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Summary Page 1 of 2
Since my Breeder Michelle McGaha (A'Carrig Dobermans) felt it
necessary to post lies and half truth on her facebook about me
2-22-2015 and I cannot directly defend myself on her timeline as
I'm blocked, I wanted to compile a rebuttal that includes a
condensed summary of my dealings with her with screenshots of
communication from and to her. It will show that not only are her
assertions ludicrous but that she is the one that continually lied
to me from the very beginning. My timeline of events and
communication is rather lengthy so I will do my best to shorten it
without leaving out anything important. But if you would like
clarification on anything I invite you to email me at [email protected].
If you like to share it with someone via email, please contact me
and I will email you these pages combines in a PDF.
My husband and I made the decision to buy a puppy from Michelle
McGaha (A'Carrig Dobemans) in October of 2012. He was to be our
first puppy from what he hoped to be a reputable breeder. While I
understand that no matter how careful a breeding decision is made,
there is no guarantee of health, I wanted to give my future puppy
the best possible chance to avoid health issues by buying a puppy
from health tested parents.
Up until that point we had owned only rescue dogs including 2
Dobermans we adopted from a pure-breed rescue as adults and I had
never dealt with a breeder up until then. I was taken in by a bunch
of half truth and outright lies Michelle told me and part of that
is on me for being gullible.
The following includes screenshots of our communications. I
blurred out any reference to her address and phone number as I do
not want to give out personal information that is not readily
available on public domains. I will show in detail that:
1) she lied about some of the health testing performed on the
parents, parts of which was never done, other parts of them had a
different result then advertised. (Page 1-2, A1-A4)
2) the multitude and severity of the health issues Khaos faced
and continues to face. They range from chronic soft poop 6-8 times
a day, numerous infections that require medical intervention, hip
issues at 3 months of age, strange lumps forming, to a variety of
skin issues including severe hives with massive hair loss that was
ultimately dx by a Veterinary Dermatologist as one of the worst
cases of food allergies she has seen in her practice. (Page 3-8,
A5-A8)
When we finally were able to dx why no standard treatment seemed
to work he looked like this.
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Summary Page 2 of 2
as of 2-24-2105 I have spend about $8000 in non routine vet
care. Despite this I have never asked Michelle for a refund or help
paying his medical bills. All I asked for was for the breeder
support she promised, so I can do my best to make my puppy
healthy.
3) I also will include evidence that Khaos is not in fact the
only one of her dogs that has health issues as she claims on the FB
post with links to a other owner posting on a public forum
describing his own struggles with his puppies health. (Page 8)
4) it will also show that she broke the placement contract, not
me as she claims on her FB page. (Page 8, A9)
5) additionally, despite selling Khaos to me originally as pet
puppy on a sole ownership, she later attempted to get me to sign
off on a co-ownership without my knowledge, by offering to change
his registration to full and sending me AKC papers listing herself
as a co-owner without telling me or having a contract in place
stipulating what conditions would have to be met for her to sign
off on the co-ownership later on. (Page 8-10, A10-A16)
Finally I will include screenshots of my final exchange with her
on May 19th, 2014. At which point our relationship had deteriorated
completely and I had written off ever hearing from her again and I
will leave it to you to decide which one of use is the unreasonable
one. (Page 10-12)
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Page 1 of 12
1) HEALTH TESTING ON SIRE AND DAM:
Oct 15th, 2012
When we debated on purchasing a puppy Michelle had available, I
asked what health testing was done on the parents. She send the
following email.
Oct 27th, 2012
We put down the deposit of $500, after coming to her house to
look at the puppy. At this point I asked to get copies of the
certificates of this health testing and was told she would get it
all together for me and would send it to me prior to him being
ready to go home with me. 2 days later she send me the following
text messages.
