I have (mostly) held my tongue regarding the issues Ive had with my breeder and our new pup. Given recent events, Ive decided to share my story as a warning to potential buyers who are looking to purchase a dogo pup from this kennel. Kim, please feel free to delete this if I violate anything on your page, as that is not my intent. I will not use names of the breeder or kennel, but my only reference is 90 miles. If you want more info, please PM me. We purchased our male dogo pup on 8/15/14. I initially contacted this breeder because 1) I had never heard anything negative about him and 2) I had a shared history with him (he owned the litter mate of my 9 yo female dogo and we had spoken when we both got the pups, years ago). I was far too trusting and didnt follow my own advice. I asked him if he had any upcoming litters and what his wait list looked like. He just happened to have one male left who was almost ready to be placed. After telling me he had the one male, he later said he had specifically selected him for me based on his submissive personality, making it sound like he had pick of the whole litter – rather than giving me the last available male. Our pup has demonstrated his incredibly dominant personality from day one. We signed the puppy contract, paid cash, and did NOT receive a bill of sale (big mistake) the day we picked him up. The breeder also waived his fee, so we paid half price for the pup (red flag). Before we picked him up, I had requested pictures multiple times. I finally received one picture – of indeterminate age. I never saw pictures of the litter, of the puppies interacting with their mother, people, etc. I never saw what kind of environment the litter was raised in. ALWAYS ask for pictures of any pup you are considering to make sure they are healthy and have been raised in a loving and CLEAN environment. If you are able to visit the kennel/home where the litter is kept, insist on it. If the breeder wont let you for one reason or another, red flag. We met the breeder to pick up the pup a few hours away from our house. He was extremely skinny (hip bones, ribs, and shoulder blades all jutted out), the pads of his paws were very callused and had what looked to be concrete burns, he was covered in urine and feces stains that took a good week to scrub out of his coat, and he smelled horrible. He had diarrhea and was vomiting the first couple of days at home. According to the breeder, the weight loss and the vomiting was caused by the approx 10 hour trip. He had been given a dewormer that morning, which was the supposed cause of the diarrhea. I waited 2 days for his diarrhea to clear up and for him to hold food before I continued with the additional two doses of dewormer. Guess what – no diarrhea. We visited the vet for a check up the day after we picked him up. According to my vet, he was malnourished and underweight. He also had a severe yeast infection in both ears. He weighed 14.0 lbs at 9.5 weeks. Ive spoken with several breeders and have checked weights on other dogos at the same age. 14 lbs is incredibly small for that age. I was told that he was one of the top two largest males of the litter. His size and personality indicate he was the runt of the litter. I have no problem with a smaller dogo, and would not mind taking a runt – but there was no need to mislead me in this case. I didnt ask for a show quality dogo who needs to meet a certain standard, I wanted a pet. When I spoke to the breeder about his health/weight, I was told it was from the 10-12 hour trip. His issues went far beyond a one day car ride. I understand that can be traumatic to a puppy, along with leaving the litter. But the trip didnt explain away all of his problems. He demonstrated guarding and food aggression from the beginning. We have worked hard on training and he has made amazing progress with both food aggression and guarding. He was hand-shy and would run when we tried to pick him up or pet him, unless he approached us first. Neither of these are signs of a well socialized puppy. Our biggest hurdle has been housebreaking. When I asked the breeder what kind of environment he was raised in, I was told that the puppies were kept inside but allowed to run in the yard all day. He had no concept of pottying outside. We would spend an hour outside with him, and he would hold it and potty the minute we walked through the door. He still wets his crate every single time he goes in, and then sleeps in it. Ive seen him wake up, lift his butt enough to pee, then lay right back down. His behavior (and the condition of his coat and paws) indicates the litter was kept in a small kennel or pen and the puppies did not have a clean environment and were not conditioned to potty away from their bedding. It has taken us over 4 weeks to get him to easily potty outside. This is the first week hell run outside and do his business right away, which is a massive improvement. When I attempted to speak to the breeder about housebreaking, he spoke to me as though Ive never owned or housebroken a dog. At this point, I realized it was pointless to reach out to my breeder for any advice. He was already demonstrating defensive behavior, and I had begun to hear about more and more people with issues with his dogs. Aggression has been one of the major problems, both towards people and towards other dogs. The breeder has even warned people who approach his dogs at dog shows Be careful, they may bite. Really?? Youre going to breed dogs that you KNOW are aggressive? I finally received a copy of his pedigree on 8/30/14, but it is incomplete. No litter info is entered, no owner names, no dates. I have requested his AKC paperwork 4 times. Once when we picked him up, again on 8/30, 9/15, and a final time on 9/17. I was blocked on Facebook by my breeder on 9/15, so I emailed him twice, asking for the paperwork. The first email was ignored, the response to my second email was accusatory and defensive. And he again ignored my request for paperwork. I have been in contact with the AKC Compliance department and they are willing to step in on my behalf. I informed the breeder of this, which elicited no response. I have moved forward with filing a complaint against the breeder and kennel with the AKC, so I am hoping they can help me resolve my issue, or find a way around the breeder and still be allowed to register my dog. The contract we both signed states The Argentine Dogo puppy is able to be registered through the FCPR, AKC (FSS) or DACA and the Breeder will provide you a pedigree. Clearly the breeder does not intend to honor his own contract. In my opinion, he is a disgrace to the dogo community and any future buyers should look elsewhere for a quality dogo pup.
Posted on: Thu, 18 Sep 2014 17:31:05 +0000
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