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Puppy Contracts


laurenic33
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Is it a requirement of a registered Great Dane breeder to sell their puppies with a contract?

My breeder is registered and comes highly recommended to me, but does not sell her puppies with contracts.

Just wanting to check whether this is considered normal of ok...

Cheers

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Used to think they were a good idea now I dont. If I like a pup I will keep it. Legally the 'contract' holds no weight over future decissions of the owner. Dogs owned in 'partnership' more often than not end in dramas and resentments and broken friendships. If I buy a pup then these should be NO STRINGS ATTACHED IMO, if I sell a pup then there are NO STRINGS ATTACHED This is just my opinion.... based on way too much experience.

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The ONLY way any breeder can guarantee that a dog wont develop any health issue and be given much credibility is if the specific health issue is a recessive disorder which they have been able to do a DNA test on or something that can be seen and guaranteed against. So for example I could guarantee that a dog wont get PRA because I've tested the parents and I know they couldn't produce a pup that could go blind from PRA. But I cant guarantee that a dog wont get HD no matter how much I've tested or scored etc.

By law every pup that goes home has to be in a healthy condition and its reasonable for a breeder to be expected to refund or replace a pup that becomes ill within a few weeks of it going home if its something it may be incubating when it left the breeder or something which was caused by neglect from the breeder such as a heavy worm burden etc but in all honesty no breeder can guarantee much more and usually there will be circumstances beyond the breeder's control which may have impacted even if it appears to have a genetic base. HD may be caused because the dog is over weight, been allowed to have the wrong exercise etc.

Unless these things are written up extremely carefully they create major brawls when something does go wrong. When you tell a puppy buyer I will guarantee that a pup wont get HD thats all they hear so when the dog does get HD and the breeder determines its because the dog has been over weight and wont honour the guarantee there is a battle looming.

Reality is all you can guarantee is that the pup is well and healthy when it leaves the breeder to go home.

As far as a contract for sale is concerned where breeders put conditions on the sale - once the dog is owned by someone else the previous owner doesn't get to tell them what they can and cant do with it - this is the law and no other piece of paper changes that.

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Health guarantees can mean that the breeder will take back the dog and refund the purchase price if they develop an issue that is hereditary.

Yep except most times by then the dog is part of the family and some conditions known to be heritable can also be impacted by the environment, lack of certain hormones when they are desexed, diet, injury etc.For a breeder to stipulate that someone has to give their family member back before they can be compensated really sucks and unlikely to happen - breeders who give that guarantee know this and in my opinion its not on.

So anyone that is issuing a guarantee needs to be specific about what it is exactly they are guaranteeing and for how long and also have written the conditions under which they will accept responsibility and those things which will mean they wont accept responsibility. Will they require independent opinions ,vet reports etc , who will pay for these? If the dog is returned who will pay for transport costs.Who will pay for treatments and vet care and for how long and a multitude of other seemingly insignificant things which become full blown murder mystery material when it happens.

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ours is merely just what we expect of our owners to do. so like thibgs like if they can't care for the puppy anymore that they can return the puppy to us and that we will hold $ x of their purchase price and we will return that to them once puppy is desexed and that if puppy develops any kind of condition that could potentially affect siblings (shouldn't be any due to health testing but you never know).and we also sign a copy of what they can expect from us such as assistance when they have questions and that at anytime in the puppies life we will take it back if circumstances change...

nothing overally extreme just how we except our puppy buyers to be towards us and what they can expect us to do for them..

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