Oct 30th, 2012
She contacted me a week after his ears were cropped letting me
know I could pick him up early since he was healing very quickly if
I promised her that I would bring him back as soon as he was ready
for his first ear posting
Nov 4th, 2012
We picked him up November 4th 2012 and paid the remaining
balance of $1500, I once again asked to get copies of the parents
health testing and was told that she didn't have a chance yet to
get it all together but she would send it to me with his AKC papers
in the next few days.
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Page 2 of 12
1) HEALTH TESTING ON SIRE AND DAM cont'd:
I did inquire about the vWD status of the dam since she had
indicated to me that this was a clear to carrier breeding in her
email, but when I later checked Dobequest, it showed the mother was
actually also a carrier. She assured me that vWD wasn't a big deal,
but insisted that Cherry was clear anyhow and when I asked her
specifically about the DQ entry saying otherwise she said, "Oh I
don't know who keeps going in and changing that, she is clear".
I later learned, that I can actually check the Change History in
DQ and I found that she was the only one that made changes to
Cherrie's entry on the vWD status.
My puppy package consisted of a three page contract including a
Spay/Neuter agreement along with 3 pages of handwritten notes and
Khaos's "health record" (Page A1-A2) and I received his AKC
Ownership Registration Form the beginning of December 2012. (Page
A2)
December 12, 2012
I asked again about the health testing via email since the
promised copies of the certificats did not arrive with the AKC. And
was given more excuses was told that nobody ever asked to see the
certificates before. (Page A4)
December 13, 2012
I received an emailed copy of Cherry's Thyroid Report showing
that she was on 0.8mg of Thyrozine twice a day at the time of the
report and therefore not thryoid normal as originally claimed.
(Page A3)
March 24, 2014
I received a text out of the blue after not having heard from
Michelle since September of 2013 with certificates of Storm's vWD,
OFA Hips, CERF dated 11/15/2011 along with a copy of his AKC
Pedigree and AKC Registration. I replied via email thanking her for
the info and asking if she could send the missing certificates for
Storms Thyroid and Liver along with Cherries vWD, OFA Prelim Hips,
Liver and CERF. (Page A4)
I received no further certificates as of today (2015-02-24)
see Attachment 1 PUPPY PACKAGE AND AKC OWNERSHIP REGISTRATION
FORM (A1-A2) and Attachment 1b HEALTH TESTING (A3-A4)
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Page 3 of 12
2) HEALTH ISSUES
2a) HIPS
11-5-2012
During Khaos's initial exam, my vet at Eastgate Animal Hospital
(EAH) Dr. Todd Phillips, mentioned hearing a "click" in his right
hip, saying it felt lose on rotation, but said it is most likely
nothing to worry about and part of him still growing however we
should keep an eye on it. I called Michelle after that appointment
and left her a VM to inform her of the result of this initial vet
checkup. (Page A5)
11-26-2012
During a routine exams that is part of my vets Puppy Health
Series, Dr. Phillips noticed a marked pain response in the left
hip. He recommended doing an X-ray to see what could be the cause.
I asked what he suspects and he said, we need to do an X-ray first
to dx, but if this is an early sign of trouble with the hips that
could later lead to Hip Dysplasia, there is a procedures that could
be performed before the dog reaches 4 months of age called Juvenile
Pubic Symphysiodesis (JPS) which is a preventative procedure for
hip dysplasia. (Page A5)
I contacted Michelle immediately to ask her advice. She told me
not to trust my vet and not to have this procedure done, however
she wasn't familiar with what exactly JPS was. I asked if she would
speak to my vet to ask him questions regarding this directly, but
she declined. I asked if I could go to her vet for a second opinion
since she lives only 30 min away from me but was only given a vague
answer that she uses several different ones but didn't give me a
name to contact. (Page A7)
She called me back later that night telling me to see a Dr.
Lonnie Davis in Troy Ohio, located roughly 2 hours north of me and
I made the appt the next morning for the first available
appointment, December 1st 2012. According to her he took Storm's
OFA X-rays.
