An article
devoted solely to puppy guarantees, giving guidelines on what to look for
in a good guarantee, and how to deal with problems when they arise.
The possibility of crippling
HD manifesting in later months of a puppy’s life or past the dog’s middle
age has been a bugaboo to breeders for a long time. The buyer of a 2- or
3-month old puppy today typically wants some kind of assurance that he is
getting value for his dollar, and has become accustomed to hearing about
guarantees and consumer protection legislation. It is extremely important
to have a written contract or document so that there are few, if any, misunderstandings
about the verbal agreement made at the time of sale. The contracts usually
warranty the purchase against AKC-disqualifying faults (except in some pet
contracts), poor health (with a day or so in which to have the dog checked
by the buyer’s veterinarian), non-registrability, and crippling hip dysplasia.
The buyer has the responsibility to discover the defect and notify the seller.
There are longer, more exact differences between the words guarantee and
warranty, but all you need to know about the distinction is that both say
something cannot and will not happen; a guarantee says “But if it does, here's
what I will do about it”. There is the implication that there might be some
currently undetected condition that may become evident in the future. Generally,
the guarantee more often indicates the seller will restore the situation
to what it was before, via refund, repair, replacement, etc. Implied in either
word is the promise that the seller has taken reasonable steps to prevent
a problem, but in case it happens anyway, he will take certain actions,
spelled out in the sales contract.
Guarantees are tremendously variable. However, no matter what is
written, a guarantee is only as good as the integrity of the seller. As one
writer put it, there are so many things wrong with the typical breeder’s
or seller’s guarantees that they aren’t “worth the paper they’re written
on”.
While numerous guarantees have wording about what the seller promises
to do if the dog being sold turns up dysplastic, most of those statements
are meaningless. Some will guarantee “no HD”, but not give a clue as to
what will be done by the seller if the dog does turn out dysplastic. It's
a “Catch me if you can” type of sale. Others will put any kind of guarantee
on paper but will not honour it when you provide evidence of the dog being
defective merchandise —their excuses will have you spending thousands of
dollars in phone calls, trips for replacement potentials (some of which are
worse than the first dog!), shipping, veterinary expenses, lawyers’ time,
and perhaps you will have sunk a bundle into training or conformation showing
by the time you find out the hips or elbows are bad. You may be worn down
and discouraged to the point of giving up rather than putting more money
into the pot.
Many national breed clubs have suggested bills of sale or contracts for
their members to use, but they are usually reduced in potential impact to
the lowest common denominator of ideas from those providing the input. It
is better to draw up your own agreement, whether you are buyer or seller.
Wording in an agreement or a club code of ethics, may have this or a similar
phrase: “Free of crippling hip dysplasia to one year of age”. Who is to
determine what is crippling? Would a minor or intermittent limp qualify,
or would you have to return the dog (perhaps a great distance at great expense
to you and at the sellers convenience) so the seller and his vet can make
the determination? What about a dog you purchased for breeding and/or competition
whose dysplasia doesn’t show in clinical signs until after the age stated
in the agreement, regardless of how good or bad the radiographs looked before
that age? Some dogs with mild HD or a “borderline” rating may be crippled
to the point of obvious dislike for moving or rising, yet others with severe
HD might be so stoic and bilaterally affected that limping (favouring one
side) might not be detected.
“Crippling” in some may be delayed for a few or many years. While most
severe cases will show lameness before skeletal maturity, many will not be
apparent until later when secondary joint disease (arthritis) sets in. Even
if the animal does not ever limp, or is “only” mildly dysplastic, it certainly
is not a good prospect for breeding and passing its genes along to the next
generation.
Other contracts may warrant against “severe dysplasia” without spelling
out who is to define or diagnose that, or naming the standard by which it
is to be measured. Since most private practitioners read pelvic X-ray pictures
erroneously, it may be no warranty at all to have just any vet make that
determination. Better to use recognizable levels of quality or defects such
as delineated by OFA designations of mild, moderate, or severe HD. Or use
BVA or PennHIP numerical scores for the hips or other joints.
