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News 2009-06-10 Monthly newsletter EXTRACTS FROM OUR 'MAY" NEWSLETTER. CONTRACTS: Kennel Union of South Africa, recommend you sign a contract on the purchase of your pup. This protects both you the owner and the breeder in the event of something going wrong???? It also makes your rights and the breeders rights clear on any subject of health issues etc. Sterilisation etc. IF for any reason the purchaser does not sign the contract when leaving our property with baby in hand. You are asked to complete and return the contract in a couple of days……… a lot of you are emailed the contract prior to receiving the pup. It is made very clear on our website and in any correspondence between us, that we expect you to complete and return the contract supplied.
“IF” no contract has been signed – regrettably your dog will not be registered and the microchip information will still remain in our name. If you have not completed all the information required, we will not be in a position to fill in the relevant Identipet registration form. It is therefore in your interests to return the relevant contract and all the information requested. Furthermore, no health guarantees will apply.
PLEASE do not think that failing to do the above, allows you carte blanche with the dog you purchased from us. Verbal contracts are binding. Therefore IF we ever suspect our dogs are being used with no authorized breeding permission in writing from ourselves, we reserve the right to take the necessary action to recover that animal. Proof of the animal being the said one, will be easily identified via the microchip.
NB no pup/dog leaving our property is approved for breeding. Therefore no “mistakes” will be approved. Sterilisation is not negotiable.
Dear Mijoy I am writing to you with a very heavy heart. I purchased my dream dog in December, a very small pup – yorkie pup. The purchase of this dream pup was considerably more than we bargained for cost wise. It was paid for with savings and my Christmas bonus.
We
contacted a breeder who advertised in the dog mag. We put down a deposit on
this pup. We were star struck. All the pics were sent by mms, We were in
seventh heaven. A couple of days prior to us getting our much longed for baby,
we received a sms saying the pup had died.
No explanation, nothing. We were upset and wanted our deposit back. The
breeder said not to worry she had another pup available, it was a male although
we wanted a girl. We decided on the male. We were too scared to get excited
just in case. The time came to collect the baby. The breeder seemed nice enough
and all, the dogs looked good. We took
our precious bundle home. He was
lethargic, very uninterested in everything, we could not get him to respond to
us. He just sat there. He ate some food
but not much. We called the breeder, she was pretty helpful saying, it was
unhappy with the move, traveling a long distance home, missing its mother, litter pups etc. She told
us to keep on with the glucose, sugar water at all times. We did this and the
pup perked up. So we were now very happy with the pup. In our attempt to get “meat” on the bones, I did something silly, I started feeding all different things, tinned food, cooked chicken, puppy milk etc, the pup wolfed it down, and did start picking up meat on its bones. This was short lived, as one day, we awoke to find the pup in a very poor state, lying in a heap, barely breathing. We grabbed our clothes and made for the vet. We waited for the doors to open and rushed inside. Our pup barely breathing. He took one look at the pup and said it had low sugar, and gave it a couple of injections. The dog had a very upset stomach. I was beside myself and my husband did not know what to do. We had paid a lot of money for this pup, and the vet had just dropped a bombshell on us, that he feared this dog would not make it longterm. In my state of hysteria, I think the vet was shocked, I started crying and carrying on,. The vet asked for the breeders number. He called her and explained and she was rather otherwise, saying people had to understand that these small dogs are trouble and it is up to them to decide whether it is worth the effort and risk of buying such a small dog. She also said to the vet, she felt we were not suitable dog owners and that we were doing something very wrong.? My vet told her, he would, at his own cost have this dogs blood tested as he felt we were really stretching our budget etc. He said he would get to the bottom of the problem.
The vet took the blood and kept the pup in hospital.He also did other tests etc? The results came back and to our devastation he told us, the pup had heart problems. Nothing major serious, but none the less a heart problem, which he felt was part of the problem. The fact that this dog had also been fed incorrectly, sugar water etc, was not making things better either. The dog had a very upset stomach, (my doing the vet told me) but he also understood my concern etc. The pup got weaker and weaker. The vet started feeding the dog by putting a tube into the stomach, and he made a very good recovery.
