Leslie Fleischer didn’t see any harm in taking a look at the puppy.
She knew the odds of a Kijiji ad leading her to a dream dog for daughter Abby were slim, but the Thornhill seller claimed to be a “registered breeder” and provided a two-year health guarantee.
The Milton mom had no way of knowing the woman who brought the storage bin of Maltipoo pups up from her basement had used an alias — concealing her identity as a prolific puppy broker who sold sick bulldogs in B.C. a decade ago, and in 2021 was hit with a $10,000 federal fine for illegally importing dogs from Ukraine using fake documents signed by a disgraced veterinarian in Poland.
By the time she discovered these facts, Abby had long fallen in love with the six-pound ball of black fluff she called Teddi.
Fleischer saw a spark in her 17-year-old’s eyes she hadn’t seen in months, so when the “breeder” upped the advertised price by $100 to $1,000 that Sunday in late March, the single mom didn’t blink.
“This is the one everyone loves at puppy yoga,” the seller told them.
By the time Fleischer and Abby had returned home, it was clear Teddi was unwell. Vomiting. Diarrhea. An emergency clinic confirmed the pup had parvovirus, a highly contagious disease that attacks an animal’s gastrointestinal tract, and can damage the heart.
The next few days, Fleischer said, felt like psychological torture — ending in the euthanization of Teddi and the start of provincial inspections, and a formal investigation by animal services in Vaughan.
Typing the name “Manuela Sadykow” into a search engine would give most people shopping for a puppy pause.
So that may be why she called herself ‘Jenifer’ in the ad Fleischer saw on Kijiji, though others who shared complaints on redflagdeals.com, ripoffreport.com and the CBC shared Sadykow also went by ‘Ella.’
It was Interac, however, that first alerted Fleischer to the seller’s true identity when an email confirmed acceptance of her e-transfer to “Manuela Marlene Sadykow.”
Fleischer, a journalist who works as a digital editor, immediately started digging.
“My heart was in my stomach,” she says. “It made me feel marginally better that we were taken by someone so prolific.”
In 2015, the CBC investigated Sadykow for selling a ‘fatally ill’ French bulldog to a couple in Surrey, B.C. through a business she ran with her husband called Platinum Rare Bulldogs.
Fined $10,000 by the Canadian Food Inspection Agency
The dog had a severe intestinal infection, and was humanely euthanized four days after its purchase. Sadykow returned the couple’s $1,800 adoption fee, and after the CBC started asking questions, provided them with a cheque to cover most of their veterinary costs.
Sadykow told the broadcaster that two additional lawsuits filed against her and her husband, Brandon Nahmaiche (also known as Brandon Nahm), and their former business ‘Perfect Bulldog Puppies,’ stemmed from issues at a supplier with which she had severed ties.
By 2020, Sadykow came on the radar of investigators at the Canadian Food Inspection Agency, which acts as a border patrol for ‘zoonotic germs,’ such as viruses and parasites. They ensure animals entering the country are vaccinated.
The CFIA found that on Oct. 28, 2020, Sadykow imported puppies using fake veterinary certificates that were intentionally misleading.
The documents were signed by a Polish vet, Dr. Ewa Michalowska, identified as an “official veterinary inspector.” But Canadian investigators confirmed Michalowska had lost her license to practice veterinary medicine in 2017.
The CFIA also noted that “dozens” of Sadykow’s documents used two differently coloured stamps — red and black — to mimic formatting used by legitimate veterinary officials to intentionally mislead the agency.
In 2021, the CFIA fined Sadykow $10,000, noting she had no previous record. The federal agency confirmed the fine has not been paid.
Sadykow appealed, but in 2023 the Canada Agricultural Review tribunal upheld the decision in a ruling posted online.
The adjudicator referenced the CFIA inspector’s “uncontested testimony” inwhich Sadykow admitted the dogs she imported were originally from Ukraine and not “born in Poland” as the paperwork stated.
“This was a significant admission because at that time,” the tribunal decision states, “the importation of Ukrainian dogs into Canada was prohibited.”
The CFIA halted commercial puppy imports from Ukraine in June, 2020 after Pearson airport officials opened the cargo space of a Ukraine Airlines flight to find 500 French bulldog puppies suffering from extreme dehydration, heat exhaustion and vomiting. Thirty eight were reported dead in their crates.
While the federal tribunal that heard Sadykow’s appeal in 2023 acknowledged she had no prior record, the adjudicator expressed concerns about the puppy broker’s business acumen.
Asked about her credentials
“Given how much of the information on the certifications was false, it may also be true that the dogs in question were ill or unvaccinated when they were imported,” the tribunal decision states. “This in turn could result in the spread of communicable diseases to these or other animals in Canada.”
The CFIA and subsequent federal tribunal decision also acknowledge harm to consumers.
Sadykow’s “deception,” the tribunal decision states, “defrauds potential customers from making informed decisions about whether to spend large sums of money for animals of dubious origin and health.”
When Fleischer met the woman she now believes was Sadykow that Sunday afternoon in Thornhill, she said she asked about her credentials.
She was told she came from a family of long-time breeders based in Quebec, and admitted to no longer being registered because it made puppy adoption prohibitively expensive for good families like Fleischer’s.
On April 2, just before Fleisher’s vet confirmed Teddi’s Parvo diagnosis, she texted Sadykow with a question. Fleischer shared the thread with me and Vaughan Animal Services.
The vet noted it was strange that Teddi’s vaccination record showed she received two dewormings prior to the adoption.
Was she recovering from something? Fleischer asked by text.
“We just do it to make sure no worms,” Sadykow, or whoever was behind the Toronto437 area code number, typed back.
When the vet confirmed the diagnosis, Fleischer texted back with the update.
“That’s very odd, all of the litter mates are doing great,” was the reply.
“She has to be put down,” Fleischer texted. “And the vet said there is no way possible she didn’t come to me with Parvo and you should tell the other litter owners.”
“I’m so sad to hear this,” read the reply. “I’ve inquired with the other litter mates and they are telling me that their dogs are healthy.”
Sadykow returned Fleischer’s adoption fee by e-transfer, but told Fleischer, “we don’t pay vet bills.”
Later, last week, when I reached Sadykow by phone at a 604 number (British Columbia area code), she said: “There were no other puppies in the house and I will pay for the cost of the vet bills.” She hung up when I asked about her history in B.C. and the federal fine, and sent a text that stated she could not provide further comment.
Fleischer said Sadykow reached out to her by phone on Sunday using the 437 number, just before this story was published, and offered to repay her through $500 biweekly instalments, the first of which she transferred that day.
Exactly seven days after adopting Teddi, Fleischer and Abby were in a veterinary room, watching through tears, while tech after tech struggled to find a vein in their severely dehydrated pup.
While Fleischer consoled her daughter, she couldn’t stop worrying about other families who might have also unknowingly adopted a sick dog.
The vet instructed her to destroy everything Teddi had come in contact with and warned the virus could thrive for six months or longer.
A spokesperson from the Ontario Solicitor General’s office, which oversees animal welfare services, confirmed by email that it is conducting regular inspections related to this matter, but could not provide details.
The City of Vaughan told the Star its animal services department is investigating.
Teddi’s ashes came home last week in a tiny green urn.
