I have just emailed a woman who bought one of my puppies 2 weeks ago to see how she has settled in, to my horror and dismay she emailed me back saying 'so sorry, but we no longer have her as our other dog did not take to her, but don't worry shes gone to a home with a little girl that will love her to pieces'. I am totally livid. I always tell people that if there are any problems or if they can loger keep the dog, to contact me and i will take it back or buy it back from them if they want money back. I have still got the microchip papers for this pup, but im not sending them to anyone as i don't even know where she is.

I have mailed her back asking where she has gone and why she didn't contact me, but she has not replied. I am upset, i have tried calling her but shes not answering. I don't know what to do. Any advice would be apprieciated. What would you do if it was one of your pups?

I'd certainly be very angry and upset

Why not give yourself time to calm down a little and if the original owners are within easy travelling distance go and visit in a few days :)   Failing that telephone them - but keep your head & keep your cool ;)

Explain rationally, calmly and politely to them that you would have preferred to have been advised of any issues and certainly been happy to take the puppy back.   Then explain why you are anxious to know of it's whereabouts and keep track of the puppy.

It's a difficult situation and you may have to smile through gritted teeth but worth it if you can find out exactly who now has the puppy and hopefully set your mind at rest about it's future and also perhaps befriend the new owners.

HTH, Teri 

I have tried phoning, but she obviously knows it's me and won't answer. She is only 20 minutes from me so i will give her a bell. Im trying to keep calm, but it's just so annoying and rude! Especially when they knew i'd take her back or buy her back. It seems that people don't realise that some breeders do care. I don't even know how long she has been in her 'newer' home. Shes only 10 weeks and already in another home i just want to know where! They are lurchers, so nothing to do with kc, the microchip is the only thing i rely on to keep track of them.

Just try and give yourself time to calm down - easier said than done of course ;)  The more relaxed and friendly you can be in this situation the better - if you make them feel as though they're being told off or intimidated then they'll almost certainly clam up and not give you the time of day.

It is probably best to leave it a couple of days and then try and re-establish communications.  I feel so bad for you as I'd be devastated if it happened to a pup I'd bred but unfortunately not everyone appreciates how much love, care and devotion goes into raising a litter  :(

I hope it works out and you establish where your puppy is and are able to make friends with the new owners or, if necessary, get your puppy back.

Best wishes and please update.
Teri

Exactly the same happened to me last year, and sadly there was nothing I could do, even though they signed the contract stating they would bring the pup/dog back at any time if they could no longer keep her.

They told me they had lost the piece of paper with the new owners details on, but would send them on as soon as they heard anything back, which they apparently still haven't, 14 months later!!!!

The KC did say that the change of ownership had gone through, so I wrote a letter to the new owners and sent it to the KC who in turn sent it on to the now owners, but sadly they never replied :(

Legally, I don't think there is anything you can do.  The law sees puppies/dogs as property, and you sold her to this woman.  So she is then this woman's property to do what she wants with - including selling her on.

So, I think you have to be very nicey nicey and polite when you make your points about what the woman should have done (contact you).  If you come on too strong, she will just not reply and you lose in every way.  Your only hope is to preserve contact with her.

If she signed a contract with you, to bring her back if anything didn't go well, then you can mention this.  You can also use the fact that you have the microchip papers (and do you have the KC papers - even better?) as a bargaining tool??

I know i can't do anything legally, but it's just so upsetting. They aren't kc reg, so it's just chip papers.

Its gutting and the discomfort it causes doesn't go away.  I know, it happened to one of mine.  You can only hope and pray that the new home is a good one.

The one thing that strikes me is that should the Vet scan this puppy when giving the innoculations, then technically this puppy is still yours.  I wonder if it is worth contacting the local Vets to see would they scan for a microchipped lurcher when they come in?  Then the microchip company will have to contact you.

This is awful,I'd be very upset if this happened to me.

I can't understand that within 2 weeks of taking the pup home they had passed the pup on,they obviously did not try very hard to get the 2 dogs getting on together. Was this an impulse buy do you think? I am at present spending time getting my Mums dachsie to accept my new dachsie pup, it has been 6 weeks today and has required alot of work on my part,I think we are finally there.

I hope you at least find out where this pup went. Good Luck. As already said if he is scanned your name will come up and the new owners will have to explain why the dogs details are in someone elses name.

Keep us updated.

Rhona

Unfortunately Alison the microchip as with the KC papers even in your name do not actually constitute ownership, as pups/dogs can always be sold on. Only a court of law can do that. I think it may be seen as wasting the vet and micro comps time as the dog is not stolen so they would have no right to do that I'm afraid.

I am not suggesting for one minute that it constitutes ownership, but the microchip company would have to contact the registered owner of the dog to see if it had been stolen, therefore at least zoiangel would be able to find out where the dog had gone and then maybe follow this through.

Not necessarily. If an animal's rehomed through a welfare scheme the database may be updated without contacting the original owner, if so requested by the welfare organisation.

Luckily this pup was privately rehomed so zoiangel might be contacted. Fingers crossed.

Going by the BRS and my own puppy buyers who have all researched getting a puppy, yet only about half of them bother to transfer the ownership with the kennel club (people who just give the KC Insurance find more owners transferring into their ownership as it is part of the conditions of the Insurance), so the chances of the new owners checking for a chip and then getting in touch with the chip manufacturers to find their database and transfer the ownership details are quite small.

I have a friend who got a 'rescue' direct from the breeder that had got it back from the woman she had sold it to.  Then a court case ensued as the owner wanted her back!. Eventually the owner agreed to let the breeder rehome her. However they had a great problem over the microchip as the microchip company would not change the details without the owner consenting to the change.  They said that they would have contacted the original owner if the dog was found straying

The one thing that strikes me is that should the Vet scan this puppy when giving the innoculations, then technically this puppy is still yours

The microchip is not proof of ownership of the puppy & the vet doesn't have to notify the registered owner(neither do the chip company)this is one of the problems with using chips to"ID"dogs etc

By yours I meant that the dog is registered to the owner of the microchip registration therefore the reply above does make sense.

