Hoping for some advice on my and our girls problem.

[GSDOwner2023]

Good evening,
I have just joined mumsnet to ask others opinions and whether I am doing the right thing.
So we purchased our beautiful canine friend just over 1 week ago. We saw her advertised online, with a lovely advert attached., which we thought was genuine.
The family brought her to us, so we never actually got to see how, or where she was living! Upon her arrival, she appeared OK with no issue's.
After 24 hours of her being with us, she started head-shaking vigorously and scratching her head/ears (especially her R ear) this concerned us (the previous owners, when I questioned her health before we agreed to the meet, said the only thing was "her ears bothered her")
48 hrs in, we decided to make an urgent appt with our vets and we were extremely surprised when our vet had to start her on Steroids, as her ear canal was that inflamed, she couldn't see what was actually causing the problem.
Fast forward to 4 days in, we finally received her previous vet record (this clearly shows past/recent history of ear infections (rods and cocci) which we were never made aware of by previous owner)
On the Friday, we returned to our vet, as advised, for her to then undergo a ear smear exam, only to discover the same condition/s as previous vets had diagnosed, this only leads me to believe that the issue that was underlying previously was never resolved and she's been left to suffer.
After explaining this to the previous owner, to come to some arrangement regards my finances, that I paid out for her they took it upon their-selves to deny all knowledge and then continue to block my number, meaning no contact can be made to find out if she ever had any antibiotics (she was prescribed steroids July 2022 and again recently by our own vet, our own vet has recommended an ear flush)
None of this is down to the fact we can't afford her treatment, only that we were clearly sold a poorly girl.
Now my only option would be to turn to the small claims in order to receive the payment that I am surely entitled to, both the money I paid for what I believed to be a healthy dog and the vet fees that I have had to spend in the last four days. So my question would be, am I doing the right thing by going to the small claims court to retrieve these costs?
Our girl will be going no-where, she deserves to now life a happy, pain free life, with lots of love, care and walkies, we absolutely dote on her, as she does us, already.
Thank you in advance for your help and advice.

I'm going to guess it was a Google Job, rather than professional advice.

I agree with other posters, small claims court will be a waste of time. You should just enjoy the dog and be grateful that her ears are the only issue, because buying a dog in the way you have could have ended with much bigger problems.

She should have arranged this starting from the day the dog was going to be delivered. Had she done this, then she would have needed the vet history and so would have seen it in time to cancel the sale.

An imaginary one

If she has had recurrent ear issues she might have an allergy to something. One of mine is allergic to a couple of meats and it shows as ear problems. I won’t fill up this thread with info but message me if you want to know more.

This guy is a top lawyer on dog law. If you want to know where you stand speak to him, he’s really helpful https://doglaw.co.uk/

The Sale of Goods Act was largely replaced by the Consumer Rights Act in 2015, and is now only really relevant for business to business transactions, which this is not. You do have some consumer rights, but they're pretty limited, as you're not buying from a business.

In a private sale, there's no obligation to declare faults, but the seller can't give misleading information. If they've told you the dog was 100% healthy then it's a contract breach. You are entitled to return the dog for a full refund, and could enforce that right through the Small Claims Court if you chose.

However, you've already said you don't want to return her, so what is it you are hoping to achieve by legal action?

That's all well and good but you still bear personal responsibility for taking the financial risk of buying this dog under risky circumstances and have to suck up the costs!

I understand where you are coming from, but they insisted they bought her to us as they have another dog and didn’t want to upset their children, she couldn’t go to our vets on the day of coming to us as it was a Sunday, we were told she was healthy so didn’t need to request a vet visit prior to selling and we received partial vet records on the day with documentation of her vaccinations and the rest was sent to us in due course, small claims fee is £70 for the claim to go through which is nothing compared to the hundreds we have lost within a week of owning her but we shall not give her up or give up hope, she’s our girl to stay and she won’t be in any pain anymore we adore her as she does us and we are happy we took her on because who knows where she could’ve ended up

Citizens advice.

