I sold a puppy to a family at the beginning of the year, 8 months later i was sent an email asking if i could pick the dog up now as it was no longer wanted "he required too much love". When i got the dog home he was in a terrible state his coat was very badly matted and he was covered in fleas, he paced up and down my sitting room and really was not the dog i sold, i was heart broken. I was approached by a lady who had had a puppy from me from a previous litter she was looking for another so i mentioned to her i had this dog and told her about his "problems" she came to see him and took him on a trial basis needless to say she fell in love with him and he stayed, however i never sold him for any money as i just wanted hi to be happy and in a well loved home. I have had the previous owners on the phone as they feel they should get a refund of all there money (the dog was 11 months old when i had him back) but i never re sold him, just re homed him they said they will take me yo court if i don't pay but i feel this poor little dog was more important as any money what should i do ? Has anyone else has this problem ? I have had court papers

Hi guest , could you possibly Register with us so that you are able to answer any questions and also so you can reply?

It would be interesting to know what court papers you have received ..what do they actually say? Why didn't the first family ask for a refund when you picked the pup up? Also , did they sign any sort of agreement when you originally sold them a puppy?

Melody :)

I don't think they will have a leg to dtand on as they surenedered the dog voluntarily. It might be an idea to get a letter from his new owners to confirm that they aquired the dog as a rescue, and with the issues he had would not have considered buying him, and confirming that no money has changed hands.

You did exactly what I do with returned dogs, as I feel that I cannot in concience resell a dog that I have not had the sole care of. Selling a puppy you know what the pups experiences are, and it has had no damage done to it by inappropriate care or lack of training.

It is rather like buying new and second hand, and if you get a solicitors letter or small claqims action this is how you should refer to it.

You sold a pup (a new item) and were given back an adolescent (A USED AND DAMAGED ONE), with little or no monetar4y value other than a nominal contribution that one would pay to a rescue home.

In other words as with most things the value of a pup depreciates. Breeders who run on puppies hoping for a show winner, do so with the full knowledge that when they sell or rehome that pup over a certain age they will get little or nothing compared to the price they would have expected at 2 to 4 months of age.

Unless the adult dog has aquired additional value, because it has done well in shows, or a working capacity, then it has little likelihood of realising puppy price.

I have now changed my puppy sale agreement to mention that if I take a dog back a refund would not be normally payable, as people willing to rehome are unlikely to expect to pay. Also in future I will have relinquishing owners sign something to say they give up all claims to the dog, (I did this when I rescued a bitch bred by another breeder), in case of any come back.

Unfortunately we learn to do these things only after we have been burnt, as we don't look on selling our pups as a business, and only let pups go to people we feel we can trustr, but unfortunately things go wrong.

I suppose it is an awkeward area like prenuptual agreements.

I am collecting a 6mth old labrador puppy I bred on Sunday, from the people she was sold to. There will be no refund and they will have to sign a document saying they relinquish all claim of the puppy.
This is the first time I have ever had a puppy back but the family have now decided it is not going to work. My pups are sold with a contract which states that the dog should come back to us if they are not wanted, it says nothing about a refund.

Nicolla

Have you a copy of your agreement I could have?

Hi

Yes will email you privately.

Nicolla,

I would be very grateful if you would e-mail me a copy of your contract too, if you don't mind.

Thank you
Charles

Hi Crazicrest

Have tried to mail you 3 times and all have been returned. If you mail me at

devonelitelabs@hotmail.com

I will send by return mail.

But how can people give up so easily on a pup _ 6 months is no time at all . They are still babies and you shouldnt expect them to behave like model dogs .
I really cant understand how poeple can give up so quickly unless its exceptional circumstances
:(
Lel

Your sale agreement/contract sounds similar to mine. We spent a long time trying to get the thing "Contracturally" right. But you can NEVER cover everything.
We had one lady call us up at 9.00pm one night to say the puppy(now 18 months old) we sold her had bitten her mother (circa 60 year old) and could we do something. We dropped everything, made a number of phone calls to see who could look after this dog for a few days and called her back at 9.30 to be told he had already been taken to the vets to be put down.
We were absolutely fizzing mad..... WE had stipulated that we would take the dog back but the mother could bear to be near the dog... it transpires the mother called the dog he came wagging his tail and bounce up at her, she pushed him down got a nip on the finger that drew blood but didn't require stiches and that was enough... We can write pages and pages the contracts will never be bomb proof let alone IDIOT PROOF.
I want to find a clause in our contract about a cooling off period to enable reasonable time to research or invistigation a claim before action is taken... Any one got any good ideas?

When people purchase pups from me they have a 7 day money back guarantee during which time they can return the pup for whatever reason, no questions asked, & get a full refund. They are instructed to have it checked by their own vet at this time.

After this time I will take the pup back at any stage but there is no refund. (Unless there is a proven health problem caused by my own breeding methods).

If an owner cannot reasonably cope with the dog for whatever reason, & things are reaching boiling point, then they should be only too pleased to return it to the breeder for rehoming, safe in the knowledge that the breeder will make every effort to find it a loving suitable home, & the pup will not be dumped in rescue. It is absolutely absurd to expect any money refunded, do they think it's Argos?

The breeder will then have the mammoth task of feeding, advertising the pup, vetting the new home, & possibly worming/flea/vaccination treatment in the mean time. This is presuming the dog can be rehomed straight away & does not have any behavioural problems which need to be sorted out first.

The only time I would charge for an older pup/dog is when I have raised the animal myself & am aware of all its health & behaviour records so that I can relay this info to the new owner.

Once I had a 4 month pup returned after 2 weeks as it chased the new owner's cat & cried during the night!! When I went to collect it, it had been chained up outside & had bruising from the chain on its tummy. The owners were so rude as if it was my fault they hadn't had much sleep for the past few nights. I gave them a refund minus £50 for rehoming expenses after much arguing on their part. It made my blood boil & I was glad just to walk away with my pup back. This pup was eventually donated to the police force.

Please, all you prospective owners of new puppies, take time to consider all of this and don't be in such a rush to 'demand your money back' if things don't work out. Most breeders are not money-making rogues & won't benefit financially from your pup being returned.

Tiggy

It really confuses me how any body can return a puppy for something so petty as it cried in the night and chased the cat !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Do these people do research of any kind before they buy a pup ?
Would they hand over their babies too cos they kept them up all night ?
Thats all part and parcel of being a responsible dog owner . Its so satisfying to watch your puppy grow up and turn into a well behaved and lovable doggy - its a two way relationship where you teach your pup and they educate you in all things doggy .
I'm sorry i dont think i can imagine myself in any situation where i would give up on my pup .
:(
Lel

Sadly no matter how carefully we vet perspective owners ther is always one idiot out there that manges to take on a puppy! thankfully i have never had any of my puppies returned but i have always made a agreement with the owners that if problems should occur they must return the puppy to me and we will rehome it, again i wouldnt give a refund i feel money shouldn`t even be a issue the welfare of the dog is the only concern in a situation like that i should tell them they are lucky you havnt reported them to the RSPCA .
I dont know the cost of one of your puppies but flea treatment, collection, worming ,food and your time can all be ofset against the amount they are asking for leaving them with very little or even owing you. don`t back down on this one you have done nothing wrong i would do the same as you and a lot of other breeders would as well.
It costs very little about £25 i think to take a case to small claims court so it was probally a good gamble for them but i don`t think they have a leg to stand on they probally wont even persue it they are just trying to frighten you. if your still concerned take legal advice but im sure theres nothing they can do
Good luck and let us know the out come people like that should be locked up themselves

My contract states that they only geta full refund if they return the puppy after a vet check within the first 48 hours! After that any price is negotiable if any. I haven't had to pay for any of my returnees yet!
Bec

I would not give a refund, I collected a ten month old staff pup which i bred back from the girl i sold him to`s mother she rang me telling me her daughter was always going awol and leaving her to walk feed and look after him(when she first brought the pup didnt live at home with mum) she expected her mum who has cancer to look after the dog while she was out partying after splitting up with long term boyfriend. she seemed a very nice person when i first spoke to her she visited the pup and rang every week until she picked him up she had had a staff before and she said it had died of old age even brought me photos of him, when her mum phoned and told me she had lied and her first one had gone into rescue i could have died. we fetched him back and he was rehomed no money passed hands i just wanted what was best for him the daughter treatened me with police court case and alsorts i just told her i had spoken to the rescue concerned with her first dog and i have not heard from her since. We always take people at face value and hope to place our dogs with nice people but there is always one that gets through the net

It must be so hard to make the right decision when allocating pups to owners . Like you say Gwen , you had no reason to not believe this girl when she said her dog had died of old age .
I love Staffys and they really do love people too and to hear that it is left on its own while she parties away is sad
Did the pup find another home ok ?

