More about Dr. Linda Jennings DVM of Roanoke

Published 5/16/07

Filed under: Brambleton Vet, Miscellaneous

The cool thing about sharing all this info about Dr. Linda Jennings DVM and Brambleton Veterinary Hospital is that people start getting in touch with interesting information.

For example, in case you missed it in the comments of a previous post, Beth Brown wrote that a friend of hers had to drop off a dog at Brambleton Veterinary Hospital

…and had mistakenly left a good dog training collar on her dog. When she went to pick up her dog, they told her that her dog was very aggressive and had tried to bite the vet tech. What my friend discovered after speaking with them for a while is that they tried to remove the plastic BARBED good dog collar by pulling it over the dog’s head - very painful.

I bring that up for a reason. I do not know the following first hand, but it comes from a first-hand source I trust completely.

A few years ago, the local animal-control shelter (as opposed to the SPCA) had a dangerous dog on its hands. The people there felt it was enough of a threat to the community not to turn it over for adoption.

But Dr. Linda Jennings DVM, in whose neighborhood the dog was found, raised a fuss. She demanded the dog be turned over to her. And then she promptly offered the dog for adoption via an ad in the paper. And she told people it was a good, sweet dog.

In other words, she decided her judgement of a stray dog was better than that of the local animal-control officers who spent time with the animal. And she was willing to give a dog that Animal Control felt was dangerous to a family. (My source actually called her and asked about the dog. Dr. Linda Jennings told her the dog was good with children. Wow.)

Shelters — at least good ones, like we have in Roanoke — don’t just give away a dog to anyone. They carefully screen applicants and sometimes even make a site visit. They will never allow a dangerous dog to be adopted by a family with children, that’s for sure.

Of course, it’s entirely possible that Dr. Jennings did ask a lot of questions and was careful about who adopted the dog. But her telling someone that this dangerous dog was good with children — well, that doesn’t inspire a lot of confidence.

But let me say again, I am getting this information second-hand. And although I trust my source, you should keep in mind that you don’t, and you should take it with a grain of salt.

The Fray

5 responses (add yours)

Anonymous says:

I am the one that knows the story about the dog from the pound. If I remember correctly, it has been a few years since this happened, the dog was running loose in a neighborhood. Animal control had to trap the dog (that tells ya something). When the dog was not deemed suitable for adoption, Dr. Jennings put a court order to hold the dog and to take custody of the dog. To make matters worse a few weeks later, I noticed in the newspaper an ad that resembled the dog in question. I called and it was Brambleton Vet. I asked about the dog (like I was interested) and inquired if the dog was good with children. They said it was a very nice dog and was great with kids as it had been around Dr. Jennings’ child. Now the dog I saw at the pound was not one that I would have taken home around my kids.

I really don’t know what became of it, but the issue was brought to the attention to those at the shelter.

I won’t even get into the great dane that Dr. Jennings said was aggressive (the dog was seen by a trainer/dane owner and he said the dog was not aggressive) only to mysteriously die from bloat the following weekend in Dr. Jennings’ care.

Something is just not right over there.

May 16th, 2007 at 4:36 PM

Suzanne says:

Maybe the dog was on its best behaviour because Jennings is so scary.

May 16th, 2007 at 9:36 PM

Anonymous says:

if the dog was agressive how was it adpoted out?? i think this is rediculous as you are all acting like a bunch of children. you probably could not pay your bill so you’re just mad. the great dane would not have died from bloat if it had it’s stomache tacked, that is something very common in great danes, so if the owner was properly educated in the breed of dog she or he owned that might not have happened

May 23rd, 2007 at 3:02 PM

Andrew says:

Hey, anonymous genius — did you happen to read the parts where A) we were trying to pay the bill but Dr. Linda Jennings’s staff wouldn’t take our money, and B) we paid our bill in full first thing the next morning?

I mean, really, how dim do you have to be to say something like “you probably could not pay your bill so you’re just mad” after reading that we paid our bill?

And it’s also good to see you diagnose and suggest treatment for a dog you’ve never seen. Maybe you could work for Dr. Jennings!

May 23rd, 2007 at 3:42 PM

ann v says:

now i find it funny that someone says they know the story of the dog without getting their facts straight. i was friends with someone who used to work in the vet clinic who was around when the incident happened. i also had a close friend interested in the dog when we heard about it so questions were constantly asked. i’m NOT here to take sides on any situation, more like give a statement, but i can’t stand when someone talks/types without getting things right. it was deemed aggressive on the grounds that it put up a fight when it was being captured. now think about that one. how many stray dogs calmly leap up into an animal control truck after a rabies pole has been lassoed about their neck? and i’ve seen animal control pick up strays in my own neighborhood and i’ve seen them be less that gentle. but thats another story! :) and saying that “that tells ya something” .. tells us nothing about the dog. all strays have to be captured to be brought in. anyways the dog was brought into her vet office to be vaccinated and socialized. she did not immediately throw an ad into the news paper after placing the dog in her kennel. i remember this because my friend had to wait ages before even being able to go in and look at the dog! my friend told me that the dog only took a couple days before it calmed down and was moved to a spot in their kennel where other dogs and people were constantly walking by in attempts to get it calmer and used to others. in the end they had him playing with not only the entire staff but also other dogs. the next time my friend went in to get her cat vaccinated she asked about the dog and they’d said that the dog was adopted out to a mother and her teenage daughter. not a child. and the dog had not acted aggressively once to them but rather had run away!

and by the way .. a great dane dying of bloat? or that the stomach had flipped? because that is common in danes and would be preventable had the puppy’s stomach been tacked when it was spayed/neutered. i’ve owned a couple of large breed dogs and have had that done to all of mine and do recall my veterinarian telling me that. regardless, a dog dying of bloat is not the fault of the vet even if the doctor had seen it recently.

May 26th, 2007 at 11:59 AM