Shiraz Farms German Shephards in Virginia - Page 1

We had an awful experience with them. We purchased a female German Shepherd puppy from them about two years ago. Less than six months after having this puppy, she was diagnosed with severe hip dysplasia. She had no hip socket or ball on one side, and she was already displaying symptoms of hip dysplasia on her other hip. She had to undergo surgery twice to carve a socket into her hip and attach a ball onto the same hip. When we called Shiraz Farms, they refused to help out with any of the cost of the medical care. They offered to trade a new dog for the one we had already bonded with. God knows what they would've done with her. I mean, seriously, no German Shepherd puppy should have severe hip dysplasia at the age of eight months. We were appalled with them, and they acted completely surprised and said that they had never had this happen before. Yeah right, you've absolutely never had this happen before?! After this experience, thank God my in-laws are completely convinced about not getting purebred animals anymore. I tried to convince them ahead of time, but they insisted on getting a purebred German Shepherd. Thanks Shiraz Farms for turning my in-laws onto adoption, rather than purchasing another genetically mutated animal.And thanks for draining them of several thousand dollars with a defective animal. This poor dog had to be crated with minimal movement for over four months. It was pure hell. Do not purchase a dog from these people.

Sounds like TOO LITTLE attention was paid to genetics in the breeding of this unfortunate pup. Sounds like yes, they are pretty crap breeders ... BUT did you not research the OFA records on the parents before you agreed to buy her ? Or at least ask the breeder to show you the relevant paperwork and Xrays for her parents ?

Personally, I wouldn't buy German Shepherd puppy without first requiring a copy of hip test results from OFA/SV (etc.) on the sire/dam from the seller. What amazes me is it is absolutely unbelievable number of people on AKC Marketplace GSD advertisements, that have high dollar puppies for sale, whose sire/dam haven't had their hips graded. The thing is even when pups parent's hips are x-rayed and certified as passing, environmental factors, diet, running back/forth along fence the first year of life, etc. can all contribute to hip dysplasia. So at least look at test results or x-rays on the sire/dam's hips and make sure they are certified as passing to minimize chances of getting puppy with this problem. I have learned (the hard way) a little research can save much heartache and money.

As sad as this story is ( poor dog ) things like this happen ( very seldom, but they do happen ).
I have seen 2 dogs without hip sockets/balls by myself, both of them out of well bred, health tested ancestors.
Happens in humans, too...and in mutts... ( I do believe the breeder when he said " they never had this happen before " - it´s really rare ).

I don´t know the breeder, I don´t know if they x-ray or not -
but in case they do, there is nothing else they could have done.

The breeder offered a replacement - that´s common practise - no breeder is going to pay for surgeries or treatments.

The 2 dogs I know about were euthanized - I hope your family companion is able to live a long and painfree life.

A brief check of their website shows they have showline GSDs descended from all the top names in Germany. Even most of their females have KKl ratings, and of course, are hip scored, either by OFA or the German system. All the ones I checked were either OFA good or A1, and one was OFA excellent.

Nothing on the website raised a red flag, though I didn't spend a lot of time checking every last detail.

So, looks like it was just plain bad luck. It does happen. My show line female has one hip with mild dysplasia, even though all her ancestors for 3 generations back are clear.

Mutts and dogs from the shelter can have problems, too. Their lack of a pedigree is no guarantee they are healthy!
One of my uncles had a neighbour with 3 female dogs: all of them mutts, all of them pumping out puppies. The oldest female was the mother of the second oldest, who was the mother of the youngest. So even though they were mutts, there was likely some inbreeding happening!

I know only too well that there are dogs with poor hips who have no obvious background for HD, having owned one who had excellent ancestry, all scored and only the good 'uns used in her breeding programme. So it is possible that Sunny is right, this kennel may well have been doing all they can to avoid HD in their product. Does not excuse the lack of interest and compassion with the OP's dog, if that is an accurate report. Does not excuse the OP as a buyer apparently not doing any research 'homework' though, either. Which the OP has still apparently not been doing if they have to be informed that shelter dogs can have health problems too.

Offering a replacement is generally seen as good practice. How is it that this showed lack of compassion? Because they didn't want to cover medical costs?

What I got from the story was first time buyers got the bad luck of getting a dysplastic puppy and didn't know enough about canine health to know that this could happen out of even health tested parents. (OP never even mentions health tests of parents, somebody else had to look.) So, they blame the breeder because they think a dog should come out like machinery: good, quality bred dogs just never get health problems, so since this one turned out badly, this was clearly a bad quality breeding and there has to be other pups before this that turned out badly. Now not only does the breeder's entire practice go into question, but now all purebred dogs are just sickly; better to go for a mutt whose entire family history is unknown and suspect.

The breeder could've wanted the puppy returned so that they could take care of him/her themselves (who knows), and they offered a (presumably) healthy one instead. I don't see much fault on the breeder if this was their first hip dysplasia case; they didn't have any experience with it and were shocked. They were trying to do right by these people according to what is common practice: replacement puppy or refund.

I'm also questioning why this complaint was made two years down the road. Why now?

I've got to say that I'm all for rescuing dogs. More power to you. But don't blame all purebred dogs because of this one bad experience, and don't spread false information around that all purebred dogs turn out this way before you've done your homework yourself.

 

(If I seem testy today, it's probably because some idiot cut me off in traffic going slower than I was, then when I decided to go around them, they swerved into me!) 

Fair point Reliya but the OP makes it sound as though s/he contacted the breeder and the ONLY things they said were: never had one before; send her back and we'll replace her; no we won't give anything towards cost of medical care. If that's really the case it is distinctly unsympathetic, by UK standards anyway; I would have expected a conversation, about whether they should take her back or leave her with her family; whether they could help a bit financially (not saying they should pay the whole bill); explanation about how HD can turn up unexpectedly - a GSD breeder worth their salt would not have to have been unlucky enough to have it appear in their stock to KNOW that sort of detail. The OP's disgruntled reaction may indicate that such a conversation and provision of information did not take place. Also should have been questions about the time gap and her lifestyle (just generally, some greater interest shown !). If the breeder did do those things and the OP is trying to pull the wool over our eyes, by 'forgetting' salient points, said breeder is free to defend themself here. Along with the OP, I remain unsure about what ANY breeder who offers to take back and replace a puppy with a permanent problem is going to do with the pup ...