Hi everyone, this is my first ever post so please be nice
I used a stud dog for my bitch and this was done via artificial insemination.  I was there when the sperm was collected from the stud and watched the insemination process, although the stud owner used a different method to the iv tube type...the owner said it was a new method and she was first in uk to use it...it looked like a human vibrator which was inserted in my bitch and pumped up to resemble the males swollen penis and she attached the syringe to this proceeded to insert the sperm.  This was done on two occasions 48 hours apart.  I paid the £400 at the first AI as this is what the breeder stated.   

Sadly after having a ultrasound my bitch did not have any pups.  I notified the breeder and she said she was gutted.  I have stayed in contact with the breeder and last week we thought my bitch was again coming into season so i contacted the stud owner letting her know but I received a text message back stating that the stud was put to sleep and that as she owed me a mating that i could use a friends dog instead.  I am not happy with this as the friends dog is not the colour i wanted to mate my bitch with and not to the same standard to which i wanted for a mating.

Can anyone advise where i stand on this can i refuse the offer of the friends stud use? 
Can i insist on my money back or at least part of it, seeing as the stud I originally used and wanted has been put to sleep? 
It just seems a bit strange to me as he seemed very very healthy (i know looks can deceive), they insisted he was very very healthy.  And the fact that nothing was mentioned to me sooner, seeing as we chatted often via text!

I did not have a written contract but it was a verbal with witnesses present and i have quiet a bit in text which states use of the stud and recently stating i am owed a mating seeing as the last did not take.  The stud owner even went as far as saying to me verbally on the phone that she guaranteed she would take next time. 

Any help appreciated

I doubt you could get a refund, unless there was an agreement what would happen if the male was not avaible for her next season. What exactly was the agreement. If a free maiting if no pregnancy they could argue they have fulfilled that by offering you one with this new male.
Your best bet is to contact a solicitor who is experienced in dog matters like Trevor Cooper and see where you stand.

Sounds simmaler to a Mavic ai catheter but not quite the same. A Mavic is a catheter tube that had a bit near the end that can be inflated to mimic a more natural maiting.

Well I totally get why you don't want to just use this other male her friend happens to have.  I mean, we all spend ages selecting the best stud dog - it's unlikely the next one along is going to be suitable in terms of COI, traits you want, fully health tested etc etc etc. 

Stud dog contracts in the UK are a bit ad hoc and I'm not sure what to do about that.  I mean, I get a receipt with the total paid on it and often it also says 'free return if no puppies' on the receipt.  But it doesn't go into detail about what happens in situations like this but as bitch owners, I don't know what we can do about it - the stud owners seem to set the terms. 

Do you even have anything in writing which says 'free return if no puppies'? Or a receipt?  Do you have anything in writing at all, including emails? 

I think the best thing might be for you to negotiate some kind of partial refund from her if possible.  When you pay for a stud service, you pay for the entire thing - the stud owner's time, management of the breeding, the fact the male is out of action for a day either side of your breeding and unavailable to other females etc.  And she has still given you all that - so I don't think a full refund is in order, as you need to reflect that she did what she could to achieve a pregnancy. 

But you could try to negotiate a partial refund, given the situation.  However I think this would probably be down to appealing to her sense of fairness and not anything she is bound by law to do....

Was the dog a proven sire? Had he sired pups before? If so then the stud fee is fair, any mating is a lot of work, time and effort, and you visited twice. It's just really unfortunate that there were no pups and now no opportunity to try again.

Just out of interest what percentage roughly is the stud fee compared to average puppy prices? I'm thinking if it was AI rather than a natural mating it may be something like a bulldog? In that case the stud fee was probably a 5th of the puppy price and perfectly fair for the stud dog owners time and expertise I think.

I agree with onetwothreefour. You paid for a service that you received so a full refund would not be fair. The trouble with AI is that it could easily be done on the wrong day if the bitch hasn't been tested to see when she was ovulating - was she? (Personally I have never bothered with testing, and I've never had a bitch miss either, I just rely on the stud dog knowing when the timing is right.) Obviously it's bothersome that the dog died, but he could presumably have had an accident or anything else happen. If he got ill with something serious suddenly then you may have had a lucky escape if it may have been genetic and was not tested for. If he'd had the relevant tests then the owner couldn't have forseen that he'd die. I assume he was proven? Has your bitch had pups before so you know that she is fertile? £400 seems like a very cheap stud fee so I think the dog owner have done what they reasonably could under the circumstances. (Although saying they would guarantee the next lot of AI would result in pups seems a bit optimistic - nothing can be guaranteed.)

I know in general that people say these contracts are 'not worth the paper they are written on' but if push comes to shove, at least they show intent and I always provided a Stud Contract and a Sale Contract with my doggie-transactions, setting out the relevant things that needed to be covered.  However, I also wanted a stud fee at the time of the mating - assuming the dog was proven at the time.  If it had applied, I would have waived payment until there was a litter on the ground with an unproven male.  For me, you pay for the Service.    I'd not be happy to be offered a dog I'd not chosen (friends dog) in lieu of a repeat from the one I'd chosen to use.

Why was A1 needed in that instance? 

As for his cost - was a time when the cost of a Stud service was the cost of one puppy.... but this doesn't seem to be the case in my breed these days.