The Puppy Died

What is the name of your state? CA.

We bought a puppy on Fri. and it died on Sat.

The story goes that We drove for 4 hours to a breeder to purchase a Corgi puppy. The puppy looked fine. We noticed though that when she tried to poop she wasn't able to. The breeder quickly stated that he had given her some dog treats and some milk and thinks that why she was blocked up, but that most puppies can easily become constipated and she'd be fine. He then said to give her some cod oil if we'd liked to help it along.

I asked if he guaranteed her & he said yes. But there was no written contract between us. Just this oral agreement.

Like I said, she looked just fine otherwise, and we'd come so far to get her, so we paid him the $600 and took her home. She never once had a b/m and by the next day it was obvious she needed a vet. We had to drive an hour & half to the closest open vet and when we got there I had him x-ray her first. Sure enough there was a large blockage. He tried giving her an enema but told me that he felt that the condition wasn't just the blockadge but that her anal sphincter tone was poor and gave her only a 5%-15% chance & sent us home. His advise being to return her to the breeder.

She died on the way home. The vet never said that that might happen and we cried the rest of the way back. We put her body in the freezer in the event the breeder required it back. My husband had been in contact throughout that day with the breeder keeping him posted on what was going on.

We decided to stop payment on the check, mainly becuase of the long distance and the general feeling we got about this guys integrity.

My husband wants the breeder to reimburse us for the vet bill & gas costs. Totaling $269.81

The Breeder seems to want to sue somebody for the $600. he's out for the puppy. Wether it be us or the vet. He wants us to take her body to another vet and have an autopsy done.

We're willing to do that, but in the end what diffrence should it make wether the puppy died from crap he fed her or a congenital condition. Both were present before purchase.

Can you please tell me what you think the outcome of this story will be.

Supposing you can prove there was a guarantee on the dog. The breeder would potentially be liable for your costs of a replacement dog (from another breeder) plus reimbursement of incidental costs (the vet & gas costs).

However, you would have to give the breeder the $600 -- you're not entitled to a free dog, you're entitled to get what you bargained for under the contract (a $600 corgi). You cannot 'punish' the breeder by withholding the money.

Thank you very much. We aren't sure yet how far this will go, but your input is consistent with what we had been thinking.

Thanks again.

I concur in part and dissent in part.

You are definitely entitled to expectancy damages as described above.

However, I think you are fine to stop payment on the check for $600. In fact, I think you'd better do so immediately because otherwise you are almost certainly going to have to take this to court to get your money back. To put it in legalese, the dog living for more than one day is a constructive condition of exchange under the contract. .

Thank you as well.

The latest to this little saga is that in my search for another puppy we discovered that this same breeder had sold another puppy just 6 months ago (coinsiding with the last litter) to another guy, and that it died the EXACT same way. Turns out this guy had gone to school with the breeder and had commented that this breeder guy was not what you'd call a "Good Guy".

So yes...we feel fully justified in stoping payment on that check.

Because of the distance and additional expense we're not gonna pursue it further, (unless he sues us) since even if we did win and get a judgment, I doubt we'd ever get our money back...I don't think he owns anything.

But thanks again for your input.