Guarantees

A living animal is difficult to guarantee but the dog breeders should be prepared to take more responsibility that they do for their products. Those kennels which feel confident and really back there stock they sell enhance their reputation considerably.

We have to consider the seen and unseen qualities of the adult or puppy. The greatest risk lies in the health of the young puppy, but this can be covered by the sales insurance scheme. Adult animals can also be warranted this way.

The sales of something defined as a ‘brood bitch’ or ‘stud dog’ implies a full responsibility by the vendor that the animals in fact produce , and should they fail to do so through no fault of the buyer then he is fully entitled to some recompense.

Likewise, the sale of an adult gun dog or hound as a worker implies that the gun dog will do his job and is not gun shy or faulty in any other way, also hounds should be willing to participate in the joys of the chase.

The above instances are clear cut and nine but the most unscrupulous would wish to evade their responsibilities. The smaller kennels quite often operate on a narrow margin and are undercapitalized. They may sell an animal in good faith for a fair sum, this money, probably eagerly awaited, goes to the current liabilities. Then perhaps genuine snags arise and while, at heart, the vendor would like to reimburse the buyer he may not have the resources. What then is to be done? The only solution is perfect frankness, and settlement of the matter as soon as possible.

The greatest problem arise with the quality of puppies on two counts. A genuinely good puppy is sold as a pet and goes to its new home where some member of the family objects to it, or it proves too much work for the house wife. What happens so frequently then is that the buyer, instead of being frank, faults the puppy in every possible way in order to secure its return to the vendor. No sensible kennel owner can, once a puppy has been sold and gone away from the kennel to the outside world, where it may have been in contact with infection, possible accept its return. There are cases where the buyer has genuine reasons for suddenly being unable to keep the puppy, but the still the problem of infection exists.

Many puppies are bought and sold after been advertised as:”up to show standards”, “certain winner”. Those buying puppies with such a label should get just what is implied by these phrases clearly set out. Will the dog win at Sanction, Limited or Open Shows? This being specified, the vendor should be prepared to face his responsibilities. After all, he has set himself up as an authority by making the statement, but, he will say, no one can guarantee how the puppy will develop. Well then, why is he making such a claim?

Feeding, rearing and conditioning have an enormous effect on the qualities of stock; a puppy reared one way can become a Champion, reared another way it is useless. Some things however can be clearly assessed: among them are the shoulder placement, ear placement, coat texture. Quite a lot of head and eye qualities, and many other points, can be forecast by someone well experienced. It is on such points that the vendor should be prepared to back his judgment and share the loss with the buyer.

When a botch puppy is sold as a show prospect, and through no fault of the buyer she fails to fulfill early promise, it balances things a little if the vendor offers a free service to a good stud dog. With a dog puppy it is harder, but it would not be unreasonable for a replacement to be offered at 50 percent of the normal cost.

Every genuine kennel must be prepared to back its own judgment on quality to clients.

Douglas Appleton (The Dog Business Book)