Aibu to be massively panicking about a pup I bought yesterday? European passport

[Ohforgodsake000]

Very stupidly bought a dog yesterday who came with a pet passport issued in Latvia.
All vaccines were stamped in the book and micro chipping also in there.
Thought nothing Of it until I mentioned to a police friend who said this is one of the biggest scams going and he probably doesn't have any vaccines including rabies and threadworm which he could now transfer to my kids.
I feel sick with worry.
What a stupid idiot I am.
No vets will see him as he's not yet registered and its now emergencies only.

"I asked on the phone and she said yes, when I got there she had pictures of the mum with the litter but said mum was in her home country of Latvia with her parents."

So she lied and you didn't see this as a red flag? You handed over £1800 to a woman who said the dog's mother was abroad and yet you reckon she lives there with her children? So you knew she wasn't the breeder then?

So why would none of the reputable bulldog breeders sell to you then?

Various selling sites.
That's the issue.
Decent breeders don't put puppies on these sites.

This is all making me feel very old.

Back -when dinosaurs ruled the world- in the ‘80s, my parents would occasionally breed from the main family dog. This would be if she’ d ‘come good ‘ in terms of what she was there for (gun dogs) and the rationale was carrying on ‘good stock’ rather than make a profit (I suspect they didn’t even break even.). They chose not to breed from an otherwise healthy dog with a minor slightly-hereditary condition.

My folks only advertised (if at all) in ‘relevant’ magazines, otherwise word of mouth to other gundoggy people. I remember catching my dad lying over the phone to someone that all the puppies were gone - because he wanted to avoid a difficult conversation with someone he didn’t feel was right.

There are lots of options between a rescue and random online.

In support of Tika77, I have a friend who breeds and shows miniature poodles and she has imported dogs from Sweden, Spain, Italy and even Australia. She has met all the breeders at top level shows (bar the Australian one of course), has met most of the parents of the dogs at shows, seen photos in advance etc. These are all top pedigree dogs, fully vet checked, socialised, PRA tested etc.

Another friend who shows GSDs got one recently from Germany, gorgeous dog. She went over there to collect him herself and stayed at the breeders house for 3 days. He's a really good dog - unlike one she had a few years ago bought from a supposedly top breeder (KC registered, known well in the show world) who had so many congenital issues she had to be put down.

That said, these were VERY different cases from buying from Preloved or Gumtree!

Don’t get too fond of it.

Oh well if the lady said. Sure, totally take her word for it and bung her the £1800.

Dog lovers generally love the dog and not breed. If you've 'had bulldogs for years' and have no qualms about sourcing them from dubious origins I cannot conceivably put you in the genuine dog-lover camp at all, Op.

Or this mysterious vetinary nurse MIL, for that matter.

I'm not saying it's always dodgy Allergictoironing It's a different kettle of fish though when connected to showing world etc. I used to show Papillions and a friend of mine had a beautiful, very successful imported dog.

However Tikka77 seems to be saying they buy dogs from abroad without even seeing them first? I'm afraid I cannot see any ethical set up where a breeder would send dogs to a person they've never met?

No, additional photo does not show his size as there is no scale/proportion. My dog looks a similar size lying in her bed - she's an adult Rotty, so probable three times the size of a 5m Bulldog.

Either way, it was his poor haggard face that made me sure he is older than 5 months.

Poor dog. Probably never been more than a mile from where he was born, until picked up by the OP. Just another unwanted family pet. The "European Passport" being a fake/forgery.

Oh dear, there was a programme on tv about this a while ago most of the dogs ended up dying. You can’t really do anything until you’ve seen a vet, you know you’ve been stupid but it’s done.

It's not illegal on my behalf! I've purchased a puppy who came with all paperwork from a domestic address. I had no reason to believe it isn't genuine ( and it still could be ) the most DEFFRA will do is check the microchip number for me and help me report to trading standards they said!
The vet will also be able to scan the microchip if there is indeed one and be able to match it / or not to the passport.
Some of the comments on here are very upsetting but thanks to those who have taken the time to reply and try to understand the situation.

Regardless of whether this puppy turns out to be healthy or not, by buying him you have probably perpetuated extreme cruelty.

Unless you have been living in a cave for the last 10 years it is inconceivable that you are unaware of puppy farming and the need to see a puppy with its mother.