11-27-2012
I asked Michelle, if Dr Davis has access to Cherry's Xray and
OFA rating. Michelle then informed me that Darcy took her to a
different vet and that no xrays were taken and only a verbal rating
was given by that vet. (Page A6)
11-29-2012
I had the surgeon at EAH Dr. Stacey Frick do an X-ray, which was
taken under light sedation and consulted with him. He said there
are signs that the hips might develop into a problem later on but
could not give a definite answer if it would happen for sure. (A5)
He mentioned that if this was a German Shepherd, he would
definitely recommend the JPS but with a Doberman it's a 50/50
decision, he then referred me to Dr Maritato, a Board Certified
Ortho Surgeon at MedVet to get a phone consult after he had a
chance to review the X-ray since Michelle strongly suggested I get
a second opinion from a different vet unaffiliated with EAH. Dr
Maritato concurred with Dr. Frick and added that he would do the
procedure since there was little to no chance of side effects.
12-01-2012
Dr. Davis took X-rays without sedation. He saw no issues
warranting intervention on his X-rays and recommended adding
Glucosamine and suggested to see a Certified Ortho Surgeon if Khaos
did develop issues in the. (A5)
I ultimately decided to go with Michelle's advice and did not
have the procedure done.
Michelle did offer during that time to replace Khaos with a
puppy from her subsequent litter which I declined. (A6)
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Page 4 of 12
2b) MASS BETWEEN SHOULDER BLADES
6-21-2013
I noticed a large round lump between Khaos's shoulder blades. It
did not go down over the weekend so I took him to the vet the
following Monday
6-24-2013
My vet was somewhat concerned about the mass since it felt
attached and suggested that if I was concerned we could remove it
and biopsy it. Due to the location, an injection side reaction was
discussed but since his last injection was an antibiotic injection
about 4 weeks earlier and his rabies injection 4 month earlier was
deemed unlikely.
I send a message to Michelle with pictures and asked for her
advice. She called me and asked me to send pictures and a
description to Penny Husky.
Michelle send me a message later that night, telling me that
Penny advised to not remove it, but to either X-ray or ultrasound
it, along with doing a CBC and treat with hot/cold packs and
antihistamines. She also recommended getting a second opinion. She
informed me that she just learned from Penny that Storm was highly
allergic to bees and once again stressed getting a second opinion.
(Page 5)
I did get a second opinion from a Dr. Gliesen, a vet recommended
to me by my dog trainer. Dr. Gliesen recommended observing for a
few days to see if it reduces in size before doing additional
testing.
6-27-2013
The size was unchanged so my vet performed a needle biopsy and
sent it off for Histopathology.
The report came back as moderate reactive fibroplasia with
minimal lymphoplasmacytic infiltrate and necrosis. (A8)
My vet recommended observing and if it didn't resolve itself in
the next 1-2 months to revisit removal. He did suggest that it
possibly was a delayed reaction to the microchip that was injected
11-12-2012 since it scanned as right in the middle of the mass.
Over the next week the bump split into 2 and after about 4-5
weeks disappeared completely
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Page 5 of 12
The lump reappeared in smaller form in October and the
dermatologist performed an ultrasound. Because of the honeycomb
like formation surrounding the microchip, she believed that this
was indeed an allergic reaction to the microchip.
To ensure that this was not some odd delayed injection side
reaction, my vet alternated his injection sides and the lumps
reappeared at the new site again approximately 4 weeks after an
antibiotic injection, so the microchip was ultimately not
removed.