Radical idea here: did the owners sign ANYTHING to say they bought the poup? Did YOU sign anything? Receipt, contract?

I'm thinking here of the case of Sparky the Papillon last year who was stolen and gone for over a year but returned to his owner when a vet scanned him and found he was listed as stolen.

Mod Edited

This is the only thing that keeps me sane, hoping and praying my pup went on to a nicer home with a lovely new family

Try putting an ad in the local paper (I presume the pup will still be fairly local), maybe indicating that you have important information for the new owners? Good luck.

Can you not try ringing froma different phone number, say a mobile or neighbours phone? that way she won't automatically know it is you!! or maybe be a bit naughty and report her stolen as you have the paper work for the chip... i take it the chip paperwork never got transferred into the original owners name?  I don't know if any of that is possible

Emz77 you are so naughty as already stated microchip is not proof of ownership.

*Now turn around whilst I handcuff you, you naughty girl* :-D

I truly feel for you, I would be so upset myself, but you know there is nothing legally you can do though, you had no contracts signed to say they could not re-home without your prior knowledge and if you go around this persons house she can have you for harrassment, you just need to back off and sadly let it go.

I would be absolutely devastated too, and have to admit if I don't hear from my pups owners for a long time I am checking all ad sites to see if the pups have been advertised, it's all part of being a breeder, silly woman though she didn't even give the pup a chance to settle in with the older dog. I'm really sorry for you and truly understand your feelings, but you are powerless, have a good scream and hope that your pup really has a happy home now.

its a terrible situation to be in you have to keep calm
I would sit down and write an email to the origanal owner explaining that your only concern is the future welfare of the puppy and ask them if they would please put you in contact with the new owner so you can offer them any support they need to make this new home work.
I had a awful situation some years ago when a lady took one of my litter she stayed in touch for 3 months then stopped replying to my emails i finaly managed to get her on the phone some 4 months later only to find out the puppy was in a training kennel as they had seperated and she was luiving in a flat I ended up with a nine month puppy back who was hardly socialised and not house trained, after  several weeks of training we manged to find her a lovely new home, I was so upset that she didnt contact me months earlier and speared the puppy a poor start to life

Hopefully your pup is in a good home where she is loved and well cared for. We have the same thing in reverse having got a 10 week old Golden Retriever pup from the Dogs Trust. The people who bought him originally didn't take him back to the breeder - we have  tried to trace his breeder ourselves to inform them of his change of home but without luck.
He is a much loved member of our family and although it is devastating for you perhaps your pup is in a good home now - it can happen as we know ourselves.

Good luck with tracing the new owners

Maybe if this lady doesn't want to give you the details of the new owners you could ask her to pass on your details to them asking the new owners to contact you direct. A couple of months ago I took on a 4 month old pup. The owners had not contacted the breeder and had no intention of doing so, when I got all his details I rang the breeder myself so that she knew where he was and that he was ok. Hopefully you will be able to make contact some way so as to see for yourself your pup is alright. I am keeping my fingers crossed that it works out for you.
jane

I still have got no reply whatsoever. I just want to cry, she was one of my favourate pups aswell. It's horrible, it's all the what if's. She seemed a very nice woman, she was keeping the name i had already given the pup, bought a everything it needed etc. She said she will be a much loved family pet and her dog aparently loved other dogs all sizes, she couldn't have tried even near hard enough. One of her littermates has gone to a home with an older dog who hated it at first, she is fine now. I am not going to stop worrying until i find out where she is. It's so unkind to breeders, the pups are part of my much loved dogs, their extended family, i will be mortified if something horrible happens to her. The chip papers are still in my name and they will remain that way until i find out who has her, how ever long that may take.

How awful for you! Keep trying (calmly!) to explain to the original owners that for you, it's like not knowing where one of your children has got to, and that you only want the new contact details so you can keep in touch. What a terrible thing - hopefully she has indeed gone to a lovely new home with more sensible caring owners. :-(

Worst nightmare :(  Any updates?

I have sent a really nice calm email explaining why i need to know where she is, but still no reply and still not answering phone even using someone elses number, she is being really rude i think. I will keep on persevering, i have calmed down alot, i suppose it's something i will have to live with, still new owners can't change chip details as i have paperwork.

a horrible experience and i can totally understand your feelings zoiangel. however, i've no doubt that the woman in question will remain "incommunicado" since she clearly doesn't want to get in touch with you. not just because she won't want to face up to her failure to provide the pup with the good home she promised, but also provide an explanation about why she didn't bring her back to you. while i'm disgusted by her behaviour in passing the pup on, there are very few people who will voluntarily subject themselves to a telling-off no matter how well deserved and this woman certainly doesn't sound as if facing up to reality is her strongest point!

if you are only 20 minutes away is there any chance of you meeting her accidentally?

Well i was expecting her to be the type to reply straight away, but never mind humans for you. Some people just need to be taught manners. I live in a village that's 20 minutes from the town, so i have to drive to get there and then find her house, so not very easy to just accidentally meet her, i would just love to turn up at her house and have a word face to face but i don't want to have police on my back for harrassment, for demanding to know where her 'personal belonging' has gone.

not very easy to just accidentally meet her

I often meet loads of people I know at the market town half an hours drive from where I live in fact some people I wouldn't really see at all unless we accidentally met there :D :D :D ;) ;) 

You could try lurking in her local supermarkets, she's got to shop sometime :D :p :D :p