10:46 PM PDT on Thursday, April 27, 2006

By CHRIS INGALLS / KING 5 News

KING

Shelly Newman says little Baloo was "everything that we would want."

When Jacki Greatsinger sells you a dog, she says it's like letting go of a family member.

“I’m so close to them… I just have to look at them and their personalities and know who is who,” she said.

That passion has drawn in hundreds of buyers to Greatsinger's thriving Web site that touts her home-raised dogs - mostly Great Danes - at her spacious Pierce County property.

Greatsinger says she's breeding show quality bloodlines - most of which have the coveted American Kennel Club registration.

Shelley Newman, who lived in Atlanta, says her exhaustive search for a purebred Dane ended with "Baloo," a $3,000 pup.

“He was everything that we would want,” she said.

While visiting relatives here in Washington, she personally inspected Greatsinger’s litters and ordered a prized blue Dane.

Only after Baloo arrived at her home did she learn he was not an AKC dog.

“She misrepresented the animal that we purchased. We wanted a show dog. She knew that,” said Newman.

Still, the Newman family was happy with their playful new puppy. They were unaware that inside their tiny dog was a ticking time bomb.

In Aurora, Ore., Hero's problems were obvious right away. His vet diagnosed pneumonia and prescribed antibiotics, which had crippling side effects.

Owner Keleen Bailey paid $5,000 in vet bills.

"I grew up loving Great Danes … and I’m just extremely disappointed a breeder wouldn't help in any way," she said.

Several customers told the KING 5 Investigators that Greatsinger has not honored health guarantees for her expensive animals.

We tracked down dozens of unhappy customers and business associates in the United States, Canada and Overseas.

The owner of Lincoln in British Columbia says her Dane is chronically ill. Sophie in South Dakota is underweight and loses her hair.

The owners of Diesel in California and Bobo in Germany say the dogs were so sick they had to be euthanized.

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Jacki Greatsinger owns Greatsinger Dane.

Harley, here in Washington, Barney in Pittsburg and Delilah in New York all dropped dead before their first birthdays.

Six months after arriving at the Newman home, Baloo met the same sad end.

A vet determined his heart failed, perhaps from a defect the once playful puppy carried since birth.

Shelley Newman says the hardest part was telling her kids.

“You don't just get used to that presence not being there.  It took us a long time to recover,” she said.

According to Victoria Pearson, a Dane breeder in Georgia, some of these deaths might have been avoidable. Greatsinger bought a pup from Pearson in 2001 and signed a contract not to breed the animal.

Romeo became one of Greatsinger's main studs, even though she was told he had a heart defect he could pass on to offspring.

“He was to be neutered and that wasn't a problem. Signed a contract verifying that," said Pearson.

The Newmans and other customers sued Greatsinger and won an $80,000 court judgment.

The Pierce County Sheriff's Office got complaints from customers who say they received the wrong dog, or no dog, after making payments to Greatsinger.

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Hero is chronically ill with crippling side effects from antibiotics.

And she was investigated by the state health department, which found one of her employees forged puppy health certificates and a vet's signature.

But Greatsinger is still peddling pups online.

Critics say the Internet allows breeders like Greatsinger to sell large numbers of pups because they aren't regulated like wholesalers, who sell to pet stores.

“The Internet has allowed breeders to breed as much as they like, sell for as much as they like, and not be held accountable,” said Inga Gibson, State Program Manager of The Humane Society of the United States.

It's profit that's driving the puppy market. With information from Greatsinger's Web site and interviews from customers and business associates, the KING 5 Investigators estimate Greatsinger made $180,000 in one year from the sale of Danes and St. Bernards alone.

She turned down the KING 5 Investigators' interview requests, but in e-mails told us that her vet gave Romeo a clean bill of health, that some unhappy customers have refused to settle their complaints and that she has a commercial kennel license and passes her yearly inspections.

But Greatsinger also sells dogs from unlicensed backyard breeders, like one in Puyallup where Hero, the crippled pup, was born.

The breeder, Tami Aranda, and Greatsinger have since cut ties.

"She's a ruthless businesswoman,” said Aranda.

Many customers now see the woman they believed was a careful, caring breeder as nothing more than a puppy profiteer.

"Shame on you… shame on you," said Bailey.