Breeder Ordered To Pay For Sick Puppy

[korbin13]

http://www.perthnow.com.au/news/western-australia/breeder-ordered-to-pay-for-sick-puppy/story-e6frg143-1226134213489

A COURTROOM battle over a sick puppy named Eddie has cost a backyard dog breeder more than $5000.

Fay Armstrong was ordered to pay damages over the dog she sold to a customer after it became ill.

She appealed the decision but this week the District Court threw out her bid to have it overturned and also ordered her to pay additional legal costs.

Ms Armstrong, 57, this year became the first person forced to sign a declaration to never sell diseased animals following numerous complaints about her breeding operation.

The landmark legal action was lodged by Consumer Protection.

Last year, Ms Armstrong was told she would have to compensate Fiona Schneider for the money she spent on Eddie and for the distress the sale caused.

In 2008, Ms Schneider bought the golden retriever pup from Ms Armstrong, who claimed the dog was a pure bred and had been vaccinated.

But a few days after the sale, the canine became sick and required substantial veterinary care. It had contracted parvovirus.

Ms Schneider told PerthNow she had launched the legal action after Ms Armstrong refused to take any responsibility for Eddie's condition and also refused to pay half the medical bills.

In November 2010, a magistrate ordered Ms Armstrong pay $4779.19 in damages. However, she appealed the decision.

This week, District Court judge John Wisbey dismissed the application and ordered she pay additional legal costs.

Ms Schneider said she was pleased with the latest ruling but feared the battle may not be over.

She explained that in court the 57-year-old threatened to take the matter to the Supreme Court.

"I understand why people don't want to take legal action in cases like this," Ms Schneider said. "This has gone on for three years. I am still trying to get the original costs.

"But I did it because I just felt I had to stand up to her and I didn't want this to happen to anyone else.

"If she had of agreed to pay half the medical bills I probably would have left it but she dug her heels in and I felt she shouldn't be allowed to get away with this."

[Atanquin]

Parvo I would like to hear if she had taken him outside to a park or something like that if so then the breeder isn't at fault, but if the pup had caught from where he was living then yes the lady should pay

( just re read post and saw she was a byb so most likely caught from her place)

[Guest Willow]

It's my understanding this breeder was investigated by A Current Affair for many sick puppies....

link

apologies if I have the wrong person.

[raz]

I dont know why they put byber in the article and dont explain what that means. Average Jo out there looking for a pup wouldnt know what that means.

[LizT]

I dont know why they put byber in the article and dont explain what that means. Average Jo out there looking for a pup wouldnt know what that means.

True. Some people have told me they thought a BYBer was a "non commercial breeder" or "hobbyist".

[sandgrubber]

If the 'breeder' can't provide proof of vaccination or sustain the claim of 'pure bred' by providing papers, I'd say good on the courts. He or she deserves a kick in the wallet. I see this as a highly efficient way of ridding the dog world of shonky breeders.

[liamber]

Yes I agree. They should definately be named and shamed to the whole world!!! We brought a Dogue De Boardeaux from what we thought was a reputable breeder, she has a flash website and all the bells and whistles, she told us that we had to make a decision quickly as she had other buyers interested in him, that there should have been enough for us to say no thank you, but being quite new to all of it we just thought ok she is giving us first preference!!! He looked lovely when he arrived and for the first 2 or 3 months after he was fine but then one after another started happening which we had researched before and knew that these things "may" go wrong with this particular breed. I reckon everything that this breed could develop our "Max" did. He suffered skin disorders, some kind of blood disorder which causes his left front leg to swell so badly so quickly after a small knock to it that the skin burst open on a friday night that we had to rush him to the vets. We contacted the breeder several times by phone and email and never did she respond to us. She was quite happy to hear his "show progress" but when it came time to hear of his "other" progress she didn't want to know, all we wanted was some advice from a person that we put our trust and faith into thinking that she knew the breed well enough.

Anyway after 2 years of battling every illness known to this breed and not to mention thousands of dollars later we had to make the very difficult and sad decision to put him to sleep We decided that he had suffered enough and we didn't want him to be put through anymore agony. All the money in the world would never have fixed him and that was the words from our vet and she is a vet who will try anything and everything before she will put a dog to sleep. We had him cremated and he is now at peace and rest with us at home. I contaceted the breeder to give her the bad news and also to tell her exactly what I thought of her and believe me I wasn't very nice. She responded almost immediately blaming us for his death!!!! WTF!!! I don't really understand how it was our fault She said that if we had of seen a "large breed" specialist vet then we wouldn't have had the trouble we did?? We live in Darwin and had seen a vet that had large breed knowledge and it didn't make any difference. I was so frustated and angry that she could put it back onto us for his death. She has no right in calling herself a breeder. In our eyes she is nothing but a puppy farmer and that is exactly what I told her, needless to say she didn't contact us back after that. She had a guestbook set up on her website and after reading some of the posts from various people who had purchased dogs from her that had similar problems as we did, she deleted the guestbook, how surprising!!!

If anything this has made us so much more savvy and wary and a very sad thing not very trustworthy!!! I have just finished reading a book called "Saving Gracie" it is about puppy mills in the USA and is just so sad and distressing to think that all these nasty things are still going on. It really made me think about what I could do to try a change things. It really makes you look at your own dogs as they are snoozing on the couch or the bed and want to give them a big hug and kiss to make them realise how lucky they are. Some of the things that happen to these poor "puppy mill" dogs are horrendous and the owners of these places should have the same done to them!!! A little harsh I know but it just makes me very mad and sick to the stomach.

Anyway that is my story and I congratulate this lady for standing up to the byber and perhaps that is what needs to happen in the future.