Refund $2000?

What is the name of your state? Texas

We purchased a very large breed dog in February of 2004 for $2000 from a breeder in NC. We signed a long lengthy contract that we have abided by the entire time. The dog began having seizures at 10 months old (in December of 2004). The breeder offered to take the dog back to try and figure out what was going on. We declined and spent thousands of dollars on testing and medication as well as emergency hospital stays...doing our best to figure it out ourselves. It became worse and worse to the point where the dog would throw up several times a night due to all the medication he was on . He couldn't keep down food and ran into things all the time. We finally called the breeder and took her up on her offer once we had done everything we could.

We gave him to the breeder in August of 2005. After only a few vet visits, the breeder learned that he had Lyme's disease which was causing the seizures. However, only TWO WEEKS prior to giving him to her, we had the dog tested for Lyme's disease ourselves and it came back negative. Apparently the lab that my Vet uses cannot differentiate between "exposure to" and "infection of" Lymes. We have all the documents proving that we had all the same tests and did everything we could to solve the problem. How could we have known that the Vet uses a bad lab?

Now that the dog is better, we want him back. If she refuses to give him back, we at least want the $2000 refunded that we paid for him. The breeder blames us even though we have followed her contract completely...including the weird feeding schedules, etc. She says we should have contacted her sooner rather than trying to figure things out on our own. I say we paid $2000 for the dog and it is OUR dog...so there is nothing wrong with us doing our very best to figure it out with our Veterinarian before taking the problem to her.

So, do we have a case to get our money back or have the dog returned to us? We also paid thousands of dollars in medical expenses, but we don't blame her for that (even though it was determined by the Vet that the dog probably came from NC to us with Lyme's disease when it was a puppy). Lymes isn't a genetic breeding thing, it is aquired so we aren't asking for the medical expenses. Just a refund of the dog since we gave him back to her...or for her to deliver the dog back to us. This was VERY hard emotionally on our entire family.

Do I have a case? The contract does state that if at any point the dog is delivered back to her in a sick condition that she is not reponsible for a refund. But we have medical records stating everything we attempted to help the dog...not to mention that the dog probably came from the breeder already infected. However, that can't be proven. Help!

You're entitled to either the dog or $2000. If the breeder doesn't return the dog to you, you're entitled to your $2000 back.

teflon

If this is stated in the contract and they signed it.

"The contract does state that if at any point the dog is delivered back to her in a sick condition that she is not reponsible for a refund".

Why would they be entitled to a refund. They had the dog for 10 months before any symptoms started to show. They cannot prove that the dog had this disease when they purchased it. They then waited another 8 months to send the dog back to the breeder. This means the dog was almost 2 years old when the breeder got it back.

When she offered to take the dog back, it was originally an offer to see if she can help figure out what was wrong...NOT to give him to her indefinately. But now she decided we should have gone to her sooner (since she thinks she knows better than all Vets), she blames us and won't give him back.

The dog was 16 months old when we let her take him to try and figure out what was going on. He was LESS than a year-and-a-half old and we only had the dog in our posession a little over a year.

Also, the sick condition cannot be proven to be something that we caused or should have been able to prevent. There are numerous statements in her contract about her guarantee of the health of the dog too. I guess I probably need to have a lawyer look at the lengthy contract to really get a feel for what rights I might have here, if any.

definately see a lawyer

However this statement also applies to the person who sold the dog to you.

"Also, the sick condition cannot be proven to be something that we caused or should have been able to prevent."

You have already stated that you cannot prove the dog was sick when you bought it. I'm not possitive but I think the burden of proof is on you and if you cannot prove it either way you may have a problem.

You also have to show you were not giving the dog back but only letting her have it checked out.

Good luck, I do hope you get something back on this.