[scrapindee]

Approximately a year ago, I went into a partnership with another breeder who at the time I thought was extremely ethical. (No lectures here about co-partnerships -- another topic, another time.). We have a written contract that I thought was all-encompassing.

The Dam had a litter of puppies Spring of 2006. The other breeder and I agreed to rest the dog for one heat cycle as she had had a litter prior to our purchasing her. The Dam came in to heat in October 2006. At the time, the other breeder who had custody of the dog, brought into her home, a stud dog of different lineage. The other breeder, asked if it would be okay to breed the dam once more and then rest her. During this heat cycle, the other breeder attempted several times to breed stud dog and dam. This breeder has several other male dogs and one of them locked with the dam.

During the last fertile weekend of this dam's cycle, I had the opportunity to see the dog. The other owner handed her to me at a motel, prior to a dog show, with the comment, "every other dog has had her, we may as well try your dog with her to prove him. We'll just DNA the puppies at the end.?

My partner announced to me, in one of the few conversations we had after that dog show, that she was having the dam spayed as soon as possible after the puppies. Our contract says we were going to have five litters together, unless the vet says this dam needs to be spayed. I offered to take the dam to my home, 3000 miles away. She said: "no, she's being spayed and that is it -- the partnership will be dissolved." Unfortunately, our contract did not cover spontaneously spaying this dam.

Well two puppies were born about a month ago, the other breeder refuses to talk to me (since the dog show weekend), and she is refusing to DNA the puppies. She informed me, four days after whelping, of the litter. She periodically sends me pictures with weights of the two puppies.

Any ideas or suggestions (no flaming about partnerships please) would be appreciated.