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Page 6 of 12
2c) FREQUENT DIGESTIVE/SKIN ISSUES AND VARIOUS OTHER
INFECTIONS)
Khaos had soft poop with frequent diarrhea and about 6 to 8
bowel movements a day from the day I brought him home, along with a
host of infection that required medical intervention. He was
treated with various antibiotics and steroid, pills as well as
Injections and/or combinations thereof. Tests performed to dx any
of this included numerous Fecal Floats, ruling out Giardia, CBC
Superchems, Thyroid testing and a Canine Maldigestion Profile to
name a few, all negative /normal or inconclusive. We tried varying
his food and adding various probiotics without any significant
improvment. (A8)
He was seen by vets at Eastgate Animal Hospital for Diarrhea,
Nail bed Infections, Bladder Infection, Hives and Skin Infections,
including but not limited on the following dates:
November 29, 2012, December 28th, 2012,
January 4th, 2013, February 12 2013, March 2nd, 2013, April
11th, 2013, June 3rd, 2013,
July 19th, 2013, August 20th, 2013, August 27th, 2013,
September 16th 2013, October 22nd, 2013,
March 20th 2014,
April 7th, 2014, April 30th, 2014, June 13th, 2014, June 20th,
2014, July 14th, 2014, July 31st, 2014
August 18th, 2014
He was referral to a Dermatologist, Dr. Stephanie Brunner, on
10-24-2013. By that time Khaos's hair loss, hives and acne like
sores had spread considerably despite treatment.
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Page 2 of 12
Dr. Brunner suspected a food allergy due to the frequency of his
stool elimination and persistent soft consistency with intermittent
bouts of diarrhea. She concluded that this is most likely is a
severe food allergy presenting with a secondary generalized staph
infection. He would have to go through a strict food trial with a
limited ingredient Rx food for a minimum of 3 to 4 months (which we
started immediately) and additionally would need to be treated with
Antibiotics for approximately the same amount of time. I opted to
have a culture and sensitivity study done on the staph infection to
ensure we can treat this with the correct antibiotic and eliminate
further stressing his system.
The study came back as Meth-Resistant Pseudintermmedius( MRSP)
only responsive to a few antibiotics. (A8) Dr. Brunner ordered to
start him on 800mg of Doxycycline a day since it was the least
likely antibiotic on the list to cause severe side effects.
Additionally she advised to bath him twice a week with Duoxo
Chlorhexadine PS Shampoo and spray him with TrizChlor 4 daily
between baths.
Use Hydroxyzine and/or OTC Zyrtec as needed to reduce
itching.
She advised to delay neuter until at least 1 to 2months after
this skin infection was completely cleared up and he was neutered
once the MRSP was no longer present a few months later.
We had to switch the antibiotic to Zeniquin after several months
when he had a relapse.
After the conclusion of the food trial and initial treatment,
Dr. Brunner recommended to test for additional proteins he might be
able to safely eat. He reacted to Chicken, Lamb, Turkey and
especially beef, but could handle Fish in the form of Orijen Six
Fish so we eventually switched to Orijen Six Fish as his main food
source with using the Duck and Potato Rx food as treats, along with
single ingredient treats of Fish and Duck only.
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After being mostly stable with the food allergy, as long as he
did not get anything even including minute trace amounts of
proteins he is allergic to (like heartworm pills, flavored
toothpaste and supplements contained in gel cap) he developed
additional environmental allergies.
He currently is treated with moderate success with Apoquel but
continues to have occasional outburst that need to be controlled
with medication even when following the strict food
restrictions.
see Attachment 2 (HEALTH ISSUES) (A5-A8)
3) OTHER A'CARRIG DOGS WITH SIMILAR HEALTH ISSUES
Additionally Michelle is claiming on her Facebook page, that
Khaos is the only puppy she ever produced with health issues, there
is in fact at least one other she bred the following year to the
same dam with a different sire. Her health struggles are documented
in part on Doberman Talk.
http://www.dobermantalk.com/doberman-health/228770-latest-hair-loss.html
http://www.dobermantalk.com/doberman-health/216690-time-blood-work.html
4) PLACEMENT CONTRACT
Michelle is also claiming that I broke her placement contract,
but refuses to say in what way. I can however show that while I
never pressed the issue before, she is the one that actually broke
that contract.
