One pet store was tied to a dozen parvo-stricken puppies — in less than 3 months
From the time it opened last October, a local puppy store was at the center of controversy. Customers said the former owner of the Meridian store sold dogs sick with the potentially lethal parvovirus before he’d officially opened his doors.
Throughout, the store’s owner, Matthew Milligan, said he did nothing wrong and offered refunds for puppies that got sick. Meanwhile, on social media, more claims went viral from people who said dogs they’d bought there had parvo, which causes lethargy, vomiting, diarrhea and, in some cases, death.
Then the store closed — kind of.
After two and a half months in business, Surf’s Up Puppy Shack in Meridian changed owners and names in early January to become Puppyland, another retail pet store. Since then, the Idaho Statesman has worked with KIVI to talk to five more families who say dogs they purchased at Surf’s Up got sick. The Statesman also reached out to Milligan multiple times via phone call and text message for this story. He did not respond.
Since the store shuttered, some of those families wonder what recourse they have — and whether the new pet store in its place has been able to eradicate the virus they believe their dogs contracted at that location.
Eight families accused Meridian Puppy Shack of spreading parvo
The first complaints of parvovirus came in October 2019. Before Surf’s Up Puppy Shack’s former owner, Milligan, opened the store on Oct. 10, he sold some miniature Australian shepherd puppies at the storefront. Two of them were diagnosed with parvo shortly afterward, and a post from Wesley Atkinson, the owner of one of the dogs, went viral in local social media circles. At the time, Milligan told the Statesman it was a one-off issue with that litter.
That assertion didn’t sit well with Julie and Frank Williams, who had surrendered their puppy, Bear, to Milligan for parvo treatment. The 2-pound “shorkie poo” was diagnosed with the virus on Oct. 13, two days after the Williamses bought him. Bear died on Oct. 14, a week before the Statesman first spoke with Milligan.
It’s still not clear how many animals purchased at Surf’s Up were diagnosed with parvovirus within the seven- to 14-day incubation period after they left the store. Since reporting on those incidents last year, the Statesman spoke with five more families who experienced cases of parvo in six dogs they purchased from Surf’s Up. Kristine Schellhaas, spokeswoman for the Idaho Humane Society, said the organization diagnosed four cases of parvo in dogs from Surf’s Up, including one of the owners interviewed by the Statesman. In total, that’s 12 cases of parvo associated with Surf’s Up.
“We also received reports from other veterinary clinics in town who each had a handful of puppies (from Surf’s Up) who tested positive for parvo as well,” Schellhaas said.
Bentley and Barkley the Great Pyrenees/coonhound mixes: Robin and Troy Green of Meridian purchased two Great Pyrenees/coonhound mixes from Surf’s Up Puppy Shack on Oct. 30 after seeing ads for the dogs on Craigslist. They said they didn’t realize the dogs were being sold at a store.
They left the puppies, named Bentley and Barkley, with their daughter-in-law while they went out of town for the weekend. That Saturday, Nov. 2, their daughter-in-law took Barkley to the vet after he began showing signs of parvo. Within a few days, Bentley also had contracted the virus.
Both dogs survived, but their vet bills cost the Greens $2,600. Milligan refunded the couple the $400 they paid for the dogs after first asking for the puppies’ return, Robin Green said.
“He said, ‘I’ll give you the money back but you have to surrender the puppies,’ ” Robin Green said. “I couldn’t see any way we were going to give the dogs back. In the back of my mind, it felt suspicious.”
The Greens kept the dogs, who have both made full recoveries.
Molly the goldendoodle: Brian and Jessica Bishop visited Surf’s Up on Nov. 29 and took home a goldendoodle puppy they named Molly. By Wednesday, Dec. 4, Molly was sick.
“She was just vomiting over and over and over and over again, so it went from, like, her being a normal puppy to just that sick overnight,” Jessica Bishop said.
Brian Bishop took Molly to their usual vet at Pet Care Clinic in Meridian, where Molly tested positive for parvo. Their vet told them it was the fastest positive result she’d seen on a parvo test, and she believed Molly had a strong strain of the illness. She urged them to give their adult dogs parvo booster shots just in case.