Two months down the line a friend visited with her new yorkie pup, which she purchased from you. We were shocked to say how different the dogs looked. The friends pup was tiny but very fat, like a ball. Ours in comparison was so different. It was only as a result of this visit that we noticed the total difference between the two pups. Hers was like a lunatic in comparison, racing all over, ours just sat, did a minimal of playing but very little and then fell down and would get in a heavy, heavy, sleep.
Pay day came along and we visited the vet once more and explained we felt our baby was not right. He agreed the dog had no “meat” on its bones, we still gave it the occasional honey or glucose which I think saved him on many an occasion. The vet said he felt the dog was not going anywhere? I was truly devastated he said even though it was small at this stage it weighed 800gms at just on 3 months of age, the dog had no substance. My vet said he felt we should discuss it once more with the breeder. We went to his reception area and made the call to the breeder. The person answering enquired who we were, and then said hold, on, I could hear voices in the background, she did not take our call. The vet said to take a seat. And give him the number. He went away sometime later returned and said he had spoken with her. She was not interested in ours or the dogs problems, she sold the dog perfectly healthy end of story.? We left the vet. Very unhappy.
Two weeks later, we awoke to find the dog once more flat, barely breathing, we rushed to the vet. He had an emergency and his partner was only due in sometime later. So we waited patiently. In that time, our pup breathed his last.
I could not think straight, I ended up at the Doctor was booked off for a week, I thought it was the end for me. We saved to buy that pup, my husband told me at the time we could not afford to pay so much. We had nothing but trouble. We have written to Kusa telling them what happened etc. They asked if we had signed a contract. We did not. I know this has nothing to do with you, but could you give me some adivice. Is there some institution or club one can go to. Do you feel this is wrong? I am so wanting someone to tell me I was not in the wrong, that the breeder was. What do you think? Please help us.
Longing to hear from you.
Amanda Steyn Parys
Hi Amanda I am so sorry. Unfortunately, there is no institution or club. The best is Kusa you have made your point, put it in black and white and they will keep that on record, and in future, I should imagine, they will not recommend the breeder or if it happens again, I am sure they will act on it. I can not advise you unfortunately with this regard.
The tiny dogs, are a hands on pup, they are pricey, and that is the reason so many breeders do not breed them, or do not want to breed them, or say they are problematic, because of a breeder such as you have had the experience with??? I am not in any position to comment on any other breeder or their animals or how they conduct themselves or their dog breeding. It has nothing to do with me. Furthermore I am asked regularly to comment but it would be totally unethical of me to do so. However, I can say, we pride ourselves in our dogs. We take our breeding very seriously. I attempt to warn the public of the pitfalls of the smaller yorkie. I am the only breeder to my knowledge that sells their dogs with a contract. There may very well be others, but I have not heard of them, and come into contact or hear of others pretty often. It is something I would recommend one asks for, mind you I have bought dogs myself and have not asked for a contract. The thing with a contract, if a dog just up and dies, what will be done about it. Is the dog for breeding purposes? If it was bought as a stud dog and develops one or no testicles what happens?? I do not sell any of my dogs for breeding purposes but have bought for breeding purposes. My son at one stage bought the toy French poodles, he bought a stud dog- one testicle??? The breeder although charged the earth for the pup, was not interested in the problem. I personally think it all boils down to one thing, the person you are buying from, are they a reputable breeder or not.So many out there breed the dog, take the money end of story. If I were the breeder of the pup concerned, it would have been replaced, no question about that. A lot of people dealing with LIVESTOCK, be it a dog breeder, pet shop etc do not give any guarantee on the animal concerned. Their reputation is going to suffer along the line. My personal feeling on the matter a heart and liver condition is bad news. Something the breeder should take into account. Not easily a quick fix situation. You have paid a lot of money, and I understand exactly how you feel regarding this matter. I myself bought a “tiny” male