Sellers, especially those at some distance, have an advantage over buyers
in that the amount paid for a dog compared to what the wronged buyer would
have to pay a lawyer is too small for most attorneys to bother with. As much
as is possible, know your breeder and have a clearly written sales contract.
Check out the sellers reputation with previous customers and peers. Find
out if the seller is willing to go beyond the sales agreement to rectify a
problem.
If a warranty states that the seller has the option of replacing any defective
dog with one of equivalent quality out of the next litter, don’t buy! Why
would you go back to the same bloodline or the same careless breeder? Insist
on a refund, partial or complete. Your chances of getting something better
from the person who sold you a lemon are extremely slim. I once bought a
breeding/show prospect through a prominent West Coast judge and official in
the GSDCA, found severe HD on her radiographs, although she didn’t limp until
she was 3 years old when she then “went downhill” rapidly. At the time, I
was like most people who call me now for consultation: unwilling to walk away
from the ante after seeing I had a bad poker hand — I kept wanting to believe
that if I put a little more into the pot, my luck would change with the next
card dealt. I learned the hard way, having put more money into “better” pups
but successively coming up with three more dysplastic dogs supplied by the
same judge! It is often best to swallow hard and start over again somewhere
else.
Make sure your contract and guarantee provide for an OFA or equivalent
reading of the hip (or other joint) films. Make sure it spells out who is
to do what and at whose cost, if the “product” proves “defective” under the
terms of the agreement. Make sure the contract is complete without being
overly complicated, for the more words, the greater the chance of legal loopholes.
If you can place a mildly dysplastic dog or have room for it yourself, have
the spay/neuter price built into the contract at the sellers expense. If
you are concerned that the HD will be too severe for your standards, have
the contract spell out that the seller is to take the dog back. Let him
have the dog euthanised at his expense or have him pay your vet in advance
to do it. If possible, the latter option is better, because there are many
unscrupulous people who will take back a dysplastic dog, breed it, or sell
it to another poor soul who will breed it. I see this sort of thing happening
all the time. After all, breeders should be held responsible for what they
produce, and should insure soundness to the maximum extent. Where there is
a known inherited disease in the breed, such as any of those discussed in
this book, guarantees should specifically cover it.
“BOB” Doesn’t Always Mean “Best Of Breed”
Because of my availability to fanciers, I am bombarded with questions
and requests for advice on things pertaining to HD, but also to many other
canine matters. My small consulting business is kept busy with the same
tales of woe that I have heard for the past 40 years. Time after time, a
puppy buyer will tell me of the raw deal he got from a “breeder”. Just as
I was putting this chapter to bed, one such tale unfolded.
A man we’ll call Bob, who had been building up a hobby-business of selling
GSD pups and training sport dogs, sold what I’ll call his X litter and started
getting complaints as they grew and proved to be dysplastic. Some had symptoms,
others had “preliminary X-rays” that confirmed it. However, the contract
guarantee he had was replacement with an equal quality pup from a subsequent
litter with him deciding on the parents. The proof of dysplasia would be a
radiograph evaluated as such by OFA between age 24 and 30 months. Nothing
was in the contract about earlier return based on early diagnosis. He bred
the bitch “back-to-back” and had sold the Y litter by the time complaints
started coming in. His offer was to replace the X puppies (at two years of
age!) with one from the Z litter, all from the same dam and sire. Now there
would be around 25 or 30 pups on the ground, all with very high likelihood
of being dysplastic.
There are many unfair elements to such a contract, as common as it is.
The dogs that were definitely dysplastic had to be kept by the buyers until
they were two, and many of these homes just did not have the room for the
afflicted dog plus one that they could raise, show, and breed. That meant
the buyer would have to wait a minimum of four years (two for original, two
for replacement) before his goals could be approached, yet the chances of
getting another dysplastic dog were very high, so the buyers were effectively
put out of the game by the seller who had written such a self protective contract.
