Just gave away a puppy (new owner did not pay)

[maggieandannie]

My shitz-zu had a beautiful litter, the puppies are shitz-zu schnauzer crosses. I have found all of them great homes, I did not advertise it was through friends and people through work. So I have a link to each and every pup!

I know a lovely lady from dog walking, and since my dog was pregnant she let me know her sister would love one.

I reserved a boy for her sister and when puppies were 4 weeks old she picked her little boy. Her sister asked was I charging and I said yes I am charging and would offer her sister a discount so pup would be £100.00; told me she would let her sister know.


Fast forward to yesterday she picked up her puppy and left me a present, a gorgeous box and inside of the box was a bottle of very expenisive gin/soda and a lemon and a card. I thought how nice what a lovely lady! I opened the card and there was no payment.

I want to send her sister a text, letting her know how grateful I am for the present (I did include a puppy pack for this lady, with blanket, teddy, vet details, groomer details, and a bottle of Prosecco), however I was charging.

Would I be unreasonable asking for my money, I feel embarrassed to have to ask her.

Please help

[VetNurse]

I work at a university referral hospital and the amount of crossbreeds we see with problems caused by their breeding is rising. Gone are the days when mongrels were healthier as they were genuine mongrels. Take poodles for example. This breed gets a range of issues including eye problems, addisons, hip dysplasia etc and yet there are thousands of labradoodles, cockerpoos etc being bred and people harp on about them being healthier than pedigree poodles. Now I know some poodle breeders and looking for a healthy dog to breed from takes a lot of time and research and many dogs are not deemed healthy enough to breed. If this is the case I would love to know where all these people breeding "doodles" are getting their breeding stock from!

[TickleMyTitsTillFriday]

What a bloody cheek

[TheReluctantCountess]

I'm shocked at the cheek of the woman taking the dog and knowing that she hadn't paid for it. Have you texted her sister too?

[stareatthetvscreen]

hmmmmm really op?

[FergusSingsTheBlues]

Never understand how people can bear to profit from taking a puppy from its mother and selling it on like a Telly.

You might have feel robbed but those poor dogs are the ones who have been exploited, not you so much.

[SistersOfPercy]

^Never understand how people can bear to profit from taking a puppy from its mother and selling it on like a Telly.
You might have feel robbed but those poor dogs are the ones who have been exploited, not you so much^

Don't think she's made much profit on £100 do you? 8 weeks of food, care, vets bills etc

[GoodKingQuintless]

Why dont you text your dog walking friend and ask her if she let her sister know your charge, as she has not paid. Tell her she gave you a present, and you expected the payment to be included, not missing. Your fee was to cover vets fees etc, and you cant pay the vet in Gin.

[Ujjayi]

Stop texting & pick up the phone & speak to her. And her sister, if needs be. Texts are easily ignored. Assert yourself - she owes you money.

Personally, I would go knock on her door & collect either payment or puppy.

[VetNurse]

I don't breed dogs and never will as to me my dogs are my pets and I would never forgive myself if something happened to them due to my decision to breed.

I couldn't give a crap about what breed you have on the end of your lead. What I do give a crap about is people breeding dogs for money and any breeder of designer crossbreeds are doing just that. There is no need to breed them and the only reason they are is to make money. Puppy farming, backyard breeders and bad breeders should all be stopped and it needs to regulated. Unfortunately this isn't going to happen and so the rescue centres will continue to be full to bursting.

[Vivacia]

I'm shocked at the cheek of the woman taking the dog and knowing that she hadn't paid for it. Have you texted her sister too?

I think that there's been a mis-communication. Somewhere along the line the buyer has thought that an expensive bottle of gin would be adequate recompense. Without more formal arrangements in place (house-checks, waiting list etc) it'd be easy enough for this to happen.

[hehehahahoho]

If you don't hear from her soon I would give her a call too.

[WannaBe]

it always strikes me that it is those who breed dogs who get the most outraged over the "backyard" breeders. a bit like childminders who criticise people for allowing their parents/sisters/friends to look after their children and get outraged that they are unregistered.

At the end of the day dog breeding is bloody big business if you're selling a litter of lab/poodle/spaniel/ puppies for upwards of £500. Let's not kid ourselves that people become breeders purely for the love of the breed. And lets not kid ourselves that all the dogs languishing in rescue centres are all the products of backyard breeders and that no purebreds ever end up in rescue. Breed specific rescues have their origins somewhere.