Prior to signing we added a stipulation to it, that the breeder
would assist the buyer in all ear tapings either at the buyers of
the breeders house as I had never had to post ears, since my
rescues ears were long past that point at the time I adopted them.
(A1)
I contacted her on Nov 9th, 2012, when Khaos's cup fell off as I
was instructed by her. She asked me to meet her at her place of
work at lunch time and send me a list of supplies to bring with me.
Since I was concerned that any advice she supplied via text or
email from pictures I send her, without actually seeing the ears
and feeling the ear leather might result in pockets forming or
other such issues I attempted to schedule some time with her on
numerous occasions. I left the time and place up to her choosing
and even went so far as to ask if I could just meet her in parking
lot down the street from her work during her lunch hour if she had
no other free time available. I was unable to get her to commit to
another meeting until Khaos was 6 months old at which point she
pronounced his ears finished. (A9)
see Attachment 4 (EAR POSTING) (A9)
5) CHANGING REGISTRATION AND CO-OWNERSHIP
After Michelle did the final evaluation of Khaos's ears the
beginning of March 2013, she said, since Khaos grew up so nicely,
she would change his registration if I was interested in showing
him in Conformation. I told her that I'm curious and would like to
give it a try. She stacked Khaos on her stacking box and mentioned
she would get the papers together to change his registration.
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Page 4 of 12
I was intrigued. I have never considered conformation. All my
dogs before were either mutts from the shelter or adult Doberman
Rescues. Over the next couple of months I was given many promises
that the papers would arrive soon and she is working on them.
(A10)
In May she contacted me again, asking me if I could meet her at
the Hamilton show. She would have the papers ready by then and get
the final signature from Penny there and could she please buy a
Doberman Necklace from me like the one I made her as a gift for her
dear friend Gracie Moore. (A10)
At the show, however, she did not have the papers after all,
saying she still needed the third signature as she hasn't been able
to meet up with Darcy. She did contact me again the following week
when she was leaving with Darcy to go to Biloxi, saying she is
mailing the papers out. I got another message 10 days later
apologizing that there was a mix up and she accidentally mailed the
papers to Penny instead but Penny would send them to me. (A11)
When they arrived, I immediately noticed that this wasn't a
likely the case since the envelope was not only address to me in
her hand writing, but was has been folded as if it was inside
another envelope before. (A11)
Then as I started to fill out the papers so I could send them to
AKC I was in for yet another surprise. I appeared as if Penny had
written Michelle in as a co-owner and signed her name to it, as
that signature was clearly different from Michelle's signature on
Page 1 and was in the same pen color as Penny's writing.
(A12-A13)
Michelle had not even once mentioned to me, that her changing
the registration was hinged on a co-ownership, nor was there any
contract in place to stipulate what I had to do to get her to sign
back off a co-ownership. When I called her about it, I got a lot of
excuses from trying to convince me we discussed this, to saying she
had no problem with it, but Penny insisted on it. When I point
blank asked her if Penny signed her name, she said yes. I told her
that I'm not willing to co-own and if she insisted on it, I would
neuter him and pursue different venues with him like Obedience. I
offered to sign anything she liked, that I will not breed this dog
and then asked what else was she was concerned about. Her answer
was that he is her baby and she is just so worried I run off with
him. When I asked her why she isn't concerned about this now, while
he is still on a limited registration, she had no answer. In the
end she agreed to talk to Penny and see if she could change her
mind. (A15)
We continued with his training, and she even showed up for one
of his handling classes to work with him herself. At this point I
had mostly given up on showing him in AKC. I approached her and
suggested we show him in UKC first to see how he does before we
revisit AKC. After I called UKC and was told her could be shown
there even on a limited AKC registration and gave her that
information she was all on board. We made plans for her to show him
in his first UKC show, August 25th and Khaos ended up going BOW in
both shows that day being handled first by Darcy and then by
Michelle in Show 2. (A16)
