A must read for anyone considering going with a "cheap" puppy...

[Gwenhwyfair]

The thread I started: Hip Dysplasia/Arthitis/Ortho Support & Info

And another helpful recent thread: Infamous Hip Dysplasia

[Marnie]

It is heartbreaking what you and your girl are going thru. I know you must be so frightened and frustrated.

I don't want this to sound like I'm scolding you, it is meant to be a suggestion to others buying from a puppy mill or as some generously call them back yard breeders.

Why do we try to protect these puppy mills by saying we don't want to reveal the name. IMHO, we should be flying banners and broadcasting the names, addresses and phone numbers of these disgusting breeders to help others avoid going thru the same thing. Every single person who knows about this puppy mill and avoids buying a dog from them is creating $450 less incentive this breeder will have to breed more dogs. I wish every one who has a terrible experience with any breeder who doesn't make it right, would post the details including name and address. Again, why protect them? Do we want other people to go thru these experiences?

Of course you know that buying a $5000 dog would have gotten you a health guarantee, it would not completely guarantee that you would never have problems or heartache.

I would like to see people who don't want a $5000 dog to consider a rescue dog. That way no puppy mill will profit from the suffering of any dog. Tell the rescue you want xrays as a condition of adoption.

[Castlemaid]

Why do we try to protect these puppy mills by saying we don't want to reveal the name. IMHO, we should be flying banners and broadcasting the names, addresses and phone numbers of these disgusting breeders to help others avoid going thru the same thing.

Negative comments about breeders and breeder bashing is against board rules. Some reasons for that is to avoid the liability of a law-suit (somehow, the breeders always find those threads like the one of the OP if the name is mentioned, and start threatening a law-suit), and another reason is to make sure that a good breeder's reputation is not destroyed by one individual with an agenda (which I know is not the case here).

The OP did the right thing to not mention any names, and refering to a general geographical area like she did is fine. People can PM the OP for more information if they so wish, but a reminder to keep the name and the specifics off the board.

[jhoop371]

Lady LuLu,

I can totally feel for you, Your story is a mirror of what we just went thru for the past 8 years. We purchased a pup from basicly a byb with a great website..guarantees blah blah blah. At 4 months old Bella needed help getting up. dx...severe hd. so at 4 months she went thru her first triple pelvic osteotomy, then 3 weeks later she had her second one done. All for a whopping $3400. She did heal great after being crated for 2 months and restricted activity after that. She was able to run around for 8 years, sometimes going overboard and then sore for a few days. She always was in great spirits however! Best temperament. She was never really a puppy/dog, had to always "baby" her in fear of hurting her hips. So no long walks,runs,agility ever. We also contacted the breeder and they said, thank you for letting us know. That was the only response we got from them, but by now we loved this girl and did what we could to make her as whole as possible. So the cost of her $400 plus $3400 surgery, then cataract surgery at age 2 $400 for a total of $4200 by the age of 2 is way more than going thru a real reputable breeder and paying more up front for a "quality" pup. We learned our lesson. After Bella died from cancer in Sept. I spent hours and hours researching for our new pup, and found a great breeder and a perfect pup. The entire family is overly protected of him in everyway because we are still in the mindset of being afraid of him getting hurt...poor boy lol. I believe we were meant to have Bella so that we can help educate others of the effects of byb. Any time I can rant to friends, family etc about our experiece.. I do. I would never want anyone to go thru what our family did.I applaud you and your family for what you have done and will do for Lady for the rest of her life, she is loved and will love you back unconditionally. You are both very lucky to have one another.

[jhoop371]

I wanted to clarify that there is never any guarantee against any health issues, but the odds are in our favor when we do go with a reputable breeder.

[Pattycakes]

I'm so sorry to hear the story of your puppy. How heartbreaking for you. But it sounds like Lady has a wonderful home with you and your family.

I bought my first GSD from a byb. I have to admit...I didn't know better but she was the best dog I could have gotten and I was very lucky...she was healthy for the majority of her life but did end up with DM later.

I bought my second GSD from a reputable breeder. Or so I thought. I realized after I bought her and brought her home that I had just bought a dog from a higher grade byb. And I paid a heck of a lot more money for her than I did for my first GSD. But...I wouldn't trade Uschi for anything. However...if I do get another GSD in the future, I know now (thanks to this forum) that I need to look in a totally different direction and I also have a list of breeders that I would get my next one from.

Keep us posted on Lady's progress! She's lucky to have you!

[dawnandjr]

This needs to be a sticky!!! Sorry for what you have gone/will go through with Lady Lulu. You may just want to start saving for that hip surgery in case you need to go that route later.

[Lady Lulu]

Thanks Gwen for the links. I was actually just starting to try to look into what I could do to help her joints. It's all really new territory to me right now.

And Marnie, I wanted to shout this breeder's information from the rooftop and fly banners revealing her for what she was, but in the end, she's obviously a very defensive, easily angered person. I was afraid she'd threaten me with some kind of lawsuit and I wouldn't put it past her to snoop around online. It would be my luck that she would stumble across my post and then the threats would start flying. She was basically a bad BYB who was masquerading as a more responsible breeder right up until she had my money and then my opinion didn't matter anymore. And as far as outing her goes...all of the other more respectable breeders I've found in Kentucky were all in the central to eastern portion of the state. If any of you stumble across one in the western portion I will be happy to let you know if it's her or not. She actually has at least one friend, if not two that are also fancy BYBs in my side of the state. They buy and trade each other's dogs apparently so all of their pups are closely related... Oh the things you learn on FB.

As far as the health guarantees go. I understand that any dog can end up with a health problem. That's just the way nature works sometimes. I would've never posted this story had I not felt like I'd been attacked over my Lulu's problem. Had she just apologized I wouldn't have thought anything about it. It was just the way she was blaming everyone and everything but her breeding stock and then suggesting I was to blame for it that bothered me.

When I take in an animal it is mine to provide for. I'm not going to force anyone else to help me pay or anything. That being said though... I do believe I will be starting a little hip replacement fund for Lady. That sounds like great advice! lol