Hi all.

We had a litter of pups. All healthy and vet checked.
We kept one and sold 6.
On Friday one of the new owners email ed me and said her pup was in the hospital with metaphyseal orthopedic y.
So roll on to today.... I have taken the puppy back. I gave her £800 (she paid 950 - 150 was a deposit) she had 5 weeks insurance, so can claim her £1100 bill back.
She wants me to pay back the 150 deposit as she has to pay the excess.

The way she described the puppy was that it could not move and was very very sick.... He is in the crate at the moment as I need to rest him but the treatment he has been given seems to be working well. I am taking him to my vets on Wednesday as this is what was advised when I called her vet. She has a young child who kept touching the puppy and was rough housing with him. So not sure if this could have been a contributing factor.
She has changed his papers and chip to her name.
What I want to know is would you give her the £150 back?? What are you thoughts on this.

Btw this is my first and last litter I will breed.

How long have they had the pup?

If problem diagnosed soon after purchase I'd be paying the whole purchase price.

I read more and more of this happening today (people returning pups, wanting money back etc etc) breeding is not so enjoyable today like it was years ago, its now more 'stressful' than ever I would say.

Hope everything works out well for all concerned, especially puppy.

That's why fewer and fewer people want to do it, properly that is.

The ones who don't care what they produce and take no responsibility once they bank the money quite happily carry on, and can often take the cost of refund or replace quite easily due to volume production.

The lower volume fly by nights can rarely be found to answer to anything.

It was only one week later. You think I should refund the £150?

Yes, the deposit was surely to hold a healthy pup for the buyers.

If there really is no problem or one easily resolved you can go on to sell the pup.

If it is going to be an issue that affects it's suitability as a pet, or is going to be life altering then find keep yourself or find a good home that is willing to have the pup with the issues if they are , and he will have good quality of life.

If not then a hard decision as to what his potential life will be like needs to be made.

The puppy is my main priority right now. I'm hoping he can be rehomed at a later point in time.
I have my vets appointment on Wednesday morning so will get the second opinion then.
The thing is she couldn't wait to bring him back..... Its really quite sad..... But I wouldn't feel happy staying there so glad he is back.

I think it can come in cycles until they stop growing. Or it may be a case this is the only time he has it.

What exactly is it, not Panosteitis, which is normally later and self limiting.

That's why fewer and fewer people want to do it

I agree Barbera, breeding is just too stressful these days.

Its when the growth plates on the long bones grow too quickly.
Once he stops growing he will no longer be at risk of having a bout of it. Roughly at 9 to 10 months
I will wait to see what my vet says. The other vet is sending through the xrays for her to view.
He was on a farm so may have picked up something there?

> He was on a farm so may have picked up something there?

That would not cause his bones to grow too fast, and even if he was given supplements/unbalanced diet, it would not cause and issue in a week.

Just good you got him back so soon.

give her the £150 once the paperwork has been signed and in your hands to change him back into your ownership

Is this the condition  ? https://www.vetstream.com/treat/canis/diseases/metaphyseal-osteopathy

Agree with Weimed - ask for all paperwork to be signed over and put back in your name before you send back the deposit. Also, will the insurance still cover him if it is put back in your name?

As they have only had him a week it is unlikely his growing too quickly is down to them so I would give back all of the money and wait to hear back from you own vet before considering a new home for him. If you decide to keep him yourselves, you may need to rethink the other pup you chose to keep....

I've not read all your answers, but the £150 'deposit' is in effect, a part-payment of the whole and in order to protect my reputation, especially as I have the puppy back and if it's only been out there for a short time, I'd pay the full cost of the puppy back.    Hopefully once well again, you'll be able to find an other home for him = for a sum of money.    You do need to have the paperwork, signed back into your name if the new owners have already activated the Transfer with the KC perhaps before making a refund.

Get the paperwork back and give her a full refund, sometimes it's just better to drawn a line under it and move on,  fingers crossed the puppy has no further issues and goes on to a nice home in due course.

Yes. That is the condition he has been diagnosed with. But will get the second opinion tomorrow from my vet.

As she had the 5 weeks of insurance and has put a claim in will she still get this if I take back ownership? I am going to call the kc and see if this will affect her claim. I just want puppy to get well and yo a loving home.

We have formed a bond with the puppy we kept but may have to give him up as we cannot keep both. The health and wellbeing of the puppies is my key focus at the moment so getting the poorly one healthy is priority at the moment.

I called the insurance and she can still claim back Which is good.

I have asked her to transfer ownership then I will refund the £150. This seems fair to me.

> The thing is she couldn't wait to bring him back..... Its really quite sad.....

Playing devil's advocate, it could be that they were not expecting to have to look after (both emotionally and financially) a sick puppy and they wanted to return him before they bonded with him even more - especially if they had children.

Just a quick update. The buyer transferred ownership back to me. So I have refunded her £150.

Puppy is doing really well. No long term damage. Just need to find the poor little mite a loving forever home

Not heard a peep from her to say she received the money.... Or how puppy is doing....

I'm justi drawing a line now.

> Not heard a peep from her to say she received the money.... Or how puppy is doing....

Sometimes after a traumatic and upsetting experience, some people just want to move on, cut contact and leave it completely behind.  Raine's original owners did this when they handed her over to me.  They were clearly absolutely devastated - neither of them could physically speak by the time it came to leaving with Rai and they'd both been in tears throughout the time I was there picking her and her stuff up - but they've never asked after her nor wanted to keep any communication channel open.  It was such a hard experience for them to have her turn on them and then have to give her up that they obviously just wanted to leave it far, far behind them and they never got another dog, as far as I know.

Hi and sorry for jumping in on the act. I personally think you should refund the money because 1, they had the pup such a short length of time and it wasnt anything caused by them as to why the puppy got sick. 2, they have obviously had an awful time with the puppy and a lot of upset and worry. This is what i personally would do as a breeder as to me my good name as a responsible breeder is worth a lot more to me than a few pound. I hope the puppy get back to full health soon and best of luck to you both.

Yes thats what i was thinking

If you sent the refund by cheque, a cashed cheque should be all the proof of receipt you need.   If you sent cash, which I'd never have done btw, you should have had some acknowledgement much as they are probably upset over all of this or sent the cash with a receipt to be signed.  But at least you have the puppy back, and the paperwork so that's probably as good as it gets really.