CAMILLUS -- Kate Walsh and her fiance Nick Sgroi hoped to start their lives together with a puppy.
The Camillus couple saw an ad in the newspaper for a mastiff-husky mix. Just a few days later they went to Rochester to pick him up from the "Your Dream Puppy" company. "Tucker" immediately bonded with other family dogs but on his second day, he didn't look well. Sgroi said he was barely moving and regularly vomited.
Nick and Kate took him to a veterinarian who told them that Tucker had the Parvo virus.
"He had a very high concentration of it.. a less than 50% chance to live," said Sgroi.
The vet recommended they take the dog back to the breeder and said it was not fit for sale. "Your Dream Puppy" took the dog back and said it was a surprise that the dog had Parvo. Kate and Nick also started to have doubts about the conditions the dog was raised in.
"The breeder wouldn't let us see where they kept the puppies in their house. They brought them out to us which we didn't think much of at the time but in hindsight was kind of a sign," said Walsh.
When we called "Your Dream Puppy" on Monday, the man who answered the phone said he was surprised and couldn't believe someone was trying to make this one case a news story. Kate and Nick also called the Rochester Area Humane Society. The staff there told us they are looking into the allegations and have started an investigation.
Tucker's illness has raised another complication. while Kate and Nick's other dogs are vaccinated, their vet told them they can not bring another puppy into the house anytime soon.
"The virus stays alive for up to a year and you can only kill it by bleach and we can't bleach all of our carpets and couches, the yard and everywhere he was," said Walsh.
Nick and Kate hope to keep track of Tucker's condition and would like to adopt him if he is ever healthy enough.
