Just seen on another board, not dog related, that a family bought a pup for £800 at the weekend only to find that their daughter is severley allergic to it and so it has to be returned to the breeder. The family are heartbroken but do not have a choice, however the breeder will not refund any money and intends to sell the pup on again. Is this usual practice?

No. Normally if the pup's returned within a week, un'damaged', a full refund would be given.

£800 is a lot to loose, but if the pup has nothing wrong with it, the breeder does not have to give any moneytary return personally I think the breeder is being unreasonable, (perhaps) I certainly would not give a full refund, but would at the minimum offer £600 back, if it were a genuine mistake. The reasons not to give a full refund are as follows:

The pup and the breeder have been unnecessarily messed around, the pup will be very unsettled,
Remember the pup is ready for it's new home now, it is important for socialising that it is placed very quickly,
The breeder has spent time and effort getting to know these people and finding a good home for the pup, (why was an allergy not known of before)
If there was no waiting list, she will have to re-advertise and re-vet people all over again,
She will have to feed, train and socialise this pup for as long as it takes for a new home to be found,
Pups are not handbags to be swopped and brought back when they don't suit, the breeder is proberbly as upset as the people concerned, to offer no money return at all, she properbly must feel compleletly messed around and have other reasons.

Pups that have already been to another home are usually sold for less and less appealing to the general public, hopefully they have not already posted off the transfer of ownership, microchipping etc, all this will need to be re-done too.

Looking at it from the outside it looks extremely unfair, but I have a feeling there is proberbly more to it, over a few weeks, I certainly would not offer a refund as my pups welfare comes first, and I would be really upset, but over two days it seems a little steep, I have a feeling that these people knew there may be a chance of an allergy and did not mention it to the breeder until after they took the pup. ;-) In which case they have messed around with the pups wellbeing and the breeders time and effort. I think this is the reason for no return of any sorts.

This recent thread shows how allergic reactions can be unexpected.

Yip agree, We went through a similar thing in my house.  We have a old cat who is about 13. We have dogs and had dogs of different breeds yet we bought a British short haired cat and my daughter was alergic to it.  It was the silver tip so has a slightly longer coat that say the blue or my old pet cat but whatever the reason we couldnt sort it out. She was also a house cat so was obviously in 24 hours a day. My daughter was very asthmatic when it was around. 

I just went through this myself when I became allergic to my new puppy. I didn't ask for, or expect a refund. Contract stated if I couldn't keep her I was to return her at my own expense and I just wanted her to still be able to find a new home. However the breeder did give me a full refund and wouldn't even accept some money to pay for advertising, inconvenience etc. The only thing she would take was the £40 bag of food I bought. Needless to say an enormous thank you basket is on its way as that was a very generous thing for her to do.

Edited to add, she had only been with me for 3 days and none of the transfer paperwork or even the free insurance had been sent off yet.

And carrington, I have a dog that I'm not allergic to, spent loads of time with the breed and the litter with no problems. It was completely unexpected and heartbreaking. I didn't consider her to be a handbag at all, quite the contrary. What kind of life does a puppy have when the people it lives with can't touch it.

Yes, I agree it is a terrible thing to be allergic to a pup and not know it is there, the reason for my sceptisism is as follows, and I am thinking perhaps the same thing could have happend.

My pups are generally sold via a waiting list, I had a couple contact me immediately after my last litter, they were perfect for one of my pups, lived near the beach, had woodland and countryside all around their home, wife was a stay at home mum to a 9 & 11 year old they fitted all my critera.

I got to know these people over the next year, the couple came to see my girl and the stud I would be using, checked out all my paperwork and were very apt on making sure all the health checks and everything were up to date on both dogs, everything ran very smoothly. We were over their part of the country one weekend and when I mentioned it we were invited to their home, met their children, lovely well behaved respectful children, I had no worries whatsoever.

The puppies arrived, I sent weekly updates and photo's, and obviously turned many people away who went on to get other pups.