On Dec. 6, the Bishops took Molly to stay at WestVet emergency clinic so she could be monitored while their normal vet was out of town for the weekend. Their bill from WestVet totaled more than $4,000.
The Bishops paid $995 for Molly, which Milligan offered to refund. The Bishops said they did not accept the refund.
Milo the Great Pyrenees: Rylee Farnham was 17 years old on Nov. 29 when she bought a Great Pyrenees puppy from Surf’s Up Puppy Shack. She said she had a coworker sign paperwork so she could get the puppy without her mom’s permission.
She noticed the dog, which she named Milo, having diarrhea and being lethargic.
“Every time I picked him up, he’d look like he was passing out,” Farnham said in a phone interview.
She took Milo to the Idaho Humane Society’s veterinary clinic, where he was diagnosed with parvo Dec. 4. Farnham decided to return Milo to Milligan at Surf’s Up and said he refunded her the nearly $300 vet bill, as well as the $150 she paid for the puppy.
Farnham doesn’t know if Milo ended up surviving.
“I try not to think about that because … I just don’t want to think of the worst, but I do,” she said.
Misty the Great Pyrenees: JoAnn Lance saw a listing on Craigslist for a male Great Pyrenees puppy and agreed to meet the seller at 3100 E. Florence Drive in Meridian — which she thought was a residence.
“I get to the address and it’s in a strip mall,” she said in a phone interview. “Then I realize it’s really a pet store.”
Lance said Milligan showed her a female Great Pyrenees and explained the ad was a mistake. She paid cash for the puppy, which she named Misty, on Dec. 19 and received vaccination records from Milligan. The next day, she took Misty to her regular vet at Eastgate Pet Clinic for a checkup.
“The vet said: ‘Oh, these are really cheap vaccines. They’re simply not effective,’ ” Lance said.
Lance opted to get a parvo booster for Misty after several friends told her they’d heard previous accusations of the virus at Surf’s Up. Two days later, Misty started vomiting and tested positive for parvo. She spent two days at WestVet, leaving Lance with a bill of $1,900.
“To me, the money is not important,” Lance said. “I want a healthy puppy.”
Milo the Great Dane/Labrador retriever: Crystal White also bought her dog at Surf’s Up Puppy Shack on Dec. 19. She saw a Great Dane/Labrador retriever mix puppy advertised on Craigslist and went to the address from the ad thinking it was a residence.
White bought the dog, named Milo, from “a young girl,” not Milligan.
She said Milo seemed sick Dec. 24 but perked up the next day. By Dec. 26, he wasn’t eating or drinking.
“He was just lifeless,” White said.
She took Milo to Indian Creek Veterinary Hospital in Caldwell, where he tested positive for parvo. His vet bills totaled $1,100.
White said she sent copies of her bills to the phone number listed for the store but never heard from Milligan.
Puppy Shack owner said he took proper precautions
Though Milligan did not respond to requests for comment, in the past he told the Statesman he didn’t believe the parvo cases originated from his store. He said he cleaned regularly with a parvovirus-killing solution and instructed visitors, who were encouraged to hold and cuddle the puppies, to sanitize their hands before touching the dogs and in between each litter.
Milligan said he performed parvo tests at the homes where he sourced puppies, as well as in his store. He also said he vaccinated puppies against parvo and other diseases before they came into the store.
“I not only feel that I’m doing it to the best of my ability, I can say with quite a bit of confidence that I’m doing it better than 99% of the community and the dog community,” Milligan told the Statesman in November. “I’m not only confident in the care and preventative care we provide, I’m stinkin’ proud of it.”
Multiple owners whose dogs were later diagnosed with parvo said they were told by their veterinarians that the virus likely originated at Surf’s Up, though it’s nearly impossible to confirm that. Some owners wondered how Milligan was able to continue selling dogs — or whether he was breaking the law — as more claims of parvo arose.
Legally, Milligan was cleared several times by Animal Care and Control, which investigates instances of animal cruelty and neglect and can issue citations for violations of Idaho law. Animal Care and Control is a division of the Idaho Humane Society funded by taxpayer dollars.
“Animals are considered property, and so there’s not really a whole lot of regulations as to what you can do or what happens when you have property,” said Schellhaas, the Idaho Humane Society spokeswoman.
