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 don't know anything about bulldogs, but for those that do - do the claws look like claws of an older pup?

Oh OP. Stupid thing to do, but on the upside it sounds like you will take care of this dog that could otherwise have gone to a stupid and uncaring owner .

Everything silently screaming said and then some...

Yes pets at home vets for pets will be open til 4. Take him there, you still have time. Normal appointments not emergency ones. Peace of mind then.

The vaccination stickers from the vials of vaccine should be in the passport - if you want to do a Sherlock Holmes, you can trace the batch through the drug company to make sure it was within expiry date, bought in Latvia, etc. It seems unlikely they'd waste the vac stickers in the passport without administering them as they would still need to have purchased the vaccine to get them. The import paperwork through DEFRA is formidable (I've been through it) and if the puppy's paperwork passed that, I would not be so bothered. Some European dogs may be harbouring Leishmania & other parasitic diseases so maybe good later on to check with blood testing for those (they are not able to pass them to other dogs as we don't have the vectors in UK yet for the 2 conditions I am thinking of, though doubtless coming soon).

Oh OP. Stupid thing to do, but on the upside it sounds like you will take care of this dog that could otherwise have gone to a stupid and uncaring owner flowers

That's something that's always said after someone has bought a dog from a greeder. The ONLY way to stop this from being repeated is for people to stop buying from them and yes, that would involve a layer of pups being sacrificed (or possibly being given to rescues as unsold). The dealers can only put out of business by lack of trade, so please don't try to apply salve to this incident. I'm sure the OP will have given a good home to any dog she acquired, but now she's ensured that another poor bitch will have a life of total hell.

Twooter the reason the "MiL" didn't mention anything is because the "MiL" is a complete fabrication IMO.

The law needs to be tightened up to stop this sort of buying and selling. Poor dog.

LakieLady, I would like to become a dog owner for the first time soon. We're hoping to get a cocker spaniel - according to what I've read, they are loving family-appropriate dogs, with no congenital health problems, we can offer one enough space and exercise. And I want to go on a training course for dog-owners, but where would I find one?

I despair that people buy animals online when there are dogs in rescue shelters desperate for homes.

Should anyone be unclear, never, ever buy an animal from Preloved or Gumtree.

I really think we are going to see rabies soon, so many of these imports are not done properly.

fridgepants I don't actually think that all pet adverts on gumtree, preloved and the like are bad. Naive absolutely but some are IMO well intentioned. I also don't think that all backyard breeders are puppy farmers who will breed their females to the death, and that some are somewhat deluded in terms of thinking that they'd love their female to just "have the one litter."

It's not a practice which should be encouraged IMO but by the same token I don't believe that all KC breeders are breeding for the good of the breed...

However, a seller who lies about the mother being present when she isn't, has multiple breeds for sale at the same property should be ringing major alarm bells. If I look at pets4homes and type in my postcode the first seven adverts are for the same poster but for seven different breeds of dogs. I am not in the market for a puppy atm but if I was I wouldn't touch any of them with a barge pole. Just as breeders should have an obligation to ensure their pups go to decent homes, so anyone looking to buy a puppy should do so with not just the puppy, but also the litter mates and the parents' welfare in mind.

My advice would be, if you cannot be 100% sure then don't go there.

@Cromwell1536 cocker spaniels, as a breed, aren't free from heritable health issues at all and there's quite a list of health tests which any remotely decent breeder should be utilising before breeding.

At the very least a cocker breeder should be doing those tests recommended by the breed club, there's plenty of information here on the 'Health' page of their site. As a minimum both parents should have current BVA eye tests (these are repeated annually) and current BVA gonioscopies (recommended to be repeated every three years) plus have been DNA tested for (or be verifiably clear by parentage of) Familial Nephropathy, prcd-PRA, Adult Onset Neuropathy and, if they're working type or have any working lines in their pedigree, Acral Mutilation Syndrome.

That's the minimum any half decent breeder should be doing, ideally they should be making use of all the screening schemes listed on this page.

I'd highly recommend finding a breeder by contacting the breed club (either the national one or relevant regional one) and asking to be put in touch with breeders who are planning litters.

This is a good little guide to buying a puppy and I'd also recommend reading the accompanying list of questions to ask a breeder. Expect to be thoroughly grilled by any breeder you contact, they shouldn't be happy to just hand over a puppy to anyone who happens to have the money for one. This article is aimed at breeders but it gives you an idea of the sorts of things someone reputable will be thinking about and asking.