She mentioned that the next shows she might be able to attend
were in November, however Khaos finished before then being handled
by someone else. I send her an email mid October telling her that
she no longer needed to handle him since he finished so quickly and
that she could just send me a check for remaining $27 she owed on
the necklaces since we didn't need to meet up again. I received no
reply. (A16)
I was going to have Khaos neutered at that point but as his skin
condition had completely deteriorated at that point and we ended up
seeing a dermatologist my regular vet referred us to, since none of
the standard treatments seemed to help. Since the C&S she
ordered showed that among other things his generalized Staph
Infection was in fact Meth-Resistant Pseudintermedius (MRSP) she
advised me to delay his neuter for several months until it could be
cleared up since any surgery at this point could lead this to
migrate from the skin to internal organs. And he was eventually
neutered a few months later. (see Attachment 5 (CHANGING
REGISTRATION) (A10-A16)
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Page 5 of 12
FINAL COMMUNICATION:
5-19-2014
Michelle contacted me via FB Chat a day after I was approached
by the sire's owner questioning my vets credentials along with
asking why I had him neutered. Michelle was unhappy that I told
Penny about his health issues and what steps were taken to treat
him, along with me mentioning the false info I was given by
Michelle regarding the dams health testing. Penny assured me
several times during that discussion that she had performed all the
health testing on the sire. Since I had found a lot of the info on
Storm in online registries eventually, I told her that my main
concern has been the testing supposedly performed on the dam.
I did mention to Penny that Michelle told me once Khaos started
having issues with allergic reactions, that Storm is the one that
has allergies, which Penny denied, claiming it was in fact Cherry
that has allergies. I have no idea what the truth is, since I have
no documentation on either of them regarding this.
Michelle got quite hostile and no matter how well I tried to
explain it to her along with showing her proof of her claiming
exactly what I said with screenshots of her own written
communications to me, she continued to deny, misdirect and blame
the co-owner. In the end I told her unless she would supply me with
the certificates on the testing she had originally claimed were
done, this discussion was pointless.
Here is the final exchange:
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Page 6 of 12
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Page 7 of 12
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Attachment Page A1 of 16
Attachment 1 (PUPPY PACKAGE AND AKC OWNERSHIP REGISTRATION
FORM):
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Attachment Page A2 of 16
Attachment 1 (PUPPY PACKAGE AND AKC OWNERSHIP REGISTRATION FORM)
cont'd:
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Attachment Page A3 of 16
ATTACHEMENT 1b (HEALTH TESTING):
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Attachment Page A4 of 16
ATTACHEMENT 1b (HEALTH TESTING) cont'd:
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Attachment Page A5 of 16
Attachment 2 (HEALTH ISSUES):
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Attachment Page A6 of 16
Attachment 2 (HEALTH ISSUES) cont'd:
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Attachment Page A7 of 16
Attachment 2 (HEALTH ISSUES) cont'd:
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Attachment Page A8 of 16
Attachment 2 (HEALTH ISSUES) cont'd:
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Attachment Page A9 of 16
Attachment 4 (EAR POSTING):
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Attachment Page A10 of 16
Attachment 5 (CHANGING REGISTRATION AND CO-OWNERSHIP):
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Attachment Page A11 of 16
Attachment 5 (CHANGING REGISTRATION AND CO-OWNERSHIP)cont'd:
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Attachment Page A12 of 16
Attachment 5 (CHANGING REGISTRATION AND CO-OWNERSHIP)cont'd:
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Attachment Page A13 of 16
Attachment 5 (CHANGING REGISTRATION AND CO-OWNERSHIP)cont'd:
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Attachment Page A14 of 16
Attachment 5 (CHANGING REGISTRATION AND CO-OWNERSHIP)cont'd:
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Attachment Page A15 of 16
Attachment 5 (CHANGING REGISTRATION AND CO-OWNERSHIP)cont'd:
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Attachment Page A16 of 16
Attachment 5 (CHANGING REGISTRATION AND CO-OWNERSHIP)cont'd: