Hi everyone, hope you can help. We bought our new puppy Lola yesterday, whilst at the breeders we failed to noticed she had a limp and turns her foot outwards when she walks. We realised this as soon as we got ther home, we took her to the vet and he said it could be a developmental problem and may right itself or she may need an op! otherwise she was healty. Would I be in my rights to ring the breeder and tell him, We paid £800 for her and would probably not have paid that much if we had known she was limping, she is already part of the family and we love her to bits already, could we ask for some of the money back? The breeder said he did'nt want to put her on the floor because of germs etc, but we think he knew she was limping and us being inexperienced took him at his word.  Many thanks in advance 

Hi Vickyg,

If I was you, I would be back onto the breeder immediately, you are perfectly within your rights. Tell him what the vet said and ask if this is a problem that he was aware of. I think I know what his answer to this will be.

Obviously, you need to do it in a polite way and ask what his suggestions are. Unfortunately, it is easy to get carried away when you get a new puppy,especially if it is your first or second one and I bet that a lot of us have not asked the questions that we wanted to, or had a proper look at the puppy in its enviroment. Did you see the mother and litter mates?

As far as the money is concerned, its a difficult one, I think that you will just have to gauge the breeders reaction when you are speaking to him and perhaps mention that considering you may have to pay for an operation you feel that you would like some financial input, wheather he gives you some of the money back that you paid originally or contributes to the medical costs. Presumably you have had to pay for a vet consultation already, you could also point this out to him.

I have never had a breeder say they do not want to put a puppy down on the floor because of germs before. Was it at his home? Even if, in an outside kennel/run, puppies normally run around with their litter mates and mother, in my experience and they get a certain amount of immunity to germs from mums milk.

I have a dog whose paw turns out, but I didn't get her from a puppy and my vets view on it is that it's congenital. If it had been operated on when she was a lot younger it may/may not have been a success. But thankfully it has never caused her any problems, she has adapted to it.

I really hope that it all goes well for you, and let us know what the breeder said. Good luck :)

Many thanks for the advice hairypooch, my husband is going to ring him, The pups were seperated from the mum, she was outside in a run, he had brought all the pups in before we arrived, (2 litters, Lola and a male and a new set) we did ask to see mum and she seemed ok, I do believe he knew about her leg otherwise he would have put her on the floor for us to see her! luckily the vet did'nt charge us for the consultation, he said it was a 'new puppy check' so there was no charge but of course there will be should her leg get any worse.  I'ts just a bit off putting, him knowing about her leg and not saying anything and blatantly lying about germs on the floor and charging us the full price, I'm sure somebody else with a bit more 'know' would not have bought her. Anyway I'm hoping for a fair outcome, Lola is truly worth every penny either way I will let you know how we get on.  Many thanks again
Vickyg

Hi Vickyg,

You said,

<<<< I,m sure somebody else with a bit more "know" would not have bought her >>>>>>>>>>

DO NOT beat yourself up over this. Many years ago, I too was very naive, I was very keen on getting a GSD, I stupidly went and bought from the first person that I called that had puppies, travelled all the way over to the other side of Surrey from Kent on a very rainy Saturday night, when I got there, I am ashamed to say, he put us in a shed and then bought 1 puppy out to us and said "this is the only bitch I've got" take it or leave it......so we took her! And I did live to regret it, as subsequently, I found out that he was a puppy farmer!!! He was fairly recently featured on BBC programme. I parted with a lot of money and the dog had lots of problems to say the least. It broke my heart and had a disasterous outcome.

I am in NO WAY saying that this is, or will be the situation with you, it' totally different, I am just saying that  when we know no better we do tend to be somewhat blinkered. You learn with experience, good luck, once again :)

email me privatley if you like-i know a bit about the  breed, linda  - oh and which  floor did the breeder not want to put the puppy down on, his own ??????    did you find the breeder from one of the clubs ?????

I know this may seem a daft question, but did you see the pups prior to picking Lola up? or was the day you got her the first and only time you saw them? ie If you'd seen them before was she on the floor then?
And were the others running around?
Karen

Ive had pics of the puppy and its wonky leg--- it looks like  Carpal Laxity,   it can happen in pups, ive  had it  with one i bred, i was advised to give it extra calcium , it only lasted a few days, and the puppy in question ended up with a really straight front, im not sure how common it is in the breed , the puppy i had with it was a very heavy boned one, -anyways  its treatable. :)   as for wether the breeder knew or not  :rolleyes:

Glad to hear it Dizzy :) I am sure Vicky is very relieved to hear it.

Karen