Please READ our story and SAVE Petey.

On February 6th, our dogs Petey and Bailey escaped from our home by accident around noon and were missing for 6.5 hours. We posted on multiple apps/sites to find them. Eventually I received a message on Facebook that said “I have your dogs”. This man was very nice; he said he found our dogs at a street corner and picked them up and brought them home with him. We immediately went to go pick them up and we were so relieved to have found them. I had also received a message request from someone that said one of our dogs “attacked” their dog. I avoided this message for a while thinking this can’t be true, must be a scam, they’re trying to get money out of us. This unfortunately turned out to be true, however, a video shows that our dog could’ve been provoked because she was being charged at and barked at by the other dogs.

On Friday February 7th, an animal control officer left a “rabies suspect notice” on our door. It stated that an officer needed to stop by and see her rabies vaccination certification and briefly observe the described animal. We were in compliance of course and called them back on Monday February Feb 10th, to which animal patrol came by a few hours after we called them. They gave me a citation for “allowing dog to run at large” and “allowing dog to bite a domestic animal off property”. He also gave us a “dangerous dog determination” paper. He then told us that we needed to bring Petey into the shelter at 11am the very next day and that she would be there for a few days under “observation” to be “evaluated” as a dangerous dog or not. We’re still in compliance of course so we brought Petey into the Wichita Animal Shelter on 2/11. We were told by the officer that came by that there was no chance of her being euthanized because he admitted she was a sweet dog, and he also said that we would get her back by the end of the week. We were told we could visit her every day and bring her treats, toys, and blankets. So this is exactly what we did. Although, we tried to visit her later that same day and we were denied because “no visits after 3pm”… allegedly. Then the next day they told us there aren’t actual ‘visiting hours’, it just depends on if they have enough staff working since someone has to walk us back there. So they lied the day before about having visiting hours. They’re just lazy.

The patrol officer told us we would get a letter in a few days (delivered to us in person by an officer and not by mail) stating her evaluation of being deemed dangerous or not. Every time we visited the shelter we asked about her evaluation. We were told we could bring in a statement of our own and bring a hard drive of “evidence” showing Petey is in fact NOT dangerous. So we did. We gathered up plenty of videos and pictures of Petey interacting with other dogs, cats, and children. Anyone who knows Petey knows she is a huge sweetheart. These workers at the shelter avoided the truth at all costs. They lied to us multiple times. We asked to speak to their supervisor multiple times so someone could explain this evaluation process to us because nobody was giving us a straight answer. We have never seen this “supervisor”. He must be hiding in his office to avoid confrontation because he knows he’s doing wrong. We were told MULTIPLE different things by everyone there. Also, they are all RUDE AS HELL. And usually when someone is rude to me, I will be rude right back. But, since Petey was in their care and I didn’t trust them, I kept my cool and tried to be as nice as possible and ask questions without pissing them off.

The officer that came to our home told us Petey would be there a few days, another person I talked to there said it would be a week or so, and another person said we’d get her back on the 15th of February. As you can see, we’ve been told different things. Nobody would let us speak to their supervisor. We still came every day to visit Petey. This poor baby is SO scared in there. She was shaking, had her nervous face on, nervous tail wag, etc. She would get so excited to see us though. When we would walk away she’d start barking like she was mad at us. This whole situation breaks our heart.

We were told there are 4 different levels of being deemed a “dangerous dog”. The lowest is “Potentially Dangerous”. Then there’s level 1, 2, and 3. The highest being level 3, meaning automatic euthanasia. We were thinking “there’s no way they’d label her that. She’s the sweetest dog who has never hurt a fly. She was provoked in this bite incident. Surely they’ll evaluate her and see how sweet she is. She’ll shower them with kisses”.

Come to find out, after speaking with a local advocate for this sort of thing, she told me that they absolutely do LIE TO YOU. And that there is no “evaluation”. They don’t actually evaluate your dog and they just go based off the evidence they have of the incident. They won’t read the statement we gave with our defense, they won’t watch the hard drive of pics and videos we gave them, nothing. They don’t care. I’ve learned that they want to try to get their euthanasia numbers UP instead of down. It’s horrific. They treat animals like crap in there, especially the “deemed dangerous” ones.

On 2/14, I called and spoke to someone at the shelter who actually gave me an answer. She said “you’re Petey’s owner, Kiersten?” I said yes. She said “Do you have anyone with you right now who can be with you for this information? I have some bad news”. I told her I’d call my husband upstairs real fast. Once he came up, she said “Okay, you’re aware of the different levels of a deemed dangerous dog?” We said yes. She said “Okay, Petey was deemed dangerous level 3.” (And if you all don’t remember what I said previously, level 3 is euthanasia.) I started to break down crying and I asked her if we can fight this in court. She said absolutely you can appeal. She also mentioned that Petey’s “evaluation” was completed on 2/12, and deemed level 3. We had been in there EVERY DAY that Petey was in there and we were NOT told anything, even when we asked. They labeled her level 3 after Petey was only there for ONE DAY. There was no damn “evaluation” or else they wouldn’t have given her a level like that. They just want to KILL.

So, a couple hours later we went to go visit Petey again, gave her treats, and paid them a $400 “appeal bond” to keep her boarded there and alive while we appeal this in court. We then went to the Wichita Municipal Court and got our court date set for Wednesday February 19th. We plan to hire an attorney for this because we were told they are ruthless in the courtroom. Our goal is to get the judge to AT LEAST come down one level. Coming down to a level 2 comes with a ton of requirements, which we are willing to meet to be able to get our baby back. Requirements such as a 10x6ft kennel in the backyard buried 12 inches underground, along with a concrete flooring also buried 12 inches underground. A padlock on the fence. A light in it for at night. A cover for shade. A dog house inside the kennel. We would have to walk her to this kennel every time she goes outside to potty, (even though we have a completely fenced backyard, 6ft tall wooden fencing with no breaches or weak spots). Also we would need signs that say ‘dangerous dog’ at every entrance of our home. Liability insurance of at least $100,000 (which we have already done because we’re ahead of the game). An annual fee of $300 to the city. And a few more things. Those are all requirements that could have to be met if she’s dropped down a level. Ridiculous right?

This isn’t the end. We won’t stop to get our baby back. If you’ve read this far, I really appreciate it. We would just like to educate the community and everyone else about what goes on at the Wichita Animal Shelter. This isn’t the first time something like this has happened. I’ve been told lots of other people’s stories and it’s extremely devastating what they’re doing to animals. Some research was done, and back in 2023, there was an incident that occurred involving a supervisor that led to animals being euthanized prior to obtaining the required approvals. This shelter is unnecessarily euthanizing animals and mistreating them.

As some of you know, my dad passed away a couple months ago, back in December, and I would really not like to lose my dog too. I can’t take much more loss. I have had Petey since she was SEVEN WEEKS OLD. Shes now 5 years old. She’s a huge goofball and sweetheart. She’s so gentle and patient with children. She’s the best dog. She’s family.

We are still paying expenses for my dad’s funeral services, we have offered to pay the vet bills for the person whose dog was injured, and now we are having to pay for an attorney to appeal this. If you could PLEASE consider donating to help us save Petey, you would helping us a ton. Petey doesn’t deserve this. If everyone on my friends list donated even just a couple dollars, we would really appreciate it. If you can’t donate, just share. Save Petey

Thank you for reading.