Contracts not protecting against common ailments in breed?
Question by ∞Jen∞: Contracts not protecting against common ailments in breed?
I came across this contract for bulldog pups. The health guarantee reads as following;
”To be free from any genetic / hereditary defects that cause death or serious impairment of the vital functions in the puppy until said puppy is one year of age . If such an inheritable defect is documented by a Veterinarian and presented to the seller with sufficient supporting evidence, the buyer will be entitled to a replacement puppy of the same sex, of comparable or better quality, when available from same or upcoming litter, after the first puppy is returned to seller. No cash refunds given and we will not pay any vet bills. Above warranty excludes hip and joint related issues. Buyer agrees in buying a puppy that he or she understands the certain common limitations of the bulldog breeds such as joint issues and that most bulldog puppies if X rayed will evidence some form of mild to moderate hip displasia. Loose hips on bulldog puppies are common and rarely prevent a bulldog from walking or functionin[sp] as a loveable pet. Adult dogs sold are not covered herin and any/all adults will be sold on an “as is” basis”
Joint and hip issues are not included in this health guarantee…
Is this a common practise in some breeds with very high incidences of health problems or just a cop out to protect them legally from their bad breedings?
Best answer:
Answer by Gabbie LOVES raw meat!
It’s common for crappy breeders to have such crappy contracts.
Know better? Leave your own answer in the comments!
9 Responses to “Contracts not protecting against common ailments in breed?”
While this is not my breed this is likely fairly common in some breeds. There are some breeds where most any dog you see will have some evidence of dysplasia and you are very luck to find a dog that would even OFA rate fair. In those dogs you wouldn’t really expect a guarantee for hip dysplasia because it is more or less a given and anyone that has done their research on the breed would know this.
This kind of contract is also however common from BYB of breeds where the problem is not common (the guarantee that doesn’t guarantee anything) so it would definitely need looking into further to see how common it is in that particular breed. This contract in general sounds like a cop out to me (only 1 year on genetic disease when many don’t show up that early)
Cop out!
HD cannot even be detected for sure till the dog is 2 yrs old. So the guarantee would not cover it anyway as the breeder is only giving a 1 yr health guarantee. And to make excuses is very wrong – that says to me “I’m breeding my dogs and don’t care if they are healthy or not and don’t test my breeding dogs either”.
Not a breeder I’d deal with.
This is a bullsh*t contract, first off. Period. End of.
Good breeders have contracts for genetic diseases (including hip and joint) that cover the dog’s LIFETIME, or minimum of four years. Good breeders also cover ADULT dogs and puppies. Testing for issues cannot be done until two years of age.
Contracts are there basically to let the buyer know that the breeder will support them and will take the rap for THEIR stock if it turns out un-healthy. Good breeders WANT to know if their pups have any health issues, genetic issues especially. Good breeders of ALL breeds offer contracts with genetic guarantees, spay/neuter, and return to breeder clauses.
This is not a good contract/guarantee. Likely not a good breeder either.
That contract is BS. Any and all quality, reputable breeders will take a dog back at any age, for any predisposed health issues. Further, they will require you to contact them if any issues come up because they want to know about the welfare of their pups and their line. Making money and giving cash refunds is not their primary concern. The quality and health of the dog and of the breeding line is their priortity.
Run away from this breeder.
I find your question VERY interesting. Let me start by saying that I adopted a Bulldog at the age of 5 months old that originally came from a Mennonite puppy farm. (I did NOT buy her from this farm. I re-homed her) Anyway, from the day we took her in, I knew that something was wrong with her hips as I use to show and breed Dobes and have them OFA’d. We had her x-rayed while she was being spayed and the Vet indeed say that she had severe HD, and that was when she was 6 months old. This being my first, and only Bulldog, I did a little research on this on my own. I found out that over 85 % of ALL Bulldogs have hip problems and that percentage only comes from the dogs that HAVE been OFA’d. So, I’m assuming that the % is much greater because of all the dogs that are bred that haven’t been OFA’d. From my understanding it is NOT uncommon for show breeders to breed dogs that are mildly dysplastic, because a Bulldogs’ hips ARE a deformity, and it would be next to impossible to find a Bulldog that had pertect hips. I don’t believe they even exist. So, even though this contract sounds like crap, I don’t think this is anything that surprises me at all. Our own Dysplastic Bulldog was 7 in February and is doing quite well considering that she has been on Rimadyl and a Glucosamine/MSM supplement for over 4 years. Yes, she is one lazy girl, but when she wants to, she can run like the wind! I just wanted to give you my experience with the research I did on my own, not knowing much about the breed before we decided to rescue one. I believe that Chaos shows and breeds Bulldogs, so maybe she can step up and give us more details about her breeding program, if she is willing to do this. I am always willing to learn, and to find out if the research that I did is indeed correct or not.
