It is so very important to purchase your dogs from breeders who are in it for the love of the breed...not the love of money.  Unfortunately, there are far too many of the latter who dont care what they are producing or after they are born, do not take the proper steps to care for their puppies.  Read our two personal, heartbreaking stories.

WILLOW'S STORY

Willow was purchased from a breeder in Foster, RI who recently moved away.  She was advertised for sale and I liked her lines so I went to see her.  I brought Sonja along with me to be sure she got along with other dogs.  Willow immediately stole my heart.  She was a happy, friendly girl and soon after meeting, Willow and Sonja were happily playing.  I bought her on the spot and brought her home that night.  My first warning sign was that her AKC papers were in transit from the AKC although she was a year old.  The breeder promised to send her papers as soon as they arrived.  My 2nd warning sign was that she didnt even have a rabies shot yet but she did have a handwritten document of her series of 4 puppy distemper shots.  Sometimes I act with my heart and not my head and I bought her anyway. 

Upon arriving home, I immediately called the vet and got Willow her rabies shot.  Everything seemed fine.  She was with me for a month and had clearly been a kennel dog.  My first goal was to take her everywhere with me to get her socialized and exposed to new situations which she handled beautifully.

One Saturday morning, Willow didn't eat her breakfast....no big deal.  I figured she wasn't hungry, that sometimes happens and she was happy and active.  Saturday night, she didnt eat her supper either...I was a little concerned but she was still happy and active.  That night at 3AM Willow awoke me with terrible diarrhea.  I cleaned up after her, gave her some Pepto and we both went back to bed.  When we got up that morning, Willow ran out with the rest of the dogs like nothing was wrong, came back in and took a big drink of water.  I figured she had a little bug so I went grocery shopping.  When I came home Willow was clearly in distress and off to the vet we went for an emergency visit.  Willow died on the table before my eyes...I was stunned.  My poor baby died at one year of age on her birthday!

I drove home in a daze, of course, beating myself up and second guessing what I should/could have done different.  Trying to reason with myself I had to ask would anyone run off to the vet on a weekend when their dog was happy and active?  From the time she showed her first real sympton of diarrhea to dying was 12 HOURS.   I still cannot believe it happened.

Willow died from a common puppy illness that is TOTALLY PREVENTABLE when a proper series of puppy shots is given.  A one year old, vaccinated dog dying from this illness is virtually unheard of.  This can only mean that the breeder:

• Didnt give any shots at all although presented me with a record of shots
• Gave expired shots
• Did not properly refrigerate her shots

This totally preventable death did not have to happen.   RIP sweet girl until we meet again. 

By the way, I never did receive her AKC papers from the breeder.

BUCCA'S STORY

Bucca came to us quite by accident.  I had a friend who was in the market for a shepherd puppy for her and her 4 children and we had nothing to offer her at that time.  Although I cautioned her about going elsdwhere for a pup, the family had their heart set on a puppy now.  She found an ad for a litter of pups and asked me to go along.  I was quite surprised that it was a German breeding although I had never heard of the breeder before.  I looked at the pedigrees of the parents (who were on site) and although I was not familiar with the lines, everything seemed ok.

While my friend and her children were running around with the pups, I found this one little pup at my feet.  I moved away and again, this one little pup separated from his siblings and came over to me.  I had no intention of buying a puppy that day but it was clear, this little one wanted to come home with me......so he did.

We named him Bucca.  He was totaly housebroken at 9 weeks of age which I had never seen before in all my years of breeding.  He was highly intelligent and was the youngest dog to ever pass the American Temperament Test in North America.  I was training him to be a therapy dog and he would go into the hospitals like he had been doing it his whole life.  The dog was a pleasure to own and train not to mention he was so beautiful, he turned heads wherever he went.

We noticed that he was cryptorchid (only 1 testical) so sadly, Bucca would have to be neutered.  We wanted to show him, we wanted to breed him....but that was not in the cards for Bucca.  We brought him in for the surgery which is usually a breeze.  The vet called in the afternoon and informed us that Bucca had von Willebrand's disease (canine hemophelia) so what should have been a simple procedure was now a life threathening situation. They finally got the bleeding under control but it took Bucca a week in the hospital to recover from this.  We brought him home knowing we would have to keep a close eye on him because a simple cut would be a serious situation for him.  All went well for a few months and we continued to love and cherish this special dog.  Everyday at the same time, he would walk down to the end of the driveway and wait for my son to come home on the bus and walk him into the house.  I could not have loved this dog more!

At 9 months, Bucca started to limp on one leg and finally went down.  We brought him in for x-rays and got the devastating news that Bucca had severe hip displaysia.  This dog was so intelligent, good natured and protective of my children that I would have done anything for him.  I thought about femur head removal or hip replacement but due to his hemophilia, this was out of the question.  We were in a catch 22.  The only thing we could do was bring him home and hope for the best.  We tried natural supplements to relieve his pain but finally it got to the point where he could not get up.  I didnt know what to do.  It was heartbreaking to watch this noble animal lay in the corner because he couldn't move.  I made the decision to give him low doses of asprin to help with his pain and this worked.  Bucca was able to get up and cautiously, interact with us and the other dogs in the house.  Because asprin thins the blood, I knew this was risky because of his hemophellia but my only other choice was to put him down.

One December night, I came home to find Bucca in shock and clearly in distress.  We picked him up and rushed him to Tufts where the diagnosis got even worse.  Not only did he have displaysia and hemophelia but he was also diagnosed with Addison's disease.  His organs were shutting down and it was time to say good-bye to our loyal friend at 18 months of age.

And the other puppy that my friend bought....was deaf!!

These animals needlessly suffered and our was family torn apart because a breeder didn't take the time to research his lines and x-ray the hips of his dogs prior to breeding.

The greed and/or ignorance of these two breeders caused a whole lot of canine and human pain.  I hope they spent the money well!!!

Hopefully, there will be no more additions to this page!!!!