Chaffins (Oklahoma) - Unethical Breeders

[DebiDebb]

Originally Posted by pauldo

Breeder fraudulent, avoided me after sale & threatened to kill me!

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Breeder: Cissye(Merri) Chaffin
Chaffin Raised Kennel (Atoka, Oklahoma)

I’ve noticed other YT members sharing stories about unethical breeders, so I thought I might as well share my bad experience.

Last fall I was looking for a small male terrier (2-3 lb.) to breed with my female terrier and use as a stud dog. I could only find 4-5 lb. males in my area of Canada, so I went looking on the internet. (I had purchased 2 yorkies in the past and things went smoothly during and after the sale – so I was pretty trusting). I fell in love with a male yorkie advertised on www.yorkiebabypup.com (Chaffin Raised Kennel). Advertised as 13 oz. at 7 weeks, it was the smallest and was the most expensive male they had (out of about 10 male puppies). ($1500 US) The breeder, Cissye Chaffin told me the puppy was the smallest in the litter, one of the smallest males they ever had and mentioned several times how the dad was 2 ½ pounds. (I was told mom was 5 lbs.). She discussed how she thought the puppy would be small like the dad (I did the 3x 8week weight and sure enough it worked out to a 2-3 pound adult). He was adorable, the right size and I bought him. There were some red flags at this point already that should have made me suspicious:

1.Cissye sent me the 8week old pup on a 12 hour journey to Canada (now I know that the tiny yorkies need to stay with their mom much longer before attempting such a flight)
2.Cissye didn’t show me a picture of the mom (just the adorable 2 ½ pound dad) even though I asked for a picture.
3.She had about 20 yorkie pups at that time for sale, and also maltese and brussels griffin pups (does this mean it was a puppy mill?)
4.She didn’t ask me any questions to qualify if the puppy was going to a good home or what I planned on doing with him.

Well I got the puppy – he was adorable like all yorkie pups – but seemed just as big as my five pound yorkies had at 8 weeks. Plus he had these huge paws. My husband immediately told me that the puppy was not going to be a tiny adult. We weighed him and it appeared he had almost doubled his weight in about a week (now was 1 ½ lbs.). I emailed Cissye letting her know that the puppy was cute but why was he so big? Cissye always emailed back quickly b/f the sale, now I waited 3 days with no reply.

Finally I got a hold of her by phone but she couldn’t talk b/c she had a migraine. She told me to phone the next day. I did, but she told she hadn’t had time to look at his weight chart, and that her husband would phone me (he never did). She also told me to buy some stuff from Walmart to deworm him b/c maybe he was full of worms and that was why he was so heavy. My vet rolled her eyes about that one and questioned the puppy’s rapid growth as well?

By now I was becoming suspicious -- they were avoiding me, and the puppy was not the small puppy they had promised and that I had payed extra for. I again looked at the date that their ad first ran on the internet and the date of the puppy’s birth and realized that the puppy was actually 5 weeks old (and not 7 weeks as they claimed) when he was 13 oz. I recalculated his adult weight and discovered his adult weight could reach the 5 lb. range (5 lb. male dogs are $800 in Canada – I paid $1500 U.S. and with shipping, exchange etc. the puppy cost me $2300!!!).

I emailed the Chaffins again stating that I now realized they had given me false information and that I wanted to pay for what I had actually gotten (i.e. I wanted a partial refund). I did not want to exchange the puppy b/c at this point I didn’t trust them: they already had my money, and now I was going to send back the dog??? Plus Cissye had originally told me that it was the smallest male they ever had. So how could they send me a smaller one? Also I didn’t want to put this puppy back on a 12 hour plane ride ( he had arrived with runny eyes, a cough, a horrible smell that lasted weeks, and was diagnosed with an ear infection). I told the Chaffins that if they refused to reply I would report their fraudulent actions to the AKC. Again they did not reply.

