Chances of Getting Stolen Dog Back

[willowingrj]

For ease of read.

Thank you! I was a little worked up when I wrote it and it just kind of poured out. I should have made more of an effort to make sure everyone could read it!

 

[willowingrj]

Please explain how you maintain ownership while every "guardian" home I'm aware of is either a full or partial owner of their dog while the program merely maintains breeders rights?

The dogs that we have in our breeding program are either purchased by us or are kept back from one of our breedings. We then place them in a Guardian home so they can be part of a family instead of living in an outdoor kennel system like many breeders employ. Quincy was right when he said it is similar to a foster care program. Except in this case we do transfer ownership to them once the dog's breeding is completed. They also have the option to return the dog at any time if they feel that the program is not for them, if they have a life change, if they have to move, become ill, have financial trouble etc.
I hope that makes sense. You'd be right to assume that we will be going over our contracts with our lawyer after this experience.

 

[willowingrj]

( "Preventive injunction"? Isn't that rather redundant? Like living and dying in L.A.?)
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What I'm seeing in the posting and only seeing is this:

Caption: "Chances of getting stolen dog back?"

"Can you tell us the likelihood of us getting her back?"

Now perhaps you can explain how an injunction is going to get the dog back, but I can't.

Inasmuch as the thread is already belabored and even thought it would seem unnecessary for one versed on the subject of equitable remedies it is worthy of note that:

In the state of Georgia injunctive relief is available only in "clear and urgent cases where there is a vital necessity to prevent a party from being damaged and left without an adequate remedy at law". *

And here the unborn pups have been pre- sold. Thus, irrespective of what occurs with the pregnancy or the pups, should the OP wish to pursue it, the OP would have an adequate remedy at law! The selling price.
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[*] OCGA § 9-5-1; 9-5-8;  Lewis v. City of Atlanta, 274 Ga. 296, 297, 553 S.E.2d 611 (2001);  Conner v. Conner, 269 Ga. 112, 114(2), 499 S.E.2d 54 (1998); City of Atlanta et al. v. Southern States Police Benevolent Association of Georgia et al. Court of Appeals of Georgia No. A05A1131. Decided: November 18, 2005

I do not mean to come off as ignorant, but if you could explain what you said "like I'm a 5 year old" (in the words of Michael Scott) that would be fantastic. Not familiar with "OP". First and foremost we do feel that there is an urgency in the matter. For one, I do not feel that it would be overreaching to say that it's possible that this woman could hurt the puppies or the dog. So that is our primary concern. Our next concern is that we have invested financially into this dog, the breeding process and have pre-sold the puppies. We do not want to lose the dog or the puppies. We feel a responsibility to the families that are waiting for one of this dog's puppies. Some have been waiting since 11/2015.

 

[mmmagique]

When the lady "verbally attacked" your husband, and then again at another time, you, what was she upset about? What exactly did she say?

 

[quincy]

First, OP stands for Original Poster. You are the original poster (or OP) of this thread. Some find it easier to use OP than to use the poster's user name.

There is nothing that prevents your lawyer in Georgia from seeking an injunction to prevent harm to the dog while it is under the guardian home woman's care. I think an injunction, actually, is smart. A lawsuit for breach of contract can take awhile and you do not want anything to happen to the dog or the puppies while the suit is working its way through the court. There can also, depending on the terms of the contract, be criminal charges filed (e.g., theft) if the dog/puppies are not turned over to you.

What latigo was saying in his post is that there is no guarantee a court will issue an injunction. The law and case law says there must be shown a "clear and urgent need" for the injunction. In addition, latigo says that an injunction might not be issued because there is another "adequate remedy at law."

Well, yes, there is another legal remedy - a civil action/breach of contract.

Prior to or at the same time as filing a breach of contract lawsuit, however, your Georgia attorney will be seeking an injunction (most likely a preventive or preliminary injunction). This will be a temporary order. The injunction if issued by the court will be to prevent harm or injury from occurring before the court has the opportunity to hear and decide the civil action/breach of contract suit.

I see now that you say you have "pre-sold" the puppies. Interesting.

 

[willowingrj]

When the lady "verbally attacked" your husband, and then again at another time, you, what was she upset about? What exactly did she say?

