dog with heartworms - Page 1

We were GIVEN a 3 yrs old dog that had heartworms. At the time we took possession of the dog and his registration ownership signed over to us,  he was being treated for it.  We continued the treatment.  The reason we were told the dog was given away is because the present owner had too many males and had no use for him any longer.  Also because his ears were not standing perfect and to them it was hideous and sore to their eyes to look at.   It was obvious a really bad job of taping the ears and they never really stood perfect after the taping job.   Our agreement was if we decided not to keep dog they wanted first right of refusal.  Nothing on paper, just a verbal agreement.  

Each phone calls we made to them just to let them know how the dogs was doing, the first words out their mouth was, " Please don't say you can't keep ----------".  But we were always told, they would be happy to take him back..    We would just laugh it off as a joke.   Couple months during another one of our conversation, I offered the dog back to the previous owner to which the reply was, "Oh no I can't take him back, we have no room for him."  Of course there was personal reasons given which I will not put on here.  

Our situation changed and once again we called and asked if they wanted the dog back.  This time they said yes, but they couldn't take him right at the time, and asked if we would please keep him for a while until they could take him back.  That while turned into 2 wks and finally another excuse came up with them, so WE offered to keep the dog until they could get him back.   We set up another date, but this time it was us that couldn't make due to an emergency that came up late the night before, (as in 11:30pm) we were supposed to meet.   I was not calling them at that time of the night to discuss dog business, not knowing if they were sleeping or not.  Then next morning because of no phone calling service they were notified by text message, of our forced change of plans.  Since it would be another week before we could meet again, we decided to keep him until we could breed him to our girl that had just come in heat.  We told them of this.   Thats when it got ugly. We were yelled at because we didn't call and discuss this decision with them the night before.  After being insulted and yelled at, we decided were we just going to keep the dog and not get involved with them again.   

Now we are being threatened saying that they want THEIR dog, and we did not hold up to our end of the agreement. Remember I offered the dog back to them before this last time.   They are saying they "will take legal actions to get THEIR dog back, because they want him, he is theirs and they will get him back."

 Please keep in mind this dog is owned by us outright, no co-ownership. 
Any opinions and thoughts on how you would handle this are welcomed. 

You have possession of the dog and the papers to prove it. End of story. Treat the dog for heartworms.

Seems to me like they now want the dog back because you've paid to get him treated for heartworm, which is very expensive, and now that you have him well/healthy they want him back. I would NOT give him back since if they weren't concerned about him enough in the FIRST place to have him on heartworm PREVENTATIVE, they won't care enough about him to keep him on it now. He is YOUR dog, and keep him for yourself, or place him with a family member or friend if you can't.  Don't let their threats scare you!  They have no legal rights to him.

Oh yes, Absolutely, Bee we are treating the dog.  As I understand it, this dog is not the first one she gives away with heartworms. There were 2 others also.   We also found out that we are the 3rd ones she gives this dog to.  I knew about one other person and that was the person supposedly responsible for the dog getting heartworms.  When I asked for that person's name so we could find out exactly what type of training was done with the dog, she said she didn't think we needed to talk to him.  We realized alittle too late, it appears to be a shady situation we got ourselves into.   

Regardless, the dog will stay with us now.  Its so unfair to the dog to have been "passed" around that many times and he just turned 4yrs old.  He will always have a home with us.  If they are hell bent and bound to pursue this and try to fight it legally, we have decided we are ready for the fight.  

CMills, I agree and they are not worthy of the boy.   He is so much better than that.  

As others have already pointed out, and I'm sure you already knew anyway, the other party doesn't have a legal leg to stand on--dogs are property, they signed the 'title' of the property over to you (the registration) and relinquished custody of the dog.  However...

...did you follow through when you received the dog, and re-register him in YOUR name?  Or is his official registration still in the other party's name?  That needs to be done just to protect yourself from frivilous nonsense claims of ownership.

Curious, though, as to why you'd choose him to breed to your female, regardless of whose dog he is, if his ears don't stand properly?  While 'friendly' ears don't make him any less lovable, or any less a good dog, but they DO make him fail to meet the breed standard, and weak ears are a family heirloom...

Hexe, the dog's ears were up perfectly at 5-6 months old. I have pictures of him at that age.   At the age the dog was taken to get a tatoo done in the ear is when it began having problems standing up on its own again.  I was also told by someone that had close contact with the dog during this time, that his ears were standing perfect until the tatoo was done and after he was put with another puppy that was constantly pulling on this dogs ears.  I was also told that the dog was brought to a vet to have the ears braced up, but never could get a vet's name. This same person told me that she doesn't recall the dog going to the vet to get ears taped.   I have all medical records on the dog but nothing concerning having the ears braced.  

As for our decision for breeding him to our female, this would be a repeat breeding.  The first breeding was very nice.  They will soon be 5 months old and we are very happy with the potential for puppies at this age.   The dog had been bred at least 3 times before we got him and everyone I was able to contact had no problems with ears coming up correctly or being weak.  I have spoken to the dog's breeder who is a very well respected breeder, and she has confirmed that there are no ear issues with this dog's lines at all.  She also told me she recalls the person she originally sold the puppy to giving her problems with the dog's ears after the tatoo was done which was after 6 months old.   She also has pictures of the dog showing both ears perfectly erect prior to tatooing and an obviously no so good job at taping or bracing the ears.  

Also, YES the dog is registered in my name only.  We do have the registration certificate proving that.  

if you have the registration papers and there is nothing in writing, get a restraining order......they don't need to bother you any more.

Hutchins, certainly there is a difference between ears that are too weak to stand, and those which were standing until the cartilage was broken; that the latter is the case with this dog was not clear from your initial description, as most folks have seen pups that had ears standing until they started teething, and once they began to droop they never went back up.  (And while I'm generally defending good veterinarians here, I'd be lying if I said that most vets know f*** all about taping ears other than those which they've cropped--unless the vet is also a GSD person, they're not going to have a clue.)

Good on you, completing the registration process, even though when you did so you never dreamed that things would come to this madness! That pretty much ties up every possible loophole they could conceive of--you've got the official registration, you've got the vet records dating back to when you took over his care. Short of them having a dated video of you drugging them, tying them to a chair, and then forcing them to sign over the registration to you, they will be hard pressed to be able to dispute your ownership. Sita's Mom is right--enjoy your (now healthy!) dog, and if they persist with the threats, let the law handle them.