I contacted an accredited breeder whom I have met previously at champ shows although I never knew her personally, to enquire about a show puppy. She had one available, so I went to see her and after a long discussion I bought this puppy. She did not have the kc registration papers and pedigree back because she said there was a problem with the name but promised to forward them to me. 5 weeks later I am still waiting and I have tried contacting her by email, mobile and house phone but have to keep leaving messages which she hasnt replied to. I cannot enter any shows without these papers and without them the puppy should have cost at least a third of what i paid. I have contacted the kennel club but they cant help me unless I give them her name but I dont know what to do. Do I wait a bit longer to see if papers come before reporting her to kennel club? I didnt expect this from a reputable breeder who promised me she would be at the other end of the phone 24/7 and would give me my money back or another puppy should there be anything wrong with this puppy. I have a written receipt, the vaccination certificate and an owners copy of the microchip papers but I dont even know if she sent the other copies off. Any advise welcome.

If she hasn't responded to you at all then I would be contacting the kennel club for help if she is an accredited breeder. There may be an perfectly acceptable and reasonable explanation but if she won't respond to you then you have no other choice - unless you can visit her?

KC or possibly the Breed Club?

Thankyou for your reply. I think if she is ignoring my messages she will not answer the door to me and she lives an hour an half away from me. I keep telling myself there is probably a perfectly reasonable explanation but it doesnt make sense! I feel very disappointed with the aftersale because I didnt think I could have chosen a better breeder for my show puppy!

i would be speaking to Bill lambert

Half an hour away is no distance at all so I'd call in again just on the offchance.

However, you'd expect that any good breeder would have been contacting you regularly to check you and the pup got home ok, that their pup is settling well, to remind you about worming etc.  No contact at all seems very odd indeed.

After the time you've waited all normal and reasonable excuses are unlikely.  Even if she'd been hospitalised, someone would be looking after her dogs and dealing with her post and telephone messages...

There's no reason not to report her, if it's just a misunderstanding then there wil be no adverse consequences.  Do you know any other puppy owners from the same litter?  Perhaps someone else in your breed might have more news

dogs a babe - I think the OP said an hour and a half away.

I know 5 weeks seems an awful long time to you, and obviously I don't know the breeder, or you, but just to give you a timescale example. I've sent in paperwork to KC register a dog I recently acquired, that was over 4 weeks ago. I rang the KC, it hadn't yet reached the 'to do' pile but they were going to look at it this week - that would bring it up to 5 weeks. So if your breeder has had a problem with the paperwork it's not that bad a timescale. I have a breeder friend who registered a litter and there was a big mess up and that took 4 months to resolve ... it was considerably longer than 5 weeks I had to wait for my papers.

I understand what you're saying with the no reply bit too and I realise that must be incredibly frustrating. But there may be a very good reason, whilst the papers are really important and high priority to you, the breeder's circumstances may be such that they actually aren't top of the list for all sorts of reasons.

I'd say give them a bit more of a chance before reporting to this and that body. Can't you register your dog as name applied for for show competitions? I know nowt about the show world, but that's what we do in agility and obedience.

If she's as reputable a breeder as you say she is, she's not going to stuff up her reputation for a bit of paperwork. I hope you do get it resolved and this post is just to give another perspective.  The microchip records are easy to check by ringing the company ... they're normally pretty helpful I've found and will probably be quite happy to tell you if they've received the paperwork showing you as the owner.

Hope it gets resolved quickly for you.

>dogs a babe - I think the OP said an hour and a half away.

Oops!  ... and to think, I read it twice!  My brain obviously not in gear :)

I personally don't think 5 weeks is acceptable. If there was some problem then I believe she should contact you to explain the delay. Also the Accredited Breeder Scheme says that you should Provide reasonable post-sales telephone advice yet this breeder isn't even replying to mobiles, home phones or e-mails. No, I would go with reporting her.

I know 5 weeks seems an awful long time to you, and obviously I don't know the breeder, or you, but just to give you a timescale example. I've sent in paperwork to KC register a dog I recently acquired, that was over 4 weeks ago. I rang the KC, it hadn't yet reached the 'to do' pile but they were going to look at it this week - that would bring it up to 5 weeks. So if your breeder has had a problem with the paperwork it's not that bad a timescale. I have a breeder friend who registered a litter and there was a big mess up and that took 4 months to resolve ... it was considerably longer than 5 weeks I had to wait for my papers

Why isn't she replying to messages left for her. She should be explaining the delay and also keeping in contact to ensure the pup is okay. Seems to me she hasn't even bothered to check if all is okay with the pup.

I would agree also, 5 weeks is a long tome to wait for papers, I would contact the kennel club and give the breeders name, they will be able to then tell you if there is a problem with registering the pup (for example: the names the breeder has already suggested has been taken) if there was no problem then the breeder would contact you, I'm still in touch with my dogs breeder and he is four now, I still ring her for advise and things and she is always at the end of the phone no matter what time of day or night.  I had the K.C papers for all three of my dogs sent to me and they did not take that long.  I would be contacting the Kennel club today!!!!

5 weeks is a long time, but some of my puppy owners waited nearly 3months on theirs.. I didnt register the litter until they were 7 weeks old, (struggled for good Latin names) and I received KC papers just 2 days before Christmas.. I held on to them until mid Jan to make sure they did not get lost in the Holiday mail.. BUT.. I posted them in large envelopes, not knowing that a normal 1st class stamp did not cover full postage.. and Royal mail held on to them for around 4weeks before delivering to owners with £1.08 postage to pay (Mortified),  so their are reasons for delay in getting papers (all of them my fault).. but.. all my owners were able to contact me at anytime, and I was able to give them the pups KC reg no.s so that they could confirm with the KC that they were in fact KC registered,

The KC will not give out any details over the phone, but they will confirm if pup has been registered..