I understand your annoyance. These people lied to you.

When we have suffered a wrong it is normal to want to seek some kind of justice.

I think you will have to research how to take this to small claims or pay for some legal advice.

I am a member of Which and pay extra for Which legal (£10/month). I have had success in getting redress from a company without going to small claims.

The only other thing you can do is as suggested and report them to the various bodies. If you decide not to go the small claims route, you may feel some satisfaction ‘trashing’ their reputation.

The final point is you have learned a hard lesson. There are people out there who will make bare faced lies to your face and have no remorse.

I havent read the whole thread as it started to get a bit messy in the middle.

OP maybe better to post this in legal. I would think if you have written confirmation( even by whats app) that the dog is healthy and within 24 hours the dog is not well and an with illness that it has been evidenced having before you will be able to use small claims court. However I doubt the court will allow for payment of continuing ear issues so that will be up to you from this point in.

Getting a dog from a registered rescue or from a breeder is not buying from a stranger as there will be a trail to follow on previous rehomings. Both breeders and rescues will issue a contract. Very different from the situation you find yourself in.

You can even be sure that the dog you saw in the video is the actual dog that you have got. So do go carefully when assessing your dog, do not assume it is fine with other dogs and children

You ask on a dog forum, you get dog advice.

If you want legal advice, it's a legal forum you need.

No one is saying you're bad for adopting a dog the way you have 🤣

We're simply saying, the problems you're experiencing are incredibly common - so much so that it's important for buyers/adopters of dogs (and other pets) to do really thorough research beforehand, more research than you did.

And you can try to pursue through the small claims but we don't think you'll get anywhere for this reason.

No one has criticised you for giving a loving home to a dog, but you're attacking people for saying that you ought to have done more thorough research first.

Just...calm down. No one thinks you're a bad person!

I can't see that you'll get very far, they told you that her ears 'bothered her' and that it's from them getting dirty (supposedly) - causing the ear infections you now know she suffers from. So they told you she had issues and she appeared healthy when they dropped her off so they've done their bit I'd imagine.

As you say you've owned GSD's before I don't know why the fact her ears bothered her wouldn't be ringing alarm bells? They're well known for ear problems. Do you know if the parents of this dog were tested for hip and elbow dysplasia? I'm guessing not, I'd be really worried about the possibility of future expensive bills, not just bills now because who knows where the owners got this dog from.

There's a reason they didn't want you to see where they lived I expect as the children and dog could easily have all gone out for a walk while you visited. Did you say you had an address? I wouldn't be surprised if it was fake. Sadly you fell for all the bull shit and bought a dog off the internet from people who wanted to get rid of it because it had issues.

Honestly, I would let it go, they've taken you for a ride, learn from it, and just be glad your beautiful girl is with you and no longer being neglected.

GSDOwner2023, you come over as a kind and caring person with the welfare of your dog as your primary concern. I’m sorry that some of these posts have made needlessly personal and repetitive attacks on you and no doubt caused you upset at this already traumatic time. When asked for advice and support, it is usually possible to make recommendations about the situation without causing further hurt. Mumsnet can be particularly bad about this at times.

I won't repeat what PPs have said about the optimal way to acquire a dog, whether through a breeder or via a rescue. Those PPs are right, but I think you know that now. The people you bought this dog from are obviously extremely dodgy, and unfortunately I don't expect you will be able to recover any of the money you've spent.

I genuinely hope that everything works out with your new dog. But I would say that you really don't know this dog yet. So I would advise caution in your interactions with her. Her behaviour may change, and she may not be perfectly trained after all. At this point after only a week with you, she may still be emotionally shut down. The pain and discomfort in her ear could also make her seem more docile than she actually is. I would just take things slowly and get to know her as she starts to become more comfortable in her new home. Good luck and hopefully she will be a wonderful family pet for years to come.