When our Guardian home dogs live outside of our local area, we have them stay with us during the breeding process and they go back home when the breeding is complete. With local families we will bring the dog home after each breeding. It is just not feasible when 4 or 5 hours of driving is involved. This Guardian home was aware of this. Before we brought the dog here for breeding she asked me if we could return her on a specific date because she would be in the area and could pick her up. I told her that we could certainly try for it, but since we do tests to check the progesterone levels and we hadn't even started that yet, I could not confirm that she would be ready to go home by that date. I told her I would have to let her know as things progressed. I do have this in writing in an email. The day before that specific date(within an hour of receiving the progesterone results, and as soon as I knew what our next step would be) I emailed her and told her that unfortunately we wouldn't be able to make the next day work. I said we could try for the day after that, but that the next day would be too soon. She needed to be bred that day. With this news she called and left an irate, ranting 2 1/2 minute message yelling at us telling us that we weren't holding up our end of the bargain. That we said she could go home on that specific day and now we were just keeping her. She yelled that we were taking advantage of the situation and that she would not allow it. It went on and on. Frankly we were completely shocked. So we tried to smooth things over with her, and we thought we did. However when my husband went to meet her, she flew off the handle and began yelling and insulting him. She was trying to provoke him to argue with her, but my husband does not anger easily and honestly I think he was completely floored at how she was behaving.

As soon as he got home I wrote the Guardian home an email(I like to do things in writing as I try very, very hard to always be professional and when it's in writing, people have a harder time twisting your words) and again tried to smooth things over. We were now in behind the 8 ball because the dog had been bred so it was in our best interest to placate her. We even offered to retire the dog after this litter (since it was too late to just cut ties now). This is the dog's first litter and beginning of her breeding career. However, we are not interested in this kind of drama and if we had any idea this is how things would go, we would have retired her without ever having bred her. We thought things were smoothed over(enough). She wrote quite a few insulting things but eventually accepted our offer to retire her after this litter. A month went by with brief correspondence to set up a meeting so we could do an ultrasound to confirm that she was pregnant. We met her on 3-23 and it was a little awkward but uneventful. When we went to meet her the next day, after telling her that the dog was pregnant, she started in on us again like the last time with my husband.

Frankly we believe this woman is unstable. This is the main reason we are so concerned for the dog's safety. We seriously considered not returning the dog but as people often do, we second guessed ourselves and gave her the benefit of the doubt that maybe she was having a bad week the last time we had trouble. Unfortunately it doesn't appear that way.

 

[justalayman]

You say the guardian were aware of the dogs staying with you during gestation. Is that in your contract? If not then it is not an enforceable action and the guardian would be right in refusing to relinquish the dog to you.

 

[willowingrj]

You say the guardian were aware of the dogs staying with you during gestation. Is that in your contract? If not then it is not an enforceable action and the guardian would be right in refusing to relinquish the dog to you.

I did not say that the Guardian home family is aware that the dogs stay with us during gestation. They don't. The dogs come to us when it is time to whelp (deliver) the puppies. Our contract does states clearly and in bold print that " - Breeder name - will whelp and raise each litter at their home". We also have a Guardian home page on our website that clearly details the process as well as emails explaining exactly how things work.

It appears that you have a problem with me being a breeder and therefore are not responding based on what I've said, but your preconceived notions of what breeders are all about. You have not been helpful in anyway thus far. Please feel free to move along and allow the people that have worthwhile advice and are not allowing their personal feelings to cloud their responses contribute.

 

[justalayman]

Well, until the pups pop you have no right to demand the dog be relinquished to you.

 

[justalayman]

An injunction is what our lawyer said we could file to get immediate possession of the dog. Again, I am not a lawyer and didn't get to speak to ours too in depth as it was after hours before the long weekend. Can you explain what "tort and contract" means? How we can use it?

Thank you!

You Can abide by the contract you signed and forget about any tort since you have said nothing that would suggest a tort action is available.

You can have a torte and quit the histrionics though. You have a contract in place. Live by it. You wailing about she is unstable and you fear for the dog and pups is bordering on defamation.


And I am responding based on what you said. I erred in the gestation issue. I read the statement the dogs stayed with you during the breeding process to include the gestation. My mistake. Whoopee.