There are some breeds where certain problems can also be caused by injury or improper diet – regardless of how careful the breeder is. In cases like that, some breeders will simply advise the client that this is a possibilty, will provide suggestions on how to avoid the problem, but won’t warranty it because it’s partly in the owner’s hands.
Or there are breeds where a certain problem is so prevalent that a breeder can’t in good faith guarantee against it, again they can just advise the buyer that it is a potential problem. Kinda like you can’t get earthquake insurance if you live on a fault line.
I don’t know about Bulldogs, but I do know that in my breed it is very common for young dogs, especially males, to have very loose hip joints. Usually as adults they are normal, and even those that still have loose hips on an x-ray rarely show symptoms of a problem.
OTOH, I have a problem with guarantees that expire at one year. You can’t even OFA the dog until it is two, and many problems don’t show up until after that time. I also have a problem with guarantees that require the puppy be returned. Now how many people are going to return their dog that they’ve had for nearly a year to the breeder? To me that’s just a way of getting out of having to make good.
Overall, I would walk away from this “guarantee”.
EDIT: Chetco, I would suspect a similar situation in Bulldogs as we have in Bassets – because most of the weight of the dog is carried by the front end, even if a dog has mild/moderate dysplasia it won’t actually affect the dog’s quality of life. Bulldogs have even more of the weight in the front than Bassets, so I’d suspect that HD is pretty low priority for breeders meaning that they’re mostly x-raying if they suspect a problem (meaning a higher percentage of x-rays would be dysplastic than if your’re doing all dogs routinely).
Check out this chart that shows the incidence of dysplasia in the different breeds:
“Hip Dysplasia by Breed”
http://www.offa.org/hipstatbreed.html
Bulldogs Tested=467 OFA excellent= 0.2% Dysplastic=73.2%
And that’s ony rating the *hip* dysplasia, and doesn’t include dysplastic *elbows* !
So, most Bulldog breeders are producing dysplastic pups. The poor Bulldog needs to be re-invented!
It is in bulldogs. I’ve seen many agreements like this is the breed. Many also exclude eye, skin, and respiratory problems ie stenotic nares. As far as dysplasia, I haven’t seen a bulldog yet that didn’t have it in some form. In fact most are moderate to severe. We x-ray our share of bulldogs too. People who want a bulldog really need to think hard about them as they are expensive to buy, expensive to own, and sadly they are very unsound. I will say that I have never seen an aggressive bulldog. However, I’ve seen them with some very severe issues that have definitely shortened their lifespan. I feel that bulldogs should be allowed to go extinct…sorry. I had a 14 week old puppy die in my arms last week from a severe heart defect. The owner was devastated. She is now fighting with the breeder as she signed a contract such as this.
I have never heard of this…it would be like me selling a Cavalier without guaranteeing the heart LOL. Sounds stupid! The whole reason a person purchases a pup from a breeder is because they are using breeding stock that is tested and purchasing a pup that is guaranteed
I just bought an AB pup…she has a 4 yr warranty against congenital defects and a LIFETIME hip warranty, however, I must have her hips cert at 2yrs old in which the breeder will pay half. I thought that was being more than fair. There were some other stipulations as to agreeing not to work her to young and keep her on good quality dog food or puppy food specified for large breeds. Her breeder gave me copies of mom and dad’s health tests and hip scores.
My sister has an EB and her dog was sold with a 4yr hip guarantee. Unsure of stipulations but I know that is something my sis was looking for when she bought her pup.
I would say it is NOT common practice amongst “good” breeders. Not to mention a 1yr health guarantee doesn’t mean a whole lot.
***My AB (Im sure a different story tho haha) is guaranteed to grade a min of Fair. If I choose NOT to have her hips cert done than I null and void the lifetime warranty and she is simply guaranteed to not show signs of moderate to severe HD within 4 yrs.
I called my sis about her EB. Her bulldog is guaranteed to not have mod/severe Dysplasia before the age of 4. Her hips were scored and scored borderline she said. Her dog is 5 now. She also said her warranty on her dog is null and void if she allows her to become overweight amongst other things.