Breeder Guarantee Horror Stories - Page 1

Here in the US, puppy buyers have come to expect guarantees on general health, hips, and elbows at the very least. Most reputable breeders do guarantee those things, used to offer cash refunds up to 100%, but regularly found the terms of their self-written (no legal consultation/assistance)  guarantees too broad, subject to interpretation far and beyong the original intent of the document, and therefore easily abused by buyers who later decided they didn't want the dog for some reason that had nothing to do with the terms of the poorly written agreement. Back in the 80's when I first began breeding dogs, I used to guarantee hips, elbows, descended testicles, erect ears, dentition, and any/all other genetically heritable health problems, and  even breeding quality, (!) for the first 36 months of the dogs' lives. In addition, I offered (in writing) generous cash rebates for SchH titles, show ratings, AKC titles, Law enforcement K9 cert/deployment, proof of OFA cert., SAR deployment... in and effort to motivate owners to train their dogs and as a means of learning the temperament , health and structural status of my pups after they left me and throughout their lives, to help me make better decisions in future, avoid genetics-based issues I was unaware of in the bloodlines should any surface later.

My poor self-written guarantee, heavily weighted on the interest of the buyers was abused a number of times, always by "wannabe" breeders trying to make a fast buck in the dog business. One particularly unsavory character bought two very well-bred working females from me at 11 and 12 mos. of age. She bred them both on their next heat, produced litters of 12 and 13 pups, sold all pups for $500-700. and then showed up at my door with the first female to wean her litter tied in the back of her pick-up truck, still lactating and in very poor condition, demanding her money back claiming the female's hips had failed OFA. I refunded her money on the spot, just glad my baby was home and would get the care she needed. Her behavior had changed so much in 5 mos. I barely knew her. My happy, outgoing V Berol Busecker Scloss daughter ran under the horse trailer and quivered when I reached for her, terrified. It took 20 min. to coax her out and get her into the house to take her temperature. It was 106. My vet confirmed she had a terrible uterine infection that afternoon, the result of a retained placenta. She died the next day despite aggressive treatment in intensive care.

Continued-

Continued from above-

BTW: We did x-ray poor Mora's hips at post mortem. They were good, despite having whelped 12 puppies at just over one year of age.

Three months later, lo and behold, here comes that same dirt-bag in a shiny NEW pick-up truck to park in my driveway, my poor skinny,  still-lactating Brix Laimbachtal  x Sandy Fasanerie daughter tied in the bed. Same story... but this time I grabbed my baby in my arms, ran carrying her thin frame into the house, slammed the front door so hard it broke the light window next to it and damaged the frame, refused to answer the door till the dirt-bag left. Fortunately this female wasn't ill, just emaciated, filthy, crawling with fleas, loaded with worms and longing for attention. All it took were some groceries, a bath, and  treatment for parasites to get her back in top shape. Not having her papers, I gave her to my vet to spay and live out a happy life herding sheep on her farm. Her hips were fine, too, but not as good as they had been when we'd prelim'd her 4 mos. before. (some laxity, suspected due to whelping 13 puppies at 13 mos.)

The woman never came back or called, so I figured I was done with her and glad of it.  But she was not done with me! A few months later the woman sent me an envelope containing poor-quality copies of OFA Cert's, (at one year? The OFA didn't offer  to evaluate hips at one year back then. ) Certificates indicating completion of AKC CD titles for both dogs, and a copy of my Rebate offer with a nasty demand for cash rebates scribbled across the top, with an offer to sue me if I didn't "honor" my offers. She didn't sue me, of course, and I didn't persue prosecution for extorsion, animal neglect, abuse... although I should have! I saw her ads promoting an impoted stud dog and "world class puppies" bred from the barely 1 yr. old females from those two litters in USA and Dog World magazine about a year later with an out-of-state address.

I now offer a puppy guarantee written in specific legal terms covering health of puppy at time of delivery, hips and elbows free of crippling displasia at one year, 50% off replacement puppy of same or higher value, less shipping, upon proof of condition (my option to re-x-ray if positioning was unsatisfactory in first set) and proof of spay/neuter. Although not part of my written guarantee, I may and have replaced pups sold to serious competition homes as show/working/breeding prospects, found later in development to posess faults that would eliminate them from the Korung, voluntarily.  I do not offer rebates for anything. Although the puppies I import do not come with any guarantees from the breeders, I offer my own guarantee as seller and pray if anything does come up (which probably will someday, given statistics, no matter how careful/consciencious any breeder is...) the breeder will help me out when it comes time to replace the pup. If not, well, I'm out some money, but my reputation as an ethical provider, priceless in my estimation, will still be intact.

Unfortunately, the courts are typically unfamiliar with the dog breeding business, and so decide in favor of the buyer without taking time to become familiar with what is considered "normal, ethical practice" in the business and what is not, let alone educate themselves about canine health, care, maintenance, husbandy, socialization etc., all important factors to consider in making a  fair and just decision. 

Oh... I forgot to mention one more important element of my "dealings" with the dirt-bags. When they bought the two females on their second visit to my home, took delivery, they paid in cash. I counted the money  in front of them, placed it in an envelope in my right hand desk drawer in my office, and went out with the wife to help load the dogs (loaned them 2 500 crates, never returned) while the husband used the bathroom. After waving good-bye I returned to my office to get my car keys and the cash for deposit at the bank.

It wasn't there.

SS

Holy cow, Shelley--how horrible.  Especially for the first poor sick baby they killed!

Julia

Lessons learned. I'm pretty hard to take advantage anymore.

:)

That is absolutely horrible!!!  I am trying to develop a sales/health contract myself and I'm just stressing out over it.  Do you or any other breeders care to possible email me and share theirs with me??  I'm scared to death of something like this happening to me....as I am young and have a history of being taken advantage of by crooks.  I have only had 2 litters and they were out of my two SAR dogs and sold most of them locally, but the second litter went all over the US so now I'm thinking I need to guarantee to #1 Cover my butt and #2 Back up my dogs. 

Thank you....

Alligsd911@msn.com 

I will send you mine.

SS

I have seen several contracts, some of them used by people who advertise here.   Some favor the breeder to such an extreme and are so long and complicated I would not sign one.   I would suggest keeping it simple and not try to guarantee everything under the sun.   You never know what might pop up even with the best breedings and all your hard work and good care given.    I also think its foolish to pretend to understand all the laws that you'd be involved in and suggest a look over by an attorney to cover that arse.  The cost would be well worth the peace of mind.

JMO

IMO, the most important item in any guarantee/contract is the  part that specifies the venue (county and state) where any court actions must be heard!  It doesn't help to be right/innocent if you have to spend more than its worth to travel to some other state, maybe hire a local attorney, to defend your case!

Stuff like that makes me wonder if I'm cut out to be a breeder. I would've come out for the second dog with a shotgun.