I recently placed a deposit on a Staffy Pup in South Wales which was advertised on your site. We were told that all the puppies were healthy and good examples of the breed. After making the seven hour journey to pick up the pup we found that one of the pups siblings had a malformed tail and we had not been aware of this when handing over £100 deposit. In our opinion the puppies were of poor quality and were not good examples of the breed. Can you please advise me as to what your criteria are for advertising on your site and wether any checks are made to verify that the breeders are giving out all relevant information about the litters that they are advertising. Can I also issue a warning to other purchasers of puppies with regards to leaving deposits, beware, they do not refund them to you so not only did we lose our £100 deposit but the journey which cost almost £200 was also a waste of time and money.
S Trattles  

Breeders do have to meet certain Terms and Conditions set by Admin but they obviously cannot vet them all personally.  If you think they have not met the conditions you could PM Admin and let them know.  However, a puppy will a malformed tail could occur in the very best bred litters and is no reason, in my opinion to reject another out of the litter, particularly if it is just to be a pet and not bred from.  I don't really know why you handed over the deposit if you thought the puppies looked poor quality and not typical but having done so I think you have to accept that that is now lost if you do not continue with the purchase if deposits were refundable when purchasers just change their minds then there is no point in having them :)

You'll have to join to continue the thread, but I wondered what the problem with the tail actually was??
Did you see the Sire and Dam before handning over the deposit?
One of ours has a screw tail and he may have one fault but the rest of him is prefect.

What he lacks in tail in gains in personality!

glad i didn see it as i am a sucker for a sob story .the puppy will probably be the most loving dog going i wouldnt reject it just because of its tail , unless its a show dog i was looking for.
but everyone is different.
i live in cow and sheep country.and my neighbour breeds expensive bulls ,cows ect .he does occasionally get small faults in calfs
but this is nothing to do with the pedigre or health these things happen.
i dont think its any fault of the owners,unless they tried to hide or disguise the fact.then that
would be different

Screw tails can appear in well bred litters - it is a fault for the show ring but does not meen to say they are badly bred.

As it was not the pup you were having I dont see why they should of told you?

Its not even the posters pup with the deformed tail!!!
Guest ...just because one pup in the litter had a deformed tail it doesn't mean the rest of the litter is of poor quallity!
As for the deposit...of course its non refundable and if you were stupid enough to leave a deposit before veiwing then thats you choice....it is always recommended and common sense when purchasing ANYTHING that you veiw before you buy and leaving a deposit is making a commitment to buy.The breeder could have refused other potential purchasers because you had commited to buy a pup so the deposit will cover her for extra keep and possibly injections since she may have to keep it longer
As for the website....its a place to advertise....no more than a newspaper or a shop window...would you leave a deposit on a dog you saw advertised in one of them before wiewing?
Archer