It's not so much the delay on papers which is plausible, but the way she is ignoring all your calls, texts and emails. I would leave one more message saying you will report her for not providing after sales care as an Accredited Breeder should if she doesn't respond, give her 24 hours, then do it. When I had puppies I was bordering on stalking the owners nagging for pictures and updates! :-p

Well if everyone's out to report this person then lets keep fingers crossed she's not had a close family death to deal with. :-(

> Well if everyone's out to report this person then lets keep fingers crossed she's not had a close family death to deal with

If this were the case, then the delay would be understandable and there will be no consequence from contacting the Kennel Club now. If, however, there are no extenuating circumstances then this breeder is not living up to her side of the accredited breeder contract and is not a good advert for breeders in general. It only takes a minute to answer an email or make a phone call.

>It only takes a minute to answer an email

Always assuming that their computer's not having problems. It happens.

People also go on holiday.

> Always assuming that their computer's not having problems. It happens.
>
> People also go on holiday.

Indeed - but again there would be no consequences if this were the case. All perfectly acceptable reasons for not being in contact. :-) It depends how long the OP has been trying to get in touch for.

People don't often go on holiday for 5 weeks. And the OP has tried repeatedly to get in touch by phone and email. I would hope that even if my computer was on the blink, and even if I'd had personal problems, I would make the effort to respond to the 6th / 10th / whatever request for information, even if just to say 'sorry xxx has died unexpectedly everything is in a mess I will get to it asap'. But that's why I suggested leaving one last message saying that's what they plan to do, so if there is a real reason for not responding, they realise that the OP has waited long enough!

>> Always assuming that their computer's not having problems. It happens.
>
> People also go on holiday.

>Well if everyone's out to report this person then lets keep fingers crossed she's not had a close family death to deal with.

Yes, and that would be very sad, if it turned out to be the case.  However, the difficulty is that by not escalating the problem at this stage, you can be weeks behind if or when you finally realise you've been misled in some way.

Also, it's not as if you are phoning the police to make an immediate arrest - you're expressing your concerns and starting a process of problem solving with the KC :)

>People don't often go on holiday for 5 weeks. And the OP has tried repeatedly to get in touch by phone and email.

The OP doesn't say how long she's been trying to contact her; if she waited 3 or 4 weeks before trying to make contact then it's only been a week or two that the breeder's been away - if she is, of course.

Firstly, if you go through the breed club then it might be known if their has been a bereavement or an overseas trip - this is a show bred pup we are talking about - not just a n other litter by an accredited breeder :-)

Secondly - even with a lot of faffing between myself and the KC over my last litters names - I did them on line, changed them numerous times - don't ask! - had to recorrect them after I had totally confused the KC and it really didn't take long at all

Accredited Breeders must:

Ensure that all breeding stock is Kennel Club registered
Hand over the dog's registration certificate at time of sale if available, or forward it to the new owner as soon as possible. Explain any endorsements that might pertain and obtain written and signed confirmation from the new owner, at or before the date on which the dog is physically transferred, that the new owner is aware of the endorsement(s), regardless of whether or not the endorsed registration certificate is available.
Follow Kennel Club policy regarding maximum age and number/frequency of litters.
Permanently identify breeding stock by DNA profile, microchip, or tattoo.
Make use of health screening schemes, relevant to their breed, on all breeding stock. These schemes include DNA testing, hip dysplasia, elbow dysplasia and inherited eye conditions.  Current health requirements under the ABS (pdf).
Socialise the puppies and provide written advice, in the Puppy Sales Wallet, on continuation of socialisation, exercise and future training.
Provide written advice, in the scheme Puppy Sales Wallet, on feeding and worming programmes.
Provide a written record, in the Puppy Sales Wallet, on the immunisation measures taken.
Provide reasonable post-sales telephone advice.
Inform buyers of the requirements and the recommendations that apply to Kennel Club Accredited Breeders as well as the existence of the complaints procedure.
Draw up a contract of sale for each puppy and provide a copy in the Puppy Sales Wallet.

I would say 5 weeks is long enough, would the KC not even tell you if the litter had been registered?  Also even if she had only just sent the papers off for the micro-chipping when you picked pup up, you should have received the Petlog (or which ever company) certificate by now.  My pups are chipped before leaving and new owners get their certificates within 2 weeks of taking pup home.

Did you get a contract of sale for your pup? You should have one and it should detail what the breeder is supplying you with, i.e. a KC registered puppy.

So if as others have suggested it is a case of the breeder simply being away from home and not replying you will most probably hear from the breeder as soon as they return.

If you do not hear from the breeder, contact the KC and if your pup turns out not to be registered then you could take the breeder to the small claims court to get your money back.

If you did not get a contract of sale then you really are relying on the breeder, unless you have an advert stating the puppy would be KC registered you cannot prove that this was agreed between you and the breeder.

Thankyou everybody for all your replies. I have managed to contact the breeder on the house phone, she was expecting a call from someone else. She said she had not been well. She said she has now got the kc papers and will be sending them to me shortly, so I will be patient for a little while longer. I appreciate that breeders are busy and have to priotise their workload but they do have a responsibility having bred and sold their puppies. I know there are a lot of 'breeders' out there who only do it for the money and dont have the best interest of the breed in mind which is why I went to a breeder who I expected to fulfil the requirements of an accredited breeder. thanks again and I will let you all know the outcome!