I advised the inquirers to not take another dog from the same parents or
even from the same breeder. There is a definition of insanity that I like:
doing the same thing and expecting different results.
The facts that “Bob” did not take into consideration the hardships he
created on his buyers, that he did not use the best diagnostic techniques
to find out the true nature of his “a”-stamped breeding pair’s hips, that
he refused to use common sense in allowing early satisfaction of legitimate
complaints, and that he apparently put his own expenses and costs ahead
of doing what was right for the injured parties, all these are signs of
irresponsibility that we see very frequently.
DO RIGHT: ETHICS
Telling someone else how to live or what moral standards to use runs the
high risk of alienation. If I sound as though I’m doing that, please understand
that I am telling you what I believe is right “for me and my house”, as Joshua
put it. Adopt whatever you will of these suggestions and interpretations
of ethical standards. Is the contract written in such a way as to promote
the betterment of the breed? Is it also fair to both parties?
Make the contract complete without being overly complicated, for the more
words, the greater the chance of loopholes. If you are the seller, write
the contract the way you would want it to read if you were the buyer.
Practice the Golden Rule, in other words. Offer to make things as right
for your buyer as if it were your mother. If you absolutely refuse to make
full refund, at least offer a replacement dog, but make sure it is from
a better breeding. The really good breeder/seller is one who goes beyond
the letter to the intent and spirit of the agreement.
Is Mammon your god? That is, are you willing to sacrifice reputation
and good will on the altar of money, rather than take a financial loss because
a dog you sold proves to be defective and the buyers money should be refunded?
Will your children starve if you give a buyer his money back, with or without
the dog being returned? We all know sellers who have buyers over a barrel
because emotional attachments have been cemented with the defective dog.
If you can live without the dog (else why would you have sold it in the first
place!), work out a compromise to make refund with return of “papers” and
proof of neutering. The right thing to do may be to lose more on making the
deal right than the buyer does. Go further, and if the buyer will part with
his defective pet family member, find a suitable home or other destiny for
the pup at your own expense.
LEGAL RECOURSE
It is very difficult to know where to draw the line on what to guarantee,
if any limits are to be made at all. There are hundreds of inherited disorders
in purebred dogs, and it is not practical to cover a high number of them
in the sales contract. Not all of them are of clinical significance, but for
those that are, the breeder should show evidence that he is making every reasonable
effort to practice inherited disease control. Hip dysplasia is one of those
disorders for which there is an abundance of knowledge and freely available
information sources. It should be a relatively easy matter to show negligence
on the part of sellers who have no excuse, and “should have known better”.
Yet, because their novice or careless buyers do not insist on the best guarantees
as well as references, such sellers get away with such crimes more often
than not.
Sooner or later the legal tide will turn against breeders who sell puppies
or dogs with genetic defects; “lemon laws” and prosecution will become the
norm rather than the exception. The costs associated with dealing with a
dog that bites someone because of an inherited faulty temperament or that
dies due to a discoverable genetic disease may come home to the breeder. More
than one court case has already been tried in this direction. One judge found
that a breeder was responsible for the Rottweiler he sold that developed osteochondrosis,
because the disease “demonstrates breed predisposition.” This case underlines
the fact that breeders are responsible for the stock they produce. When there
is a known, inherited condition or breed predilection, then a breeder has
the responsibility to take all practical, feasible steps to ensure soundness
in his “product.” Buyers can help to make this happen. If communities can
get away with passing laws banning certain breeds or requiring neutering,
then they can as well pass laws that promote prosecution against breeders
who ignore the published information on the genetic problems in their breeds.
It requires dog owning citizens who are willing to become activists, or are
willing to act as advisors to local and State government officials. Joining
American Dog Owners Association would be a step in the right direction. ADOA’s
address is 1654 Columbia Turnpike, Castleton NY 12033.
