Refund $2000 dog?

[emmib2003]

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!

 

[xylene]

I pity...

the dog breeder.

I mean, either you trust this person (the breeder) or not?

What is your problem anyway? What kind of person expects a warranty on a living thing? I hope the law is against you because that is sick.

Besides, despite being a living thing, unless there ia some kind of warranty in your contract- which you never adequately discuss - then why would you get anything?

It was your dog- and you paid the vet bills. It is seemingly just that simple.

Why would you return the dog to the breeder unless you never wanted it back? That I just don't get under any circumstsances.

Why not just get a lab mix from the SPCA...

Sooo- good job wasting your money and expecting a living thing to be guaranteed (esp outside of a contract)

If the breeder still has your dog, and it seems obvious that the breeder might not... then take it back.

The breed keeps what you paid, and you can get a second mortgage for your dogs bills.

 

[divgradcurl]

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.

Seems like your contract says that you don't get the money back. However, you may want to discuss this with an attorney, who can review the entire contract and advise you accordingly. If the breeder is local, you could try small claims, the contract language above works against you, but you never know -- typically neither side gets the goods and the money, you get one or the other.

How could we have known that the Vet uses a bad lab?

Just a point, there is no lway that you could have known that your Vet uses a "bad lab" -- but that's not the breeder's fault either. Perhaps, after so much time and money spent with no resolution, you should have tried out another vet...

EDIT: Just out of curiosity, what "very large breed" are you talking about? I'm just curious, we have Great Pyrenees, which are "very large," and sometimes other people's version of "very large" seems a but small...

 

[emmib2003]

Yes, he was a Great Dane and weighed 140lbs...so he was still pretty small for a dane. We purchased the dog for $2000 and he became so sick he would vomit 3-4 times a night...which was about a gallon each time. He would also urinate and defecate (only when he had seizures) which was also about a gallon. It was very difficult...we never slept. But all of that was only due to the medication he had to be on in order to keep the seizures under control.

The breeder pressured us to return the dog to her so that she could try to figure out what was going on from the very beginning, but we were firm...over and over again telling her that he was OUR dog and we loved him dearly and we weren't ABOUT to give him back to her. So we did everything we could to make him well...spending thousands and thousands of dollars before we realized that we were not equipped to take care of a 140 lb dog that is SOOO ill. So we finally conceeded to her request to try and figure out herself what was wrong.

By the way, Xylene...she keeps in good contact with ALL of her puppy owners and has, in fact, taken a puppies back temporarily several times to help if there is an issue that the owner is not well-equipped to handle (THAT should have been a sign right there, if she has had to do that for people before). Also, you might be interested to know that she does still have the dog and updates pictures of him on her website regularly.

When we gave him to her, she did tell us that she wanted to take him to her holistic Vets to see what they say and to some specialists and if she can figure out what was going on, she said she would return him. While the contract does state that she won't refund if a dog is sick...she also guaranteed the health of the dog in the contract. I don't think it can be proven that the Lyme's disease is something that we could have prevented or held responsible for. In fact, we have records of thousands of dollars spent doing everything we can to help the dog. We never broke our contract.

This whole ordeal was hard on the entire family. We were very attached to him, but could not function and thought a stay-at-home owner would be better suited since he had such special needs.

Perhaps I should have a lawyer look at the entire lengthy contract to know what rights I really might have here, if any.

 

[emmib2003]

Also, FYI...he no longer has any seizures and is completely off the medication since he has been treated for Lyme's disease. So he doesn't get sick to his stomach or run into things anymore either. But she will not return him because she blames us for the fact that our Vet uses a lab that can't differentiate between "exposure to" and "infection of" Lyme's disease. We would never use that Vet again, that's for sure. But we had no way of knowing and given all of our attempts and procedures we paid for, we did everything we knew to help him.

 

[xylene]

before we realized that we were not equipped to take care of a 140 lb dog that is SOOO ill.

ALL dogs will become that ill. You chose your pet very poorly, no matter how much you feel you love him.

When we gave him to her, she did tell us that she wanted to take him to her holistic Vets to see what they say and to some specialists and if she can figure out what was going on, she said she would return him. While the contract does state that she won't refund if a dog is sick...she also guaranteed the health of the dog in the contract. I don't think it can be proven that the Lyme's disease is something that we could have prevented or held responsible for. In fact, we have records of thousands of dollars spent doing everything we can to help the dog. We never broke our contract.

??? We never broke... What the heck does that mean? Did you surrender the ownership to the breeder or not?

I highly doubt the contract guarantees the dogs health permanently, only on delivery.

You are under no obligations to the breeder! Your dog is your property. You own it. It is your to treat as you wish.

You could have fed the dog ALPO once a day, and it would still be your dog.

This whole ordeal was hard on the entire family. We were very attached to him, but could not function and thought a stay-at-home owner would be better suited since he had such special needs.

Perhaps I should have a lawyer look at the entire lengthy contract to know what rights I really might have here, if any.

Your hardship is yours to bear. The fact that this breeder is an overbearing meddler is irrelevant.

You have the right to the dog (unless you surrendered it) or the 2000 dollars. Nothing else. If the breeder has the dog put down you may have the 2000 coming...

 

[emmib2003]

You don't even understand my question, Xylene!

Quote:
"All dogs will become that ill."

Do you know anyone else who has had to clean up a milk-jug's worth of vomit three times a night for 8 months? How can you make that blanket statement? That alone makes you seem extremely ignorant.

Quote:
"I highly doubt the contract guarantees the dogs health permanently, only on delivery."

Wrong again. The contract guaranteed health up to a year and he was 10 months old when he began having seizures.

Quote:
"You have the right to the dog (unless you surrendered it) or the 2000 dollars. Nothing else. "

That's all I want and I have already said we do NOT want money for any of the Vet bills because we do not blame her. We did not surrender ownership of the dog, however we should have signed an agreement at the time so that we can prove that. Now it is just her word agains ours. All I wanted was some advice to whether or not I even have a case, or if we just simply screwed up when we let her take him. All I want is our baby back, or a refund of the $2000 since she decided to keep him.

Quote:
"You are under no obligations to the breeder! Your dog is your property. You own it. It is your to treat as you wish."

You are wrong. The contract addressed every aspect of our raising the dog. We were under contract to feed according to the breeder's diet (including lots of weird raw meat and a homemade stew that I had to cook every night as well as a mixture of oats and grains that I made three times a day). We were under contract about where we could keep the dog (inside vs outside) and not to physically abuse the dog. We WERE under obligations to the breeder or we would be fined $2000 for some of the infractions and more for others. If we had put him to sleep when he was so sick, she would have grounds to fine us $50,000 in damages according to that contract!


Let's face it. We were pretty dumb to sign such a restricting contract. However, she did have many references and none of the other puppies from the litter have had any problems. We assumed it would be the same for us. We have learned our lesson. However, Xylene, you should inquire about more facts before you make assumptions and throw backhanded remarks. You are rude and it's hard to take anyone seriously who makes such broad assumptions.