from a very long time yorkie breeder last year. I purchased the pup, Two days later he phoned to say it had been reared on glucose????? The pup visited the vet the day after I purchased it. He told me straight out, he was not happy with the pup. Not long after that the pup passed away.???? I did not have an autopsy done. The breeder gave me a discount on a replacement. I still coughed up R4 000-00 for the replacement. IT grew into a massive dog. I too with my experience of all these years hit the odd problem. I had another case in 2006 where I purchased a male pup, that was sick from day one. Just prior to him turning 1 year old he died very unexpectedly, kidney and liver disease. The breeder knew from day one the dog had been ill. Said she would replace it> well lawyers, debt collectors you name it, we did it, still no replacement. She moved to the George area, temporarily, and it came to my ears that the pups she produced there, were dying as well.??? There are breeders and breeders, there are people who know what they are doing, and people who have not the faintest idea what they are doing. There are people with experience and people who think they have experience. Problems happen to all breeders, and I am surprised your breeder has adopted that attitude especially seeing you and your vet have advised her from the beginning of the problems you have experienced. No one likes to loose thousands of rands. It is very disheartening and sad when one looses a dog. I too lost one very recently, that I got from another breeder (this was not the tiny, yorkie). She appeared perfectly normal and from one hour to the next hour, from being fine, she breathed her last, she passed away at 11 months of age. So yes, she had a problem of sorts which we were totally unaware of as well. We had an autopsy done. She had suffered no trauma or no obvious injury etc. but it was a huge loss to me emotionally, and financially etc. It happens. One has to hope and pray the person you deal with has a heart, and a sense of responsibility,, which was obviously not in your case. You will be surprised if you know just how often people buy the smaller dogs and they die, the breeder does nothing about it. Presumably because we specialize in the smaller yorkie, this is the reason we get told about this. If you had approached me to purchase a tiny dog. I would have asked you firstly to read my site. All the info on that site. I would have also asked you if you had the lifestyle to handle and cope with such a small dog. IF you had come to me and told me you had a huge problem financially, purchasing this pup, that it went way over budget, I would have told you, they are not only pricey to purchase but ?? should the wheels come off at any stage, and your vet can not sort the problem, you have a very limited time to sort that problem, and you are usually headed in the direction of a specialist. Time is of the essence with the tiny yorkie. There is no time for guessing. Specialists cost money. I would more than likely have discouraged you from buying such a small dog. However having said that, 800gms at 3 months and a very lightweight dog at that – does not make me think this is actually a tiny yorkie. I have full grown dogs, solid little bricks, at 600 and 800 gms. so that alone tells you, your pup was more than likely compromised health wise from birth. We as breeders – reputable breeders of the HANDBAG dog, guarantee our pups against any heart or liver problems diagnosed in the first year of their life. They are also checked by our vet prior to going to a new home. IF we were to pick up a problem, the pup would not leave us. HOWEVER should any yorkie pup, develop or have a problem that is known to the breed, the sorting of that problem would be for the owners account. Sadly the yorkies as in all other pedigreed dogs, are prone to certain health issues, pedigreed various breeds are prone to certain problems and the yorkie is no exception, and if this should happen, we would definitely check out our breeding stock and have necessary testing done. More than this I can not say, I can not get involved with issues with other breeders. Surfice to say, that the small yorkie, has a bad reputation as having a shortened lifespan than the normal yorkie. I disagree with this. The tiny yorkies wellbeing is in the hands of its owner, its longevity is in the hands of its owner. Its life is in the hands of its owner. I have discussed the life span of the TINY yorkie with Dr Garry Eckersley Specialist Physician Veterinarian - his opinion. Size should have no bearing on longevity. It all boils down to the owner of the dog. I wish you the best of luck, and if in future you wish to purchase a yorkie, we will be more than happy to accommodate you.
Regards J
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