I have a question for you all, I know of someone that breeds the same breed as I am looking after and has done for 17 years.  She e-mailed me yesterday to ask what fainting episodes were as she had never heard of them, so checked on champdogs told her what I thought it was and that was that.  She has now emailed me this morning after advice as she sold a dog on the 9th December with full vet check (parents heart and eye tested) all well now she has ben reported to a dodgy site as I call them saying she sold defective product and that they have contacted the KC, She has never had this problem before and up to the end of January this person was in full contact now she hasn't even approached her just the KC and this other site, How would you all go about handling it as I am not an experienced breeder I can't advise So I look to you for knowledge.

Linda

Also how much time do you guarantee your pups for once they leave your homes.  Someone has told me that the KC says 6 months is this correct.

Linda 

My puppy sales agreement says the following:
"Every effort has been made to ensure that your puppy is healthy in body and mind, and is sold subject to it being understood that as a living creature it is impossible to predict how it will continue to develop, especially as regards behaviour over which you will have the principal influence.

Both your puppy's parents have been HIP SCORED with good results; hold a current EYE TEST, and NORMAL KIDNEY blood test.  They are typical examples of the breed, with excellent temperaments.
.................

It is essential that you take your puppy to a Veterinarian in the first few days for a health check, and to make arrangements for inoculations.  Should there be a health problem not attributable to its journey home (travel sickness) or change in food or water (tummy upset), and this renders him/her unfit for sale as a companion, a full refund of the purchase price will be made on production of a Veterinary report."

I am pretty sure the KC says nothing about guarantees, as of course a puppy sold changes dramatically week by week, and is a living being.  I don't see how you can guarantee anything other than it being healthy at the time of purchase and parental health clearances.  I would imagine selling an adult dog would be more predictable.

Guarantee.............I don't believe anyone can guarantee anything about a live animal.

The best any breeder can do, is to do all the health screening available to their breed, only breed from dogs and bitches that pass everything and offer to take any puppy back for any reason whatsoever at any time in it's life.

Guarantee.........never, it's just not possible.

Dawn R.

The outcome really depends on the illness. If tests could have avoided etc. If it is a herditary illness etc

Being 100% honest ( touch wood 100 times it doesn't happen)  BUT if it were me and someone had a sick puppy of any sorts I would ask them to return the puppy for a full refund no questions OR if the person would not return the puppy but I was satisfied the puppy was sick and the person was genuine I would give them a refund and allow them to keep the puppy. A second contract would be signed to say that declining the return of the puppy but accepting the refund immediately frees the breeder of any further contractual responsibility. 

I personally wouldn't risk my reputation for a few hundred pounds.  Others may have a different opinion but that is my take :-)

I know many breeders in the US guarantee their puppies for life(well they do in GSDs)but that is voluntary. If the breeder has done all the required clinical & DNA tests & had the puppies vet checked before they leave, then there is really nothing else they can do. It is not like buying a manufactured object that is made to a specific design & has faulty companents, this is a living animal & withthat comes all the risks.

I personally would offer to take the puppy back & refund the cost in full, if this is refused then a waiver from the owners(re future illnesses etc) & a full refund as Blue has written

I think if this had happened to me, I would be contacting the owner myself to find out exactly what is going, it may be that nothing is even happening, people can say what they like on the Internet, it does not mean they are actually doing it. Only listen to anything from the horses mouth.

The breeder has nothing to fear, if the parents were in good health, if she has no heart defects from the grandparents, great grandparents it is nothing that could ever be predicted, she is not responsible at all.  Morally she can offer to take back the pup, (and to be honest, I'm pretty sure that is what I would do) but it is not a legal requirement.

If the owner has reported the breeder to the KC, I would be contacting the KC myself to put my case across, not due to any worries over the KC doing anything but just to make sure the truth is being told, and that the KC know that the owner has had no contact with her about this so her reputation is still in tact.

Above all else the breeder seems to have done absolutely nothing wrong, so will have no case to answer, it is a shame that the owner may have done all of this underhand, I would be very upset.  But like I said, she needs to hear everything from the owner with vet reports backups, not read it on an Internet forum.

> I personally would offer to take the puppy back & refund the cost in full, if this is refused then a waiver from the owners(re future illnesses etc) & a full refund as Blue has written

I agree is if a puppy developed a probelm affecting it's quality of life, but what about the random things that can happen with age?  I certainly wouldn't feel responsible for a dog developing any probelm not know to be  a genetic issue within the breed.

I would firstly ask to take the puppy to my own vet for a second opinion. And be there when the vet is checking it. If this wan't possible through distance then I would ask for a friend in the area that the puppy is in to help out with their vet.

It is so easy to blame the breeder for something when it could be an outside source that is causing the illness. The puppy could be chewing on lead painted wood, or something that is causing these spells.

Once that has been done I would then look to sorting out the inflammatory things being said.