Another Breeder/Importers Dog coming into Rescue - Page 10

No longer related

Hello Everyone,

I sold Linda Birmingham a puppy from one of my litters. After it was 6 months old she called and said the dog was not obedient enough and she needed to have a dog with obedience training on it and not a puppy, since she had MS, and her husband did not have the time to train a dog. Since I gave a 2 year unconditional guarantee on her puppy I offered to replace it for her as the contract stated that I would do if she had any problems. She said NO that she did not want another puppy, she wanted an adult dog that was obedience trained. I then found her an adult dog that was obedience trained that cost me much more then what I sold her the puppy for. The reason I paid more for the dog was just to make a customer happy, and because she stated she had MS and could not train a dog. Yet I did not request any additional money from her on this second transaction. I felt that I had gone far beyond what a normal breeder would do to make a customer happy. Since this was not one of my dogs and I traded her puppy plus cash to another trainer in my area for the dog, I gave her only a 60 day guarantee on the second dog, because I was not given any guarantees at all on the dog. She then sent her son in law to pick up this dog from this other trainer. He picked the dog up and saw it work but he had to drive back and did not have time to work the dog himself. Those commands are obedience only and are: Come. Sit, Down, Stand, and Heel. The dog was also worked in some German commands but responds better in English. I was out of town when he picked the dog up from the other trainer, but I spoke with Linda Birmingham by phone and asked her to please contact a trainer in her area and work with them as dogs are not trained for life, and they need to be maintained. I did not hear any thing from her by emails or phone calls until last week. (8 months later) I called her and told her that I got a message that she was having problems with her dog. She told me the dog bit her husband but he did not need any stitches and that she took care of the problem herself by giving the dog to a German Shepherd rescue. I told her again that I thought she should have worked with a trainer in her area from the beginning with this dog. She told me the dog did every thing she wanted so she did not need a trainer. The only problem was it bit her husband, and she gave it away to the German Shepherd Rescue. That ended the conversation with her. Incidentally I did contact the trainer that Linda Birmingham's son in law picked up the dog from, and that trainer stated that she talked to Linda several times and each time Linda told her how well the dog was doing for her and her family. I still wonder if the dog really bit her husband since he did not need stitches, perhaps in prey, or if it really was a bite, why the dog did this after living with them for 8 months. Very Strange????

It is almost impossible to work with a person over the phone to correct behavioral issues. If the dog has developed a learned behavior from its owner, then a trainer in that area should work with the owners directly to correct the problem, rather then find a new home where the dog might exhibit these same learned behaviors. If this was done we would not have so many dogs in shelters or in a rescue situation. Dogs are not meant to be thrown away when they develop a problem, they need to be worked with. That way both the human and the dog will be happy.

I must say though that Steph from Montana German Shepherd Rescue acted not only unethically but in a defamatory way to me. Any person would make an attempt via email or by phone to discuss this situation and get facts, instead of jumping to conclusions after hearing only one side of the story. As a matter of fact most people would not even get involved in writing something derogatory about another professional, especially on nothing more the hear say evidence!!!!