Breeders that dont stand behind their puppies.

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Eclipse
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Breeders that dont stand behind their puppies.

Post by Eclipse »

Is anyone familiar with Jeremiah Leen of Famous Chows? We bought a red girl puppy from him last September. She was diagnosed at 9 months of age with luxating patella's. He will not refund our money or send a healthy puppy. She is grade 2 at the moment. Our vet quoted us over $2000.00 dollars for the surgery to fix this. We bought her for our breeding program.
We are so upset. He advertises a complete health guarantee but obviously doesnt stand behind it. Of course we cant breed her. If you have had a similiar experience with him please let me know. He also has not sent her papers. He had her advertised at $1200.00 for pet price and we asked could we pay pet price and then pay out for full AKC. We paid the $1200.00 and then sent another $200.00 before my girl was diagnosed. Now there is no reason for full AKC and she cant be shown or bred. If anything he has been beyond rude and hateful about the whole issue.
Mother Moose
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Re: Breeders that dont stand behind their puppies.

Post by Mother Moose »

I'm not familiar with this breeder. But I'm sorry to hear about your unfortunate experience.
Hopefully after the surgery your girl will recover nicely, but I realize it is upsetting that she cannot be shown or bred. Since the breeder has not been responsive at all, maybe you can get in contact with the AKC to make them aware and potentially protect future buyers? I'm not from the US, but I assume they are there to help with concerns like this. I may be wrong.
Rory's Dad
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Re: Breeders that dont stand behind their puppies.

Post by Rory's Dad »

I am not familiar with this breeder. He is in CA while I am on the East Coast of the US. But I did a little bit of internet research after reading your post. What I found was a lot of positive feedback and quite a few good Show results. While that may not be indicative of an entire breeding program, it does indicate that he is producing some quality dogs that meet breed standard.

You should be aware that Luxating Patella can be caused by either a genetic/hereditary issue or by a traumatic event. I have had 2 chows that jumped off the couch and slid on a wood floor, or slipped on a staircase that resulted in knee or hip injuries. In both cases the vet recommended surgery, but a much more conservative approach was completely successful. Particularly with juvenile Chows the cartiledge and supporting tissue has not fully developed until almost 18 months. High quality puppy food (proteins) and supplements (cosequin) combined with limiting the risk of reinjury (keep them off the stairs and furniture) are very important. So, all of that to get to the issue of breeder response...without extensive medical testing there is no way to tell whether or not the problem is genetic or trauma related. Assuming you had the pup 7 months before the diagnosis it is difficult to firmly plant the blame.

I certainly respect your decision not to breed her. My 2 year old female suffered 1 day of seizures. Never repeated, but I would never breed her not knowing what caused it. I would never risk putting that back into the breed with a chance that it was a chemical imbalance as opposed to something she ingested. I have contacted her breeder and she assures me nothing similar has happened to her other litters.

It seems based on your post that the pup was listed as Pet Quality. Since you are obviously a breeder, look to the contract. Pet Quality contracts generally offer some protection against genetic defects, and require a visit to the vet for an exam. Show/Breeding Rights contracts should spell out the responsibilities of both parties.

Since I was researching the kennel, I also looked at your prior posts on the forum. Last post was over 1 year ago, and was about a similar situation with a different breeder. Do you have a website that could be reviewed for your pups? Am always looking for top quality dogs, particularly now that I am not going to breed my female.
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