Health Guarantee Question - Page 1

Thank you for posting, Kimberly (Kendra).  You have a great reputation as a breeder and it is well known that you stand behind your contract.  I was very sad to hear of Bear's unexpected death.

Quasette (Laurie), although I deeply sympathize with you in the loss of your dog, I must point out that the condition that your dog died from has NOT been proven to be genetic.  In fact, most vets will agree that there are MANY things that can lead to this heart problem - virus exposure (specifically parvo), bacterial infections, taurine deficiencies and other ENVIRONMENTAL factors are just as commonly associated with this condition as attempting to link it to being hereditary.  I know the bloodlines of your dog extremely well and in fact owned most of the dogs in the background of your dog as I have been breeding these lines for well over 20 years and this is the very first case of this disease EVER to be reported. I keep in very good contact with my puppy buyers and if it were genetic, I certainly would have seen it come up in the past 20 years.  The specific condition your dog died from is actually quite rare in dogs.

I co-own your pup's parents, Quasette, and know the sire and dam particularly well.  Sadie, the dam is soon to be 10 years old and one of the healthiest shepherds I have seen, her sire lived to be 12 and has offspring worldwisde and her dam lived to be 13, both with no health problems.  Sadie is still living at Patchwork shepherds and going as strong as ever.  The sire, Doc, is six years old and again, a very healthy dog.  He was not "given away" due to any problem whatsoever.  He was placed on a co-ownership with a local family who offered to give him a home fit for a king, and we could not refuse.  Kim and I still retain stud rights.  His sire is 10 years old and still very healthy as well and has been an extremely popular stud dog with offspring all over the world.  His dam just recently passed away at the age of 10.  I could go on with the health and vitality of yet the grandparents, but I say all this to state that the bloodlines your dog was from ARE good bloodlines.  They were health tested and lived long healthy lives.  These are not bloodlines that were only bred a few times with little background.  These were planned breedings, many repeat breedings and combinations of similiar lines to the two that were put together to produce your pups have been made many times. We have willingly contributed to the White shepherd genetics project, knowledge of all genetic conditions our dogs have produced since the beginning of the creation of that project.  We will continue to do this as we feel this is the best way to find links to conditions that are already proven genetic and those that are only yet speculated to be genetic. 

I think sometimes pet owners do not understand all the hard work and dedication that goes into being a breeder.  You cannot guarantee a dog like a new car.  They are living breathing creatures and when parts fail they cannot simply be replaced with new ones.  The most that any breeder can do is breed healthy animals with correct structure and temperament and hope that all goes well.  When, in the rare case that something does turn out, like a young dog who dies prematurely from a heart condition, be it genetic or not, all a breeder can do is replace the puppy with another.  I don't think it is fair to expect any more. 

Respectfully,
Rhonda McMahan, SureFire Shepherds