Talk to a lawyer and find out what is needed to get your money through
small claims court or more high powered litigation. Gather details on the
disease from web sites and vet school libraries and tell the seller you are
giving them to your lawyer, and that the search for the literature etc. will
be added to his bill and the court costs which he will eventually pay in
addition to the price of the dog, the vet bills, food, etc. incurred from
the date of diagnosis. Let your attorney and the breeder know that you are
gathering information on other customers who have been likewise maltreated,
and while it won't be a class action suit, it will certainly increase his
chances of getting action from various quarters.
RISK
One thing no seller of anything is able to guarantee is that he’ll be
around tomorrow to honour the contract. Any and all businesses go out of
business at one time or another, and the chances a disreputable breeder
or seller of defective product will do so are somewhat greater than average.
Another reason to act without delay.
PLAYING HARDBALL
What can be done if you have bought a dog that was “guaranteed” in any
way at all, even with the weakest intimation that you were buying a pup with
no defects? I have been called to testify as an expert witness in legal action
when buyers have been “taken” by sellers who provided defective dogs, with
or without a good (or any) guarantee. Don’t be so naive to think that justice
always prevails in court! More often it is the sharper lawyer who prevails,
or the party that puts more money into the effort if the lawyers are equal.
A guilty but recalcitrant seller may retain a lawyer with little knowledge
about dogs and less scruples.
In the discussion periods following my seminars, the topic of guarantees
and irresponsible breeders often comes up. The same initial advice pertains
that does in the case of lost dogs: Do not wait another day.
The faster you act, the more likely the chance you will be partly successful.
For lost dogs, blanket the neighbourhood with posters, and tell everybody
you can what to look for. Notify humane societies and animal shelters. When
you have been wronged by a bad breeder, follow the same principles: get the
news out fast and fully. You might want to tell the breeder that’s what you
intend, to give him one last chance to make good. Then post your position
on every web site you can find will take the story, write letters to editors
of magazines that feature the breed involved, and write to the ethics
committee of his national club (usually futile, but it does get the word
around). Keep telling everybody until you get satisfaction. You will almost
surely hear from others who have been wronged the same way you have.
n many cases, the best first option is to return the problem dogs. Be
hard nosed. Let the seller worry about the rest of the vet bills and you
work on the contract and refund from a safe, disease free home. Just do it.
Even if it means tying the dog to the doorknob and leaving without stopping
to argue. With a defective dog on his hands instead of yours, things usually
move a lot faster.
Hip dysplasia is not the only recognized disease with a primarily inheritable
nature; demodicosis (mange) is another. It is hereditary (genetic), it is
in the immune system, and it is recommended to not breed such a dog or its
parents. It is possibly a little harder to spot the carriers, but the recommendation
I usually give is the same: return the defective merchandise, and fight the
legal or public awareness battles from the position of a disease free home.
Tie the dog to the door or put it in the fenced property of the seller, and
leave. You are at a disadvantage if you keep the dog; almost nobody gets
his money back that way.
The people in my audiences and correspondence all ask the same question:
“How I can get my breeder to stand up to the guarantee? (or make things right)”
and they often add something like, “She claims she has been breeding over
35 years so she should know. Her teste has beautiful dogs pictured — lots
of award winners.” You should get a written report from the vets about the
strongly heritable component in the disease (use that word), and broadcast
that, also.
Put a copy of the diagnosis on the door when you leave the dog. If you
put the onus on the seller to take care of the dog, some action will take
place. Some of that action may be what the vets told you to do (euthanasia,
spay, expensive treatment, etc), which will just be more proof that he sold
you a lemon.
You have to get tough and take action; do not just lie down and take it.
[ Fred Lanting, author of the book on HD, also has extensive experience
as a breeder; his first purebred litter was in 1945, and he has produced
hundreds of GSD puppies for the estate guardian, show, and sport markets with
the “von Salix” suffix. He has bred Smooth Fox Terriers, Whippets, and Shibas
as well. Retired from the chemicals business, he now consults, with “All
Things Canine” as his business name. His e-address is mailto:Mr.GSD@hiwaay.net, appropriately.
]
