Author Topic: Breeder Contracts--Kittens quote  (Read 1195 times)

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Offline DeeDee

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Breeder Contracts--Kittens quote
« on: August 25, 2013, 01:59:11 PM »
depends on what the contract says, and each contract is different, people have to read and understand it, for a "what if" situation, and/or negotiate ahead of time, with the breeder. 

IF someone has a specific job, and knows which breeds are more likely going to perform that job exactly as wanted, there are MANY different contracts that REPUTABLE breeders will come up with--depending on the breeder.

If you're not going to show the pet, most breeders will have some form of spay/neuter agreement in their contract. This part was very important for us to get voided when it came to Barkly and then Vlad.

In 2005, I read a report about the damages that spaying/neutering could do to a dog. http://www.caninesports.com/uploads/1/5/3/1/15319800/spay_neuter_considerations_2013.pdf (revised extensively since then). Having lost our oldest son's foxhound to cancer, alarm warnings were already going off in my head--but it was too late for Dannyboy and Sharkly's dangley parts.

Then in 2007, another report on the same issues came up: http://www.naiaonline.org/pdfs/LongTermHealthEffectsOfSpayNeuterInDogs.pdf Why was I seeing the same reports on the same issues, but no big slap-you-silly reports on the news about these issues?

More importantly, why weren't vets hearing of this? Believe me, some of them weren't hearing of it as late as 2011 when the subject of neutering Barkly came up in the vet's office! I guess if it's not in the JAVMA, it doesn't exist for some of them.

"You know I've had classes in endocrinology," was the snappish remark that came out when I said I at least believed the parts about malformation of bones without the sexual hormones due to our son being growth-hormone deficient and having to learn all those issues about bone-growth with him. (If a child is growth-hormone deficient, they have to take shots UNTIL their sexual hormones kick in and actual physical puberty hits and takes over. This is what had me questioning what would happen to a dog if they never got those sexual hormones.)

When this report finally came out http://news.ucdavis.edu/search/news_detail.lasso?id=10498, I can't tell you how hard it was for me to go to the vet's office and gloat.

When we lost Sharkly to the brain tumor, and then it was obvious Dannyboy had problems too, I swore they'd never neuter another dog of mine ever again--unless they were in the minuscule group that develops testicular cancer. BUT, because I'd read those reports, I already had it in my mind  as early as 2005 that it might not be good to do that to another dog--just from having ONE dog that had had cancer.

I went to the breeder armed with information on these reports when we got Sharkly. Being a cancer-survivor, she listened to me! She said that was fine, but she wasn't giving a full-registration. He could never be bred and get papers on the puppies. That was fine with us, because we never intend for him to be bred. We just want him healthy--and I can't imagine something worse than a Corgi with weak bones due to their spines. She marked through that section of the contract for us, and it was initialed.

When it came to Vlad, again I told the breeder exactly what I believed about them needing their hormones to grow properly and I was afraid of cancer, and I believed those reports. Well, much to our surprise, she doesn't want her puppies being spayed/neutered before 18 mths because of malformation of their bones when they're growing if you spay/neuter too soon. A malformed giant breed is the last thing you want, and she already knew about all of these issues before the 2013 report on Goldens came out.

But because I was switching to a new breed, with my demands for help with any quirky issues that cropped up, that I didn't know how to handle (including grooming lessons), she ended up not making me sign the contract at all.  funny2 Vlad sees her at least once a month though. I love her to death because she's not let us have a puppy, then thrown us out with the bathwater. She truly is interested in our lives with Vlad.

So, the moral of this story is, do as Kittens said. Understand your contracts. Be sure you have time to go over them before the time comes to sign them. That way, if you don't understand something, you can find someone else to read over it and explain it to you. The excitement of getting a puppy or kitten can make you ready to sign anything--and sometimes there are surprises in there that you will overlook in the midst of that excitement. This way, if you find things in it that you don't like or won't agree to, you have time to bring it up to the breeder before you accept the pet. Be up front and state exactly what you will and won't do if you don't like something.

Learn this statement, and keep it well, if you don't like something and you can't get them to compromise, "Thank you for letting us see your (insert appropriate pet here). We absolutely love ______. However, we can't agree to that part of your contract, so we're going to have to wait to get a (insert appropriate pet here)."

Contracts shouldn't be there just to protect the breeders and rescue groups. They should be there to protect the animal and you as well!
« Last Edit: August 25, 2013, 02:30:41 PM by DeeDee »
"In order to really enjoy a dog, one doesn't merely try to train him to be semihuman. The point of it is to open oneself to the possibility of becoming partly a dog." Edward Hoagland
"Thorns may hurt you, men desert you, sunlight turn to fog; but you're never friendless ever, if you have a dog."

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