My family are KC Assured breeders of a different breed and the health checks and conditions imposed by this scheme (which we are happy to abide by) ensure that puppies are healthy and come from well looked after stock.

I'm not an expert on bulldogs but, after 30 years of showing other breeds, know what a good one should look like. Yours is not a good specimen of the breed. His jaw is massively undershot, a trait which responsible U.K. breeders are now trying to eliminate. His head is also disproportionate to his body, even considering the extremes of the breed.

If you're lucky, he may be OK health wise but you have been fucking irresponsible and deserve everything you get on this page.

I call bullshit on the MIL line too.

Ohforgodsake000
Please talk to the RSPCA and Trading Standards first thing on Monday.
You've been scammed, they need to investigate.
And that dog needs a vet.

You had every reason to be suspicious.
5 months.
Imported
No mother
Sold by strangers
On dodgy website

He does look younger than my 6th month old bully

She was more lucky that she did find a genuine re-home then, fridgepants. Reputable re-homers should never use Gumtree. Many dogs in there end up as bait in dog fights, or used as backyard breeders if not spade. The dog was lucky it fell into good hands.

Free-ads have no place in animal re-homing.

fridgepants
I don't think it's always bad, I also think the red flags (ie parents can't be seen, foreign passport, multiple breeds sold by different people from the same house) make it 1000x worse and at that point there's likely to be an issue somewhere.
A lot of people post pets for sale/rehome for a low amount online. They are certainly irresponsible (a baiter would love a jack Russell especially at £50!) but it doesn't necessarily there's anything more to it than naivety in that situation.

I got my big boy (staff x bull Arab over 4ft on hind legs and still growing) on gumtree. For free.

The owners were desperate as the house they were living in had been sold and they'd been given notice but couldn't find anybody to take him, when I got him he was 2 days from being put in a rescue and around here a dog his size has no hope of rescue IME. A group of men turned up for him and were trying to weigh him, pick him up and gauge what his height and size was, were disappointed when they said he didn't bite or growl etc. the owners refused, then I called and I managed to walk away with him just 7 hours later. We still keep in touch now - they occasionally ask how he's doing and I provide short updates and photos.

I do wonder how many owners would've given him away to those men though,
For a life of god knows what.

It's been perceived wisdom for as long as I can remember that, at the very least, you only buy a pup that you can see with it's mother. There are lots of other bits of wisdom, but that's the most basic.

Did that basic escape you?

I am continually horrified by the amount of people who feed money into dog-dealers and puppy farmers, both home and abroad. All you're doing is taking a part in perpetuating the utterly short and miserable lives of the parent dogs. I couldn't sleep at night if I thought I had any part in that. What is it about ethical dog ownership that you don't get?

Fridge pants while it's not the best way to get an animal, there are (sadly) some genuine dogs on Preloved. We got our cats from Preloved for free. I can't imagine anyone rehoming an animal through Preloved, but it does happen. If you don't pay a lot, meet the owner and they generally want to know about and check out where the animal is going and have genuine reasons for why they're rehoming, then I'd trust them. But any animal, especially pedigree puppies, being sold on Preloved for a couple of hundred less than the market value should be avoided like the plague. Best case scenario it's a back yard breeder who has probably cut corners on all stages of breeding. Worst case scenarios are obviously more horrific involving badly bred and treated animals.

As for this story, it's awful. I'm shocked and, it has to be said, pretty disgusted at the OP's method of obtaining a puppy and the red flags she's missed/ignored in her quest. Despite being an experienced bull dog owner and having veterinary knowledge in the family. I bet your MIL wants to bang your heads together!

You could have found a health checked rescue dog, including a pedigree, for a couple of hundred pounds that would have been health checked.

Why do you think you Andres be understanding? You’ve done a horrible horrible thing and you deserve every hard to read post on here. And if that puts just one person off doing what you’ve done, then it will have been worth it

OP, thanks for posting this, purely as it hopefully will highlight some of the issues regarding Bulldogs and buying foreign dogs.
I am surprised your MIL didn't say anything about the breed - I don't know any vets or vet nurses who would touch these dogs unless out of pity.
There is a huge problem with Eastern European puppy imports - both smuggled illegally without the right documentation and medication, and official charity cases, where so many are imported that they aren't checked before they are distributed. This increases the risks not only for the pups and owners but for all our pets as it increases the chance of diseases being brought into this country which we haven't had up to now.