental expert).

Until next time...

Good Luck and Help Save the Puppies!!!!!!

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Summer has finally arrived and everyone I know is kicking back, looking forward to their previously planned vacations and enjoying their four day (summer hours) work week. While many folks still have jobs, the unemployment rates are not dropping as quickly as anticipated and large numbers of layed-off and right-sized former life sciences employees are still without jobs. 

I recently checked the BioJobBlog archives and quickly realized that I have written close to 100 posts on how to craft an industrial strength resume, conduct a job search, prepare for a phone or face-to-face job interview, network and negotiate a job offer. To that end, I thought it might be informative and constructive to resurrect some of these older posts and re-assemble them into a thread that describes each step of the job hunting process. Also, as many of you may know, I was recently sued by an odious individual for invasion of privacy and defamation because I exposed her alleged illegal dog breeding and puppy mill ring. 

Consequently, much of my free time over the next two weeks will be spent on the case. That said, I will begin posting daily job hunting tips and advice on July 5, 2010.

I hope that my readers find this series useful. Also, I would like to hear from those of you who despise and abhor persons who mistreat and abuse animals and are willing to help me put my accuser out of business for good!!!!!!!!

Until next time...

Good Luck and Good Job Hunting!!!!!!!!!

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Despite a down economy, it appears that business for the dog grifting team of Donna Roberts aka Marcie Duben (and many other false identities) and Dawn Abrams is booming. The reason that  I know this is that over the past week or so I have received several message regarding from BioJobBlog readers about bogus dog transactions.

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Another BioJobBlog reader, who was previously burned on a puppy purchase, informed me of  another one of Donna Roberts’ puppy-selling scams. The information below was allegedly found on the American Kennel Club Online Breeder Classifieds under "Havanese"

Breeder Contact Information

Contact: DanaLyn Fitgerald

Location: SHAMONG, NJ 08088

Phone:

Email: mikimuppets@yahoo.com

In case you are wondering how Donna Roberts figures into the operation, DanaLyn (who lives in Barnegat, NJ) is another one of Donna Roberts’ daughters  who like her sister Dawn Abrams sells dogs on her mother’s behalf. 

While Donna's continued online ads are troubling, the fact that the American Kennel Club doesn't vet (so to speak) would-be advertisers on their classified ad sites is bothersome and unsettling.  If you can't trust what you find on the American Kennel Club's website, who can you trust when you want to purchase a healthy puppy?

Until next time…

Good Luck and Good Dog Hunting!!!!!!!!

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For the past year or so, I have been dealing with Donna Roberts, a so-called dog breeder who recently was convicted in New Jersey on three counts of animal cruelty. Ms Roberts recently contacted me because I chose not to post several of her most recent vitriolic and abusive rants against people who maintain that she is less than scrupulous.

In case you are interested, I didn’t post her most recent comments (like I have in the past) because I am frankly bored with them. That said, when Ms. Roberts has something honest to say, I will gladly publish her comments. I suspect that it will be a cold day in hell before I do that!

If you would like to contact Ms. Roberts directly --to hear what she has to say--please contact her a shadyoakhavs@yahoo.com  I am sure that she would love to  hear from you!

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I heard today from another one of Grace Abrams’ grifting victims. Apparently, this individual purchased a sick puppy from Ms. Abrams several months ago which at one year old developed some problems that likely resulted from congenital defects due to inbreeding. This person told me that a friend of hers also purchased a ‘Havanese” from Ms. Abrams which they suspect really isn’t a Havanese (despite ‘papers’ that indicate that it is). As you may recall, we also received suspect pedigree papers for the dogs that we purchased from Ms. Abrams (which prompted us to get both dogs tested). I sent Grace’s most recent victims information on the Wisdom Panel DNA tests that we used to perform genetic testing on our dogs, the results of which confirmed that Moose, our so-called Havanese, was really a mixed breed dog!

I wonder how long it will take Donna Roberts to send me one of her threatening, vitriolic notes  (read the comments) after I post this story?  I will keep you posted….

Until next time…

Good Luck with finding a new puppy!!!!!!!

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As the saying goes—the plot thickens. A couple of days ago a person who has been following our unfolding doggy drama recommended that I look into a DNA testing kit for dogs called Wisdom Panel MX. The Wisdom Panel MX was developed by Mars Veterinary, a subsidiary of the candy bar maker that also manufactures and sells dog food.

Scientists at Mars spent about 6 years mining and analyzing canine genome databases and were able to develop breed specific probes that can distinguish between 130 different breeds of dogs with close to 85% reliability. That said, while the test may not be able to reliably tell you exactly what you have, the sensitivity of the test is sufficient to tell you what you don’t have i.e., it will tell you whether or not your dog is a purebred or a mix.

 As I mentioned in previous posts, we were purportedly sold two Havanese dogs. If the dogs are truly Havanese, then the Wisdom Panel should reliably verify that assertion. Similarly, if our dogs are not really Havanese or a mix of Havanese and some other breed (s) then the Wisdom Panel tests ought to be able to tell us that as well.

As luck would have it, on our recent excursion to Maine, we literally ran into two relatively uncommon purebred dogs ( at least uncommon to us) —one was a Maltese and the other a Bichon. Moose—the rescue puppy who was advertised and sold to us as a 9 month-old Havanese—looked almost identical to the Maltese. Further, a so-called groomer (who posted a comment on a previous post about Moose) referred to him a Maltese which tended to validate our idea that Moose was not a Havanese but really a Maltese or a Maltese-mix.  

Again, coincidentally, my wife took Sandy (our Havanese puppy that we previously bought from the same breeder who sold us Moose) to be groomed today. Since it was Sandy’s first visit, the groomer asked what breed she was. After pausing for a second, the groomer replied “I am not  completely sure but I don’t think Sandy is a purebred Havanese –she looks like she has a fair amount of yorkie (Yorkshire terrier) in her.”

The Wisdom Panel MX kits arrived by FedEx today and we are taking the dogs to the vet at 4:00 to have blood drawn. Stay tuned for future updates.

Until next time…

Good Luck and Good Job Hunting!!!!!!

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