Don't feel bad
I feel the same way...only I naively contacted a breeder whom was re-homing an older dog..(my Elvis when he was about 2 yrs).
I felt so prepared and informed with my list of tough screening questions and thinking it was no big deal to get a dog from the other side of the country...I got all the right answers...oh boy was I naive!
I verified nothing and received no proof just words.
Just about everything was lie. Shocker I know right...
The 'I thought I knew what I was doing' bubble was burst rather quickly when Elvis arrived with flea poop, bad teeth, worms, and all his joints popping when he moved--arthritis.
It was the seizures he had a couple months after I got him that were the icing on the cake...be glad it was eat mites...I've spent several thousand now and he's only stabilized...no cure here.
Thankfully there is a YT to save us all from making the same mistake twice, educating us on to deal with these issue from a more personal level that vets can provide and oh the support that comes comes from here!
Hopefully potential first time puppy (or dog) adopters will learn from these experiences and be saved the heart ache (although even when given the opportunity I chose to keep Elvis and deal with his problems) and for those of us that learned the hard way...we can share the details for what to change and fine tune it for next time.
Not to mention YT has some really great breeders you can get to know here. |