willowingrj
Junior Member
What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? South Carolina
This is my first time here and I wasn't sure exactly where to post this. It is a business matter, but let me know if I should post it somewhere else.
I am a breeder. We place our breeding dogs in Guardian homes. A Guardian home is a "caretaker" of the breeding dog. They provide a loving home, food etc, while we maintain ownership and breeding rights. This allows all our dogs to be family pets. We have a contract that our Guardian home signs. It does stipulate that we are the sole owners of the dog and that the guardian home has no claim of ownership on any puppies, cannot breed the dog, spay/neuter the dog, and that ownership will be transferred to the Guardian home once the dog is retired from our breeding program and has been spayed/neutered. Unfortunately we are having an issue with one of our Guardian homes. She has had one of our dogs since she was a puppy. We have been in contact with her many times in the last almost 2 years. We have exchanged emails, she has sent us pictures. The dog visited us in January so we could get to know her before we bred her. There were no problems. The Guardian home began causing trouble after the dog was bred on 2-23. When my husband met her to exchange the dog after we bred her she verbally attacked him and berated him for 20 minuted trying to provoke an argument. My husband remained calm and diffused the situation as much as he could. We tried and thought we had smoothed things over. We contacted her and let her know we had an ultrasound scheduled for 3-24 and that we would need to meet to pick the dog up on 3-23 and could meet again on 3-24 to return her to her Guardian home until she was ready to deliver her puppies. We(we decided it was best for neither of us to go alone to meet her after how she behaved the last time) met her on 3-23 without incident. On 3-24 we confirmed that she was pregnant and met the Guardian home to return her. At this point she became verbally aggressive and tried to provoke a fight. When I tried to get her to confirm that we would be bringing the dog back to us on 4-13, she said we'll have to get our lawyers to figure it out and began backing away towards her car. We followed, at a distance and told her that we couldn't let her leave with our pregnant dog while threatening not to return her. At this point she roughly shoved the pregnant dog into her car. My husband said, I'm going to call the police. The guardian home lady then started yelling, help help! This lady is trying to "square up on me". However we were lucky and there were police officers that were just about to go through the drive through and my husband was out in the parking lot flagging them down. It was easy for them to see that even though she was yelling, nothing was happening and that I was a good 3-5 feet away from her. We did have to speak to the police and because they deemed it a civil matter with no criminal charges to be filed(no assault etc) they let her go with the dog. We do have a call in to our lawyer but of course it is a holiday weekend so we are on pins and needles trying not to get ourselves worked up as we worry about the well being of our dog and her puppies. I think our lawyer plans to file an injunction to get our dog back. Can you tell us the likelihood of us getting her back? As I mentioned, we do have a contract, almost two years worth of emails talking about the dog and breeding her. We also have a website with the dog listed there as one of our breeding dogs. We have Vet bills showing that we did the breeding and the ultrasound confirming pregnancy. The dog is also registered with the CKC under our names and breeding program. The other question would be, are there any criminal charges that can be filed. This woman is knowingly stealing a breeding dog that is pregnant with puppies(that we already have pre-sold by the way). It seems unfair that there wouldn't be a way to file criminal charges against her. Sorry for the length of the question. Just wanted to give as much detail as possible. We are in South Carolina and the Guardian home is in Georgia. Thanks so much!
This is my first time here and I wasn't sure exactly where to post this. It is a business matter, but let me know if I should post it somewhere else.
I am a breeder. We place our breeding dogs in Guardian homes. A Guardian home is a "caretaker" of the breeding dog. They provide a loving home, food etc, while we maintain ownership and breeding rights. This allows all our dogs to be family pets. We have a contract that our Guardian home signs. It does stipulate that we are the sole owners of the dog and that the guardian home has no claim of ownership on any puppies, cannot breed the dog, spay/neuter the dog, and that ownership will be transferred to the Guardian home once the dog is retired from our breeding program and has been spayed/neutered. Unfortunately we are having an issue with one of our Guardian homes. She has had one of our dogs since she was a puppy. We have been in contact with her many times in the last almost 2 years. We have exchanged emails, she has sent us pictures. The dog visited us in January so we could get to know her before we bred her. There were no problems. The Guardian home began causing trouble after the dog was bred on 2-23. When my husband met her to exchange the dog after we bred her she verbally attacked him and berated him for 20 minuted trying to provoke an argument. My husband remained calm and diffused the situation as much as he could. We tried and thought we had smoothed things over. We contacted her and let her know we had an ultrasound scheduled for 3-24 and that we would need to meet to pick the dog up on 3-23 and could meet again on 3-24 to return her to her Guardian home until she was ready to deliver her puppies. We(we decided it was best for neither of us to go alone to meet her after how she behaved the last time) met her on 3-23 without incident. On 3-24 we confirmed that she was pregnant and met the Guardian home to return her. At this point she became verbally aggressive and tried to provoke a fight. When I tried to get her to confirm that we would be bringing the dog back to us on 4-13, she said we'll have to get our lawyers to figure it out and began backing away towards her car. We followed, at a distance and told her that we couldn't let her leave with our pregnant dog while threatening not to return her. At this point she roughly shoved the pregnant dog into her car. My husband said, I'm going to call the police. The guardian home lady then started yelling, help help! This lady is trying to "square up on me". However we were lucky and there were police officers that were just about to go through the drive through and my husband was out in the parking lot flagging them down. It was easy for them to see that even though she was yelling, nothing was happening and that I was a good 3-5 feet away from her. We did have to speak to the police and because they deemed it a civil matter with no criminal charges to be filed(no assault etc) they let her go with the dog. We do have a call in to our lawyer but of course it is a holiday weekend so we are on pins and needles trying not to get ourselves worked up as we worry about the well being of our dog and her puppies. I think our lawyer plans to file an injunction to get our dog back. Can you tell us the likelihood of us getting her back? As I mentioned, we do have a contract, almost two years worth of emails talking about the dog and breeding her. We also have a website with the dog listed there as one of our breeding dogs. We have Vet bills showing that we did the breeding and the ultrasound confirming pregnancy. The dog is also registered with the CKC under our names and breeding program. The other question would be, are there any criminal charges that can be filed. This woman is knowingly stealing a breeding dog that is pregnant with puppies(that we already have pre-sold by the way). It seems unfair that there wouldn't be a way to file criminal charges against her. Sorry for the length of the question. Just wanted to give as much detail as possible. We are in South Carolina and the Guardian home is in Georgia. Thanks so much!