I can't believe you spent 6 months researching buying dogs and still walked into that house and handed money over.

5 minutes on the internet will have told you that was a front for a puppy farm

Chardonnay... I’m worried about rabies too. It’s amazingly easy to carry animals into the country.

YOU’ve bought a farmer bulldog that will likely suffered from multiple health problems
Rabies isn’t really a concern but you should certainly insure him - he’s highly likely to cost you a fortune
Please report the breeder to your local authority inspector

THERE'S ONLY ONE 'F' IN DEFRA!!!!

Ahem, as you were.

you should certainly insure him - he’s highly likely to cost you a fortune

While we're all here discussing buying a puppy and how not to do it (which is THE most important part of this thread) i'd like to say to anyone reading this and dithering about buying a dog: They're expensive to keep healthy, they can suddenly become VERY expensive to keep healthy, and they require a lot of commitment.

I agree with the above statement, get your pet insured, however bare in mind pet insurance is notoriously reluctant to pay out for anything which it can in anyway put down to 'bad breeding' or problems which have resulted from ''puppy hood'' illnesses. These two things amount to the same thing in their eyes. Read the small print when you buy pet ins. IME it's pretty hard to get them to pay for anything much except perhaps expensive injury due to a bad accident or certain unforeseen illnesses which can crop up mid life. They don't cover vaccinations, routine examinations, illness in old animals or young animals and you have to foot the bill first. Then jump through flaming hoops make sure you've done the correct paperwork to reclaim the money. There's usually a big excess to meet out of your own pocket before they pay out at all. Which means out of a vets bill of £150 for eg you'll be paying the first £100 or so and doing your best to claim back £50 of it.

Another as you all were. Sorry for the rant :)

Not quite true Laiste. Insurance pays for most things - just not preventative care, pre existing conditions and congenital problems. Insurance for s bulldog will be expensive, but it is exceeding likely to be a fraction of the full vet fees you can expect.

We bought a care package that pays for his vaccines etc and any appointments per month which obviously still costs a bit but a heck of a lot cheaper than paying for it all seperately

Aww, he´s lovely. Fingers crossed the vet finds nothing wrong with him tomorrow. At least he has come to a good home now.

I'd had a mongrel with a congenital condition, I'd deliberately got him because I thought he'd be a little more robust than a pure bread dog. The insurance company ended up paying out in excess of £9k for the treatment he needed.

I found insurance to be very good value but, as has already been suggested, do read the small print, not all insurance policies are the same.

And to add to that - insure your dog for lifelong conditions. Always. It's more expensive but if you're unlucky enough to have a dog which develops a a chronic illness (and puppy farmed dogs are much more likely to have them) then at least a lot of the care will be paid for.

For regular worming/flea treatment/vaccinations, lots of vets offer annual VIP plans which are a bit cheaper than buying them on an item by item basis and also usually give you a discount on any other vet appointments (plus an annual health check).

Aww, he´s lovely.

No, he really isn't. His head is too big for his body, which will lead to spinal problems, his face is so squashed up that he won't be able to breathe properly and those folds of skin will become infected in the summer. He will have to be kept indoors in the summer as he won't be able to regulate his body temperature. His eyes will also become infected without surgery as the folds of skin won't allow them to close properly. His breed has a 60% chance of hip displayisa and he's not even a good example of his breed. That's all assuming he doesn't have any of a long list of infectious illness, that won't just kill him but put other dogs at risk.

How indifferent do you have to be to the suffering of animals to think that's lovely?

Poor dog :(

I agree always do insure your dog. Read the small print though, that's my message. I'm speaking through experience, the first insurance i had for my Dane was crap and such a waste of money. My fault for going for the cheapest one. Lesson learned.

at all the people saying that this dog is going to a lovely home. Whatever gives you the impression that someone who buys a dog from preloved despite the fact that the seller lied about the mother being present and as such clearly actually has no thought for the welfare of the animal is going to give it a lovely home?

By buying a dog which has clearly been over-bred and is clearly going to have significant health problems the OP is in fact financing a trade which should be illegal but for the fact that people like the OP continue to throw money at these sellers for whom the dog is merely a commodity.

If the oP actually cared she would have walked away at the point the woman lied to her. In fact if the OP cared at all she wouldn't have been shopping for foreign import bulldogs on preloved.