While I personally wouldn't breed from any of my animals as wouldn't want the responsibility of rehoming the animals and I certainly think that anyone running an actual puppy farm is morally reprehensible, I cannot get outraged at someone who takes on a puppy from a family friend...

[Parcelhamster]

Ok this shall be my last post so OP's thread doesn't go even more off topic :P

There's a reason that purebred dogs were bred the way they were in the first place - to enhance desirable characteristics. So they could do a job or fulfill a purpose. Ratting. Guarding. Herding. Looking cute. Back in these days dogs were healthy because they had to be fit for purpose, or otherwise they'd be pretty useless. To get these traits to come out they'd have to be linebred.

Don't quote me on this but in the past 50/100 years or so things have gotten a little crazy breeding dogs to show standard rather than purpose (nothing wrong with that so long as it doesn't impact a dog's health). Perhaps it's the rising popularity of dogs as pets which has brought people with little knowledge in animal-keeping to the world of dog breeding.

Bit ignorant to blame all health issues on pedigree breeders, though.
If it wasn't for them we wouldn't have such a variety of dogs of all temperaments, fur coats, sizes etc. etc. They breed for genuine purpose, much unlike the modern 'designer dog' breeders who just breed for a name and money.

But like I said, I don't care about what breed is in the dog so long as it's well-bred.

Don't blame pedigree dogs for the health issues of crossbreeds/mongrels/mutts.
There's bad breeders of both.
Likewise, there is good breeders.

[PiperIsTerrysChoclateOrange]

Op you sound like a very good breeder, it don't seem you are breeding for a profit just covering expenses.

I hope you get the money.

[Parcelhamster]

p.s. i don't breed dogs. don't have the time, money or heart for it. doesn't stop me being a dog person though and being interested in their welfare.

[Buttercupsanddaisys]

So....cutting to the chase ...it's been quite a while since you texted and no reply yet?

I'd suggest another text, cc your dog walking mutual friend if poss.,asking again for the money, cash or cheque..

Getting cross on your behalf, now.

[Topseyt]

I shouldn't think they will respond to your text now, though I'd be happy to be proved wrong of course.

If you know the address of your dog walking friend, and/or of her sister then I think you may have to go round there in person and make clear that you did expect payment. It should have been in the envelope and it wasn't.

I'm not quite clear on the legalities of this, but as someone I think already suggested, look into going to the small claims court if necessary. If they don't arrange immediate payment when you visit them (or return the pup to you) then don't be afraid to mention that you are thinking of doing this. It might bring results. If it doesn't then follow it through. My guess is that they won't really want any black marks against their credit rating etc.

[Scuttlebutter]

I can't add much to Midori's excellent comments. However, what really jumped out at me was the OP's comment "I'd like to do it again, I really enjoyed it". OP, you are a BYB. I hope you're declaring the extra income to HMRC. And you clearly don't give a damn about your bitches' health - carrying a litter can be dangerous and stressful, as any vet will tell you, regardless of whether you enjoyed the experience.

If this truly was an accident (which I don't believe for a moment) you will get your bitch neutered and donate the rest of your proceeds to a charity. You also wouldn't be chasing this money, as the proceeds from the other pups would more than have covered your costs and after all, it was just an accident and you weren't doing it for the money. However, more realistically, I bet you were asking a lot more than £100 per pup (most rescues these days have adoption fees of at least £150-180 minimum) particularly as of all the times for your bitch to get pregnant, she just happened to do so in time for the pups to go as Christmas presents. Reputable breeders don't let pups go at this time of the year, and they would do a great deal more to home check and verify the circumstances of the home the dog is going to. Even the quickest look on Preloved and Pets4Homes shows that these crosses are going for between £400 - 500 each. My guess is that this litter has helped to pay for your family's Christmas, and now you've got a taste for it. Wonder if there will be another "accident" late next year?

[maggieandannie]

Update, I received a reply a few minutes ago, she said "I didn't think you wanted payment" I said yes I asked for a small payment for each of the puppies, she is popping it in my letterbox and to be fair apologised.

Thank you to all who posted.

PS: Scuttlebutler,I will do it again next year, that is my decision and it was a happy accident.

[Vivacia]

Phew, good outcome about money.