Dog Seller Liabilitys

[can it be luck?]

Hopefully some of you guys can help me out here. Someone I know bought a cocker spaniel pup for some BIG bucks. The dog was born 10/12/03 and was picked up 11/27/03. The dog has been to the vet a couple of times now, and it was just found out today that the dog has a birth defect. An abnormal blood flow to the liver and brain. The dog's prognosis isn't good. What is the seller liable for? I think a full refund as well as reimbursment of vet bills, however I'm not quite sure exactly. Any info., advise, or anything is greatly appreciated! Thank you all.

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[This message has been edited by can it be luck? (edited 12-26-2003).]

[BLACKJACK]

Thats a tough one. I think it boils down to what the agreement was between the buyer and the seller? Did the seller provide a written health guarantee? If not, I think the buyer is out of luck. Hopefully if the seller is a reputable kennel, they may provide a new pup.

As you can see by some of my other posts, I have a lab puppy coming next week. The seller is guaranteeing the hips and eyes, and is having the puppy vet checked, but thats it. If the situation that you described came up, I would expect to take the loss.

[LABS4ME]

As BlackJack stated hopefully the kennel is reputable and will stand behind their pup. Most puppy guarntees spell out specifically what will be guaranteed, in this case unless a blanket health guarantee was made, it won't be in writing, but should be covered none-the-less.

The vet bills are another issue. Most contracts do spell out that the cost of vet bills and diagnosis is paid by the buyer. If a second opinion is requested by the breeder they can pay these. If the prognosis for survival is poor, ask the breeder for permission to put the pup down now so as to cut off any prolonged suffering and bills adding up while this is sorted out.

Now to the final solution, while this may be a rare disorder, I'd be cautious on taking another pup from this breeder if it involves any of the same lines that this pup was born from. Even if the chances are slim that another pup can contract the same disease, the possibility exists. I would ask for a full refund of my puppy purchase price and go elsewhere. I've had clients and friends who wanted a house dog and were looking at Cockers. I told them that they should look into FIELD bred English Cockers. These are dynamite little dogs that do not have any of the negative tendencies of an American Cocker. The show people have done nothing but to totally destroy what is one of the only bred field dogs developed in the USA. I've been told countless stories about the work these little dogs would do in the pheasant fields 50 years ago. Now all they want to do is shake nervously and pee in the house.

Good Luck in a quick resolution to your problem.....

Ken

[Big Dave2]

I have a cocker spaniel and have taken her out into the field a couple of times in the last 2 years. She is 10 yrs old now.
I was wondering if you thought that she could have been a good hunter if I would have worked with her at a young age?
I got her when she was 3 or so from my sister who didn't want her any more. We took her just to be a house/family dog.
She is a pure bred and looks as though she is kind of trying to smell birds when we are out but she has never flushed anything, but that could be because nothing was there.
I just have always wondered what might have been.
Thanks for the opinions,
Dave

[setterguy]

In my experiences the seller of a puppy usually will reimburce purchase price or supply another puppy, Vet bills are usually the responsibility of the buyer unless something was worked out before hand. Its wortha shot to see if the seller would maybe split the costs, that may be a small price to pay for good word of mouth.

[can it be luck?]

Thank you for all the responses! As it turns out, the dog will be put down. My girlfriends mom bought this pup from what I think is a "puppy farm". They will give her another pup, but as stated..How good will that one be? I wish she wouldn't of bought from this kennel, but haveing just lost her other cocker pup to a car accident, and feeling lonely, she bought the first thing that came up. I still can't believe she paid close to $1000 for it!! Tomorrow they will go get the new pup and take back the other one. I for darn sure will not be along, I'll probably say some things to the kennel owners that I might wish I hadn't. I have total disrespect for indiscriminate breeders like these. Money is the only motivational factor for some people. Thanks again, Mark