Collection day arrived.............. the family turned up, went through all the paperwork, children loved the pup, then what happens, the girl starts to sneeze, "Oh No says the wife, we weren't sure, but our daughter is allergic to horses and cats, we didn't know whether she would be allergic to dogs or not, but it looks as though she is."

Well, if you could have seen my face, it must have dropped to the floor, not once in the past year had it ever been mentioned that the daughter had any allergies at all, of course they could not take the pup, they had wasted my time and the pups time, I can't tell you how angry I was. If I could have spit blood I would have.

My pup now had no home, other people on my waiting list had bought other pups, I had been let down in every way possible and a little honesty would have avoided everything.

I did eventually find a very good home for my pup, but these people could quite easily have taken my pup and brought her back a few days/weeks later, if the daughter had not been there for collection and began sneezing infront of me. I certainly would not have wanted to give them a full refund for doing this to myself and my pup, which is why I perhaps am in sympathy with this breeder, there are always two sides to a story.

I feel that if a full refund isn't offered after so short a time (obviously as time goes by the refund would be less) there's a risk the new owners would simply sell the pup on to recoup some of their financial loss; then the breeder's lost contact with the pup whose well-being they're supposed to be so careful of.

As a breeder my attitude would be "Stuff the money, I want the pup back" - I'd rather not take the chance! ;)

Yes I agree with that, I would want my pup back at any cost,even if I had to give all the money back to get it, not to offer anything out of the £800 paid is very strange and unusual, it is quite unbelievable to do that, which makes me wonder why.

Ditto JG.  I think it is a poor money orientated breeder that would hesitate.

Interesting tale Carrington.    I always insist on meeting the whole family before putting anyone on my waiting list.  If they appear for the odd puppy that is left, then again I ask them all to come and spend a good couple of hours before agreeing letting the puppy go.  Nothing is foolproof but I do as much as I can.

It was after one of these long family meetings that it was discovered that a 10 year old boy had a problem with streaming, swollen eyes and a rash on his face and arms.  His breathing was also affected.  The whole family were so keen on having a dog in the family that they did their own research, found Petal Cleanse, which they used on a friend's dog and by the time they were due to collect their puppy, they had an answer to their problem.  They now have 2 hairy dogs! :)

In over 20 years I have had one puppy returned after 2 days because of the wife's allergy.  I took the puppy back and gave a full refund.  When I rang a week after to see if the wife was OK, the husband told me that in fact she couldn't cope with the puppy and didn't realise how much attention it would need, even thought I'd explained very clearly what would be required.  I suspect this is the case with many of the allergies if the people have spent a good amount of time with the dogs before taking a puppy home.

I agree JG.  Morally I would feel no obligation to refund anything if the problem was with the owners and not my puppy.  But on the other hand I wouldn't want my puppy to be in a home where it wasn't wanted, whatever the reason, and so would refund in order to get it back. :)

Yes Val, it is a lesson I learnt the hard way, I always now insist on meeting all the family unit to make sure there are no immediate allergies, that way if any occur they would get my full sympathy and not my wrath at being dishonest. ;-)

Just to update this, the pup has been returned to the breeder who has given a partial refund. The family had no idea beforehand that their daughter suffered from any allergies whatsoever, it was completely out of the blue. They are devastated that they had to return the pup. 

In that case the family have my full and utmost sympathy, it is upsetting all round.  I hope that the breeder did give them at least £600 it would be grossly unfair to have given anything less.

Allergies can just develop unexpectedly too.  My sister, after a lifetime of cats, became allergic to them for a period of about 15 years and now is much better.  Nobody has any idea why.  Fortunately for the cat she just had to avoid petting and snuggling with it.  And a friend's sister discovered she was allergic to all sorts of natural and synthetic fibres just after getting married and furnishing their new house.  They had to exchange all their upholstered furniture and buy leather, which was much more expensive.

I think that a partial refund is a good compromise. If I were a buyer in similar circumstances I would be happy with that, and be prepared to lose some money. Ok so its not the familys fault, but its not the breeders either. Not every situation has "fault". Just bad luck, split the difference and move on.