Help? - Page 1

Find myself with a pedigree GSD 11 months old. Diagnosed with Severe Hip Dysplasia. Contacted Breeder who told me to consult our signed contract. Replacement dog only. One would think with the severity of the disease and the young age of the dog that a 'reputable & popular breeder' would 'in good faith' offer the purchase price back to cover years of $$ vet bills.

What does cyberworld think?

Needless to say that "cyberworld" says this is pretty much the way the cookie crumbles with most contracts.  Some breeders offer 1/2 off of a replacement puppy if you elect to keep the one you have as well.  Other's will only offer a replacement if you return the displastic one (IMO very very poor ethics), then some of the breeders will go above and beyond and may offer to give a refund upon return of the dog or even let you keep it.  Of course they will mostly all require your vet to verify the dogs condition and it's severity prior to making a determination as to how they'll honor their contract.

So sorry to hear about your situation.  Do you not want a replacement from the breeder or is the deal you get a pup in exchange for the one you have?  I often wondered how one would handle such a situation if I were the breeder where all parties felt it was treated fairly?  Not everyone wants another dog and I myself would be too attached to return the first one anyways....there's no easy solution.

It really sucks your dog was diagnosed with hip dysplasia.  Unfortunately most all of us have too much experience with HD. These days there is a lot you can do to keep your dog pain free.  Keeping the dog ultra thin, no jumping, lots of swimming and uphill walking (once she is finished growing) will help a lot.  There are many vitamins and supplements you can give her that will help.  It's  a really good thing you discovered it while she is young.   Hopefully she will be able to live a long, pain free life. 

If the dog is really bad and in a lot of pain now, you may have to take a long hard look at her quality of life.  I did a hip replacement on a 10 year old dog and he had a lot of good years left in him, but it's not the right thing for all dogs or owners.

That said,  was your contract ambiguous or unclear?  Did the breeder say something that conflicted  from the written guarantee when you bought your puppy?  Given the prevalence of this disease, I don't really understand why someone would buy a puppy from someone if they didn't like the terms of the contract. 

Sometimes genetics just throws you a bad apple. If it was I would nueter/spay, and give the dog as much as I can for the rest of it's life. Make sure to keep the dog thin, as extra weight with bad hips is not a good thing. That is what I think.

I meant to say If it was up to me, I would....ect

But if you dont have room/time for the pup I'd try to place the dog with a family home and try to educate them on dysplasia.  I hope this helps.

Yes, have learned a lesson. Never again will I take the breeders word at face value, which is unfortunate for all of the decent & upstanding breeders out there.  It's a shame it has to be that way. Our past breeder  ran his business above board and with integreity.  His word was better than any contract.  Times have changed, I guess some ruthless people will do anything for that almighty dollar. Contract or no contract, bad breeders ''upscale puppy mill or not' soon find themselves out of business.  No matter how great they 'think' they are, they will inevitably step on someone who can and will go the distance for the sake of justice.

Interesting re: the hip replacement, how long was the recovery period ? 

It is a tragic situation.  These animals soon become your family. A solution I do have.

Gotcha :)

mason,im sorry to hear your situation as I know it all to well.If you can get a replacement dog then consider yourself lucky.I was promised a replacement dog from a  big show breeder women in Abotsford  BC Canada and then she renegged when i was honest enough to tell her that i had no choice but to put the dog down at 1 year old due to HD and severe temperment problems.If you can get another dog then do so and remember my experiance and if you do something make sure you get everything in writing BEFORE you do anything.Hopefully you will get a chance to read this before some of these new moderators that are friends with that breeder remove my post or complain to Oli once they read it.Yes there are a couple on this site that have dogs from her and praise her until it happens to them.Hopefully i will get to post her actuall name and kennel name once i get some more things cleared legally .Good luck with your situation mason and i hope your little guy is not in too much pain.

It depends on if you wanted both your money back and a replacement.  One or the other sounds resonable to me but not both.  If the contract stated replacement only you were aware up front.  For either option I would want to see x-rays, the vets report, and an OFA report. It does sound like the breeder offered to replace so is not leaving you out hanging with no options.  I do not see how that is wrong on the breeders part in any way.

No, I'm not heartless and I do hope the young dog can live a happy life.  Many do for many years, I had a GSD mix that was dignosed with HD at 2-years, she lived to be 14 with very few problems.