Barb Hoorman wrote:
> I am amazed to hear breeders selling puppies without a health guarantee of > some kind. WOW! Whether you pay $800 or $8000 - that is a lot of money and a > lot of heartache for the buyers if something goes wrong. If you give no > health guarantees, don't feel that testing is worth squat - I am curious as > to why you feel you are doing a service to the public by selling puppies? > > The reason I personally do not have a health guarantee is that I have had such difficulty writing one that would cover all eventualities. Without any health guarantees, I have dealt with the few health problems that have come up throughout the years. Two of my puppies died at 4 yrs and 2 yrs - both autoimmune problems - I replaced both puppies (no guarantee). I have paid for two patella luxation surgeries (no guarantee). I have paid for vet fees (twice) for a puppies that came down with a physical problem shortly after going to its new home (no guarantee). I have offered the purchase price to be returned to a lady with a 1 yr old who had some weird orthopedic/muscle problems but she would not take the check - she sent it back (no guarantee). I have paid the extra surgical fees for undescended testicles and umbilical hernias over the years. Those are the only issues I have had in 20 yrs of breeding and I did not need a guarantee to know what would be the ethical way to address these problems. I would return the purchase price of a dog with very early onset MVD but have not had one thus far. MVD is a difficult problem to write a guarantee on, what with the extensive problems that one sees in this breed. Having a murmur and living 9-10 yrs with the murmur is not ,in my opinion, a reason to refund the purchase price of the dog. Having a murmur and dying at 5 yrs would certainly be a reason to refund the purchase price of the dog or replace the dog. I have never had any of my dogs die at 5 yrs of age of MVD. Whilst I would always take my puppies back for whatever reason (see 2001 CKCSC Yearbook advertisement which tells the story of Flush - a dog I took back at 14 yrs of age due to the death of his owner), I do not make this a requirement. I will give them another puppy or return the purchase price of the dog -- whichever they wish. Just as an aside, we may not have imported many of the Homerbrent dogs here in the USA but the Pargeters were just as healthy. Elizabeth Spalding imported many of these dogs early on and even now, with the Crisdig line added in there, she has routinely very long lived dogs as well as older dogs with clear hearts. Those old Maxholts that I imported many years ago were also very long lived and heart healthy. Karen Zokovitch imported several Kindrums that lived very long lives - as you know Alberto just passed away at 15 yrs of age. In the USA we have had our share of long lived, healthy lines. Thanks for your well thought out post, Barb, Anne > I have to admit that I don't know of any reputable breeder who tests that > advertises healthier puppies thru testing. In fact I have seen the tag line > IN HOPES of producing healthier puppies or some such thing. I have no problem > with that as persoanlly I feel it to be true. But I think experience and > knowledge also factor in - as there are dogs who have been known to produce > certain problems as well as certain lines with better longevity and you can > only learn such things thru the exchange of information. > > I would have to disagree that polygenetic diseases cannot be "helped along" > over a period of time. If that was the case the OFA wouldn't be working so > hard with many breed clubs to decrease the incidence of hip dysplasia. Look > at what the Boykin Club accomplished with their HD results. > > In the US we have had such a different gene pool to base our foundation stock > on than many other countries. Thru postings from some of the breeders in > Australia and New Zealand we know they have been more fortunate in their f > oundation stock (or at least in my opinion :o) for longevity. So many of > their generations of particolors go back into the old Homerbrents. The US was > not so fortunate as I can't recall any foundation breeding stock coming to > this country from the same lines. > > I am amazed to hear breeders selling puppies without a health guarantee of > some kind. WOW! Whether you pay $800 or $8000 - that is a lot of money and a > lot of heartache for the buyers if something goes wrong. If you give no > health guarantees, don't feel that testing is worth squat - I am curious as > to why you feel you are doing a service to the public by selling puppies? > > Barb Hoorman > Benchmark Cavaliers - TX > > ========================================================= > "Magic Commands": > to stop receiving mail for awhile, click here and send the email: > mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]?body=SET%20CKCS-L%20NOMAIL > to start it up gain click here: > mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]?body=SET%20CKCS-L%20MAIL > > E-mail [EMAIL PROTECTED] for assistance. > Search the Archives... http://apple.ease.lsoft.com/archives/ckcs-l.html > > All e-mail sent through CKCS-L is Copyright 1999 by its original author. ========================================================= "Magic Commands": to stop receiving mail for awhile, click here and send the email: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]?body=SET%20CKCS-L%20NOMAIL to start it up gain click here: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]?body=SET%20CKCS-L%20MAIL E-mail [EMAIL PROTECTED] for assistance. 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