 

[quincy]

I did not say that the Guardian home family is aware that the dogs stay with us during gestation. They don't. The dogs come to us when it is time to whelp (deliver) the puppies. Our contract does states clearly and in bold print that " - Breeder name - will whelp and raise each litter at their home". We also have a Guardian home page on our website that clearly details the process as well as emails explaining exactly how things work.

It appears that you have a problem with me being a breeder and therefore are not responding based on what I've said, but your preconceived notions of what breeders are all about. You have not been helpful in anyway thus far. Please feel free to move along and allow the people that have worthwhile advice and are not allowing their personal feelings to cloud their responses contribute.

Again, it will be the wording of the contract that will determine what you can and cannot do with the dog currently in possession of the home guardian. I recommend you wait for word from the Georgia attorney. After the attorney has had the chance to review the contract in its entirety, the attorney will let you know about the injunction and whether s/he thinks a civil action can be supported.

You might want to prepare yourself for the possibility that the contract as written is unenforceable and that you must relinquish all control of the pregnant dog to the guardian. I don't know how likely a possibility this is. Your attorney will have a better idea.

Good luck.

 

[mmmagique]

This has nothing to do with the legal issues, but as someone who has many (too many!) pets, both purebred and from shelters, I just want to say that I like the idea of your breeding dogs being allowed in homes as pets. (especially for the males, as having more than one intact male in a household can cause big issues, and lead to them being caged for most of the time) The only thing I would do differently, is, if I were allowing one of your breeder dogs to stay in my home as family, I would expect not to have to pay anything at all for the dog when it finally is retired.

Good luck with working something out with that lady. She does sound a bit...extreme.

 

[willowingrj]

Again, it will be the wording of the contract that will determine what you can and cannot do with the dog currently in possession of the home guardian. I recommend you wait for word from the Georgia attorney. After the attorney has had the chance to review the contract in its entirety, the attorney will let you know about the injunction and whether s/he thinks a civil action can be supported.

You might want to prepare yourself for the possibility that the contract as written is unenforceable and that you must relinquish all control of the pregnant dog to the guardian. I don't know how likely a possibility this is. Your attorney will have a better idea.

Good luck.

We are definitely preparing for the possibility of that unfortunate turn of events. This still seems very surreal, and I'm having a hard time believing it's really happening. As I've said, we care very much about our dogs. We were happy to retire this dog after this one and only litter since this situation was not working out. Had the Guardian home had a discussion with us prior to us breeding the dog, we could have retired her before ever having bred her and avoided this whole thing. As it is, trouble only arose after the dog was bred, and again after the pregnancy was confirmed. Because she has become so angry, and volatile completely unprovoked several times now, we do have concern for the dog and the puppies well being. We will do our best to handle this in a way that is best for the dog and puppies, as that is what is most important to us.

Thank you very much for your advice and explanations. It gave me a little piece of mind this weekend as well as a better understanding of what route we might take.

 

[willowingrj]

This has nothing to do with the legal issues, but as someone who has many (too many!) pets, both purebred and from shelters, I just want to say that I like the idea of your breeding dogs being allowed in homes as pets. (especially for the males, as having more than one intact male in a household can cause big issues, and lead to them being caged for most of the time) The only thing I would do differently, is, if I were allowing one of your breeder dogs to stay in my home as family, I would expect not to have to pay anything at all for the dog when it finally is retired.

Good luck with working something out with that lady. She does sound a bit...extreme.

We truly love our breeding dogs and puppies and want the best for them. Having a manageable number here at our home since they are all indoor, family pets and placing some in Guardian homes has worked so well for us for 10 years now. It works well for many responsible breeders and is not uncommon. We know that each of our dogs is getting love, attention, training, companionship and living a full life. Our puppies are hand raised in our home and many of them go on to be therapy dogs. A few work for the Ronald MacDonald house, so our dogs/puppies being in a home environment is very important.

The "thank you" fee that we give our Guardian homes covers the 1/2 price cost that they pay, and then some. We try to show our appreciation for them as much as we can. Not only monetarily but in our actions as well.

Thank you for your comments, and have a wonderful day with all your furry ones!