In Idaho, the state Department of Agriculture oversees livestock, but “nonproduction” animals like dogs are excluded from that. City and county codes in the Treasure Valley do not address retail pet stores.
Schellhaas said the Humane Society received “a great number of calls regarding both Surf’s Up Puppy Shack and Puppyland, but those primarily stemmed from seeing Facebook posts without having firsthand information. In all of these cases, we found no violations of the law.”
Animal Care and Control officers visited Surf’s Up Puppy Shack three times and found no violations of Idaho law, including city or county codes, Schellhaas said.
The Bishops, who spent more than $4,000 to treat their goldendoodle Molly, considered filing a civil lawsuit against Milligan for breach of contract.
“You can’t do this, you can’t operate a business like that,” Brian Bishop said.
They contacted Matthew Williams, an attorney and family friend, to see if they had a case. Williams has experience with contractual disputes like the one the Bishops considered bringing against Milligan.
Like most other owners, the Bishops signed a contract with Surf’s Up agreeing to a “health guarantee” that would cover some costs associated with certain ailments within seven days of the puppy’s purchase. Canine parvovirus was among those ailments.
“I took a look at the contract and, sure enough, there’s what we would refer to as a liquidated damages clause where if something goes wrong, this is what your remedy is,” Williams told KIVI in an interview.
Williams told the Bishops, even if they did win damages from Milligan in court, their legal fees would probably outweigh those damages. Ultimately they decided not to sue.
Puppy Shack is now Puppyland, but for how long?
In December, the Humane Society put out a public survey to Ada County residents to gauge public sentiment on a number of animal ordinance issues — including retail pet stores. The survey ran through the end of January.
Schellhaas said the survey showed overwhelming support for banning retail pet stores, with 95% of respondents in favor. In Meridian, 93% of respondents said they would support a city ordinance against stores selling dogs and cats.
The organization doesn’t have plans to lobby for particular changes, but Schellhaas said the survey could serve as data for local lawmakers who’d like to institute new legislation.
“What the survey was doing for us is basically get some facts and some data so that if and when a city wants to talk to us about some city ordinance changes, then we have some good, solid data to bring forward,” Schellhaas said.
She said the organization is working with Boise City Council members to create an ordinance and has been contacted by a Meridian council member who expressed interest in similar legislation.
Of course, none of that would apply to Milligan’s former business, which he sold to Justin and Kayla Kerr on Jan. 2, according to a certificate of occupancy filed with the city of Meridian.
The Kerrs, who operate two other retail pet stores in Olympia and Puyallup, Washington, took over the Surf’s Up social media accounts and brick-and-mortar store, rebranding the business as Puppyland Idaho. Olympia’s City Council recently adopted a retail pet store ban.
“Puppyland is an established pet adoption company that is enormously proud to have separated ourselves from other similar businesses by maintaining the highest standards in the industry,” the Kerrs wrote in an email to KIVI reporter Frankie Katafias. “Puppyland only sources puppies from professional and licensed breeders that meet our high standards. Because of these standards, we are able to provide a 15-day viral health guarantee as well as a 10-year lifetime guarantee for each puppy we place with their forever family.
“Puppyland strives to be the best, most responsible, ethical option when it comes to selecting a new puppy in our community,” the Kerrs wrote.
The Kerrs declined to talk to the Statesman or KIVI about the business sale or what steps they’ve taken to address the potential existence of parvovirus, which can live for years on surfaces, at the location.
The Idaho Humane Society has visited Puppyland once after receiving complaints, many of them fueled by social media, but found no violations of Idaho law, Schellhaas said.
Some of the families who purchased dogs from Surf’s Up, like the Greens, whose two puppies both got parvo, said they’re relieved Surf’s Up closed.
“Just for the sake of the dogs, I’m glad this guy’s (out of business),” Troy Green said.
The Greens, along with the Bishops’ lawyer and Schellhaas, said they hope other Idahoans will do their research before buying a puppy.
“I can’t tell people enough,” Robin Green said, “they have to be careful of where their puppies come from.”
This story was originally published March 22, 2020 at 4:00 AM.