Lel

:-( :-( :-(
Its people like that who give younger people a bad name. Im 21 and my partner is 22 and we are doing all the research we can as we would like to own a Mal at some point. We expect to face a barrage of questions and know that many people will not be happy just because of our age. It wont matter that we are getting engaged later on this year (havn't told the family yet but will do at some point :D )and hopefully married next year.

We have already sorted out holidays and such like (not that we'll probably take any once we have a dog!) but my partners mum will look after it if we do ever go away, her having had dogs all her life, and both my parents are retired and are at home all day. We have sorted this all out before we have started looking for a dog as we know what to expect. If people are put off due to our age then we have no qualms about waiting for a few years. We know the importance of buying from a reputable breeder and so are quite happy to wait.

I just hope that there were more younger people around who felt like this :-(

tell them they can discuss it with the rspca if he came back in that state

There seems to be lots of people saying they wouldnt give a refund - my concern as a breeder would be getting the pup safely back to me and not wether I would be having to part with money, after all, there must be so many people out there that would sell their pup to just about anyone rather than return it to the breeder and get no money back. Sorry but I would be terrified to think where my pups might end up if I was to stipulate no refunds. After all - breeding is not supposed to be about money is it?

i believe we are all as carefull as we can be when placing pups with new owners and always hope for the best in the event thet a pup comes back to me. Its the pup that comes first and everyones cirumstances are different in some cases i would give a full refund, but on this instance she wasent concerned about the dog at all and even treatened to sell him for £500 because he was blue. He hd now been placed with a very nice man who can give him all the love and attention in the world so all well that ends well and i hope i never have to go through that again

Well I collected my pup yesterday and she looks good. Basically the owners have decided they want to travel and do not have the time for the pup. I felt so sorry for their 9 year old daughter.
The pup apparently does not sleep at night and is not toilet trained but she slept all last night and goes to the garden if she wants to go. So no problems.
I am so careful when placing pups but this time it went wrong. I did not give a refund as they were happy to hand over the pup but what they don't know is I would have paid double what they paid for her just to get her back!!!
Just glad to have her home.

Hi well i have finally registered and i went to see a solicitor and she is going to defend the case, they are going to pursue it and take me to small claims court. I still feel i did the best thing for the puppy and re homed him and money never came in to it, i feel they did not have the best interest of the dog at heart, i will keep you all informed as to what happens, and it is nice to know i am not alone but what people who buy these puppies fail to realise is that you are there when they are born in some cases you give them there first breath of life you put them on there mum for the first feed, and love and cherrish them for the first 8 - 12 weeks of there lives they are more precious than any monetry value.

Some poeple just see a dog as a "thing" or a possession - not a living being unfortunately
Good luck
Lel

my friend took in a stray afghan having made exhaustive attempts to trace the owner. the dog was in a terrible matted state. the owner could have traced the dog with minor effort as the police knew exactly where it was. 8 months later the owner came and claimed the dog back. as someone else said, the dog was considered the "property" of the original owner. in law, my friend had to give back the dog, BUT....issued a "bill" for £1500 vet bills, advertising, food, kenelling, grooming etc. funnily enough the owner let my friend keep the dog rather than pay up. In your case i would hint that you may counterclaim for similar...surely you must have incurred costs? travel to collect, vet check, defleaing, dematting? think of as much as you can,and raise a "bill". chances are they are trying it on. If they think you will counterclaim, they will probably drop the matter.

I had not thought about counter claiming, yes i did incure costs with travel, grooming ect and also i know some breeders that charge board if a dog is returned after the initial period, i suppose it is worth thinking about.

Good luck
They dont deserve a penny off you at least the poor little mite is back in safe hands.