I am hoping that she no longer uses these dogs in her program. I am hoping that it was a lesson learned for her and that she is better for it. I am hoping that it is not a problem as of date. I don't want to support a bad program, but does one mark on your record make you bad? Have all great breeders never had a bad mark? Had something bad pop up in their breeding program? Then take steps to improve and recover?
Wait my phone is ringing...... It’s Pam!
Ok.... I really feel awesome right now!!!! I just spent over an hour on the phone with Pam. I am so pleased!!!
Ok... I tried sending the email to her last night.. I checked mine this morning and saw that it was returned as undeliverable... So I resent it... within 30 minutes she called me! What a quick response!
She was wonderful, she explained the entire situations to me from the first time she visited with the folks who bought the two pups in question up to the very end of it all... there are many details that were left out of that web page on Liver Shunt.... I am not going to go into everything here, as I don't feel it my place to... And I really don't want to fire up any debates about it.. But I will say this.
Pam tested all four of the dogs involved in the breeding of the two pups. Three tested fine and one... The father of Willis tested high. She fixed him right away and removed him from her breeding program. The only sibling of Willis, a female, was contacted and to this day is in perfect health.
Pam was devastated by the event! She did refund the 1500 for Willis to be put towards his sugary, but only after begging the owners to return him to her as he was being held back as a pet for Pam when the couple and her husband had talked her into letting him go to this couple... It was months later that the couple came to her with the request for a refund on the second dog, claming that it too had Liver shunt! Pam was floored! After having all of them tested and the dam and sire of the second dog testing out ok, she felt like she was being taken for a ride. She suffered months of harassment and threats as a result of this. She has never had this issue in her breeding program and to this day has not had the issue again. It was a very unfortunate situation and she did everything she could to correct it. She was going to shut down after the whole thing; it was that traumatic for her.. But her vet convinced her that she was not in the wrong, that bad things happen and as long as she took every step to insure that it was corrected, she would be fine.
As for USDA.... She likes being licensed with them, they come out and inspect, so does the state and AKC... she has never had a violation! She is proud of that! Her pups are never sold to brokers... the USDA rep even told her that she did not need to keep up her Lic if she is not selling to auctions, brokers, or wholesale. Her kennel is climate controlled, and her dams whelp indoors with her... she has a room built off of her bedroom that houses the dams and the puppies while they are young, so she can be close. The USDA has never sited her for having her dogs in the main house. And she says that she has had plenty in when they show up...
Pam offered to refund my deposit... She applauded my concern and was very pleased when I turned her down, she is happy to know that her pup is going to a concerned and caring home.
I believe that Pam is a stand up gal, a good and responsible breeder, and I really do feel like she took the right steps to insure that this is not a problem in her program. She pinpointed the problem and eliminated it... the dog that tested high now lives with her brother as a pet.
There are so many details that we discussed that I am not going into here but the bottom line is..... Shadow Creek Kennels gets a
from me. One bad mark does not define us... Or we would all have some serious explaning to do. non of us are perfect beings. It's easy to jump to conclusions... I did. But it takes an open mind to take the time to listen to both sides and decide for yourself. I think that her record speaks for its self, even with this pair of pups on it. I find no other reason to label her as a bad breeder or Puppy mill...
I really feel good about my decision; of course I will have a full blood work panel run on her as part of her new puppy visit with my Vet. He likes to establish a base line to compare to in case of illness. But I am confident that she will test out just fine.
Oh, and I have Chritmas pictures comming form Pam... I will post when I get them! I can't wait to see more of Pixie!