I waited a couple days – got up my courage and phoned them again – Cissye was abrupt and told me she didn’t take kindly to threats. Her husband grabbed the phone from her and started yelling at me and verbally abusing me. He kept yelling “WHAT DO YOU WANT” but wouldn’t let me talk. He told me I was nothing but a complainer, a scam artist like all the other scam artists they have to deal with and that I was lucky I didn’t live close by, that I was force feeding the dog, that I knew nothing about yorkies, and that $1500 was the going price for yorkies in the U.S. and that he could have charged me more. When I realized I was getting no where with him, I said I would exchange the pup (didn’t want to do this but didn’t know what else to say) but I asked that they pay for the shipping, since it was their false information that caused the reason for the return. Mr. Chaffin refused. I then asked him to at least split the cost b/c in Can. $ it was going to cost me another $600 to send the puppy back and receive another one. Again he refused to help out and said it wasn’t his fault the Canadian currency was so rotten. At this point I was so frustrated, overwhelmed, and feeling victimized that I started to cry. Mr. Chaffin told me he had better things to do with his time then listen to me cry. I finally lost it, swore at him (I never swear), and told him I was reporting their service to appropriate organizations. It was then that Mr. Chaffin told me that when he comes to Canada to go hunting he’s going to coming looking for me with his gun. He then hung up on me.

On the phone, Mr. Chaffin was totally out of control and sounded like a lunatic. Since I don’t know him from Adam, I decided I should bring his threats to the attention of law enforcement agents. This incident has been reported to the Canadian police and Atoka sherrif’s department. They have dealt with this matter with Mr. Chaffin and commented that Mr. Chaffin to has a “I’m right and every one else is wrong” attitude. He was rude until he was told that a further threat would have him turned away at the Canadian border – according to the police office, Mr. Chaffin suddenly became civil.

When my male puppy finally reached 5 lbs, I got a letter from my vet verifying the weight and e-mailed a copy to the Chaffins letting them know my instincts had been correct, and that I was not the “complainer” and “scam artist” I was accused of being. I asked them one more time if we could work something out. They did not reply - I wasn’t surprised – they already had my money.

My male puppy is now six pounds – a breeder in my area told me to neuter him b/c he will be too big to breed with my 5 lb. female. I have debated selling him and starting over with a new male, however, I will only get $800 for him if I’m lucky. Also my kids have become attached to him, and he to us … Unfortunately I want to stay as a small breeder and I am not in the position to own terriers I cannot breed. I am now in a real dilemma.

One thing I’ve learned from this experience is that it’s not what happens during the purchase that makes a breeder a good, ethical breeder but how the breeder acts after the sale. In my opinion, the Chaffins just want to sell a puppy, and don’t care about the purchaser’s needs or the puppy’s well being. I’m hoping by bringing our experiences into the open, that breeders like the Chaffins will think twice before misrepresenting facts/scamming and abusing their purchasers.

I am soooo sorry to hear your story. I too bought our little baby from Chaffin, not knowing anything about them. Silly me I didn't do a search or anything. Our Madi was very sickly in the beginning too. Thank God she is now a healthy wee one. She just got spayed a week ago and is healing up nicely. Within the first month of having Madi, we spent about $1000.oo+. She had the worst strain of kennel cough out vet has ever seen, 3 different antibiotics and cough syrup with codine, she had worms, a strange infection on her ears that made all of her hair on them fall out, and if that wasn't enough she had some strange virus with vomiting and diarrhea that she lost 4oz within 2 days. I was very scared. Thankfully she is now about 5lbs. and is the cutest thing ever. We are soooo thankful that she is ok now and the love of our lives. I hope that your email and mine help some other people from making the same mistake that we did. Good luck with your little one.
Debi

[DebiDebb]

I am sooo sorry to hear about your ordeal. We too have purchased our Yorkie from Chaffin, but we dealt with a witch named Merri. She is a real peach. Our little Madi is ok now, but we she arrived we brought all 1.5 lbs of her to the vet and she had the worst strain of kennel cough that our vet has ever seen. It took 3 anitbiotics and cough syrup with codine to help her get better. She then had to be dewormed and had a strange rash on her ears that to this day our vet doesn't know what it was. It caused all of her fur on her ears to fall off. It has grown back and she is as cute as ever. She also got some strange virus that caused her to lose 4oz. in 2 days from vomiting and diarrhea. She is now 7 1/2 months old and we just had her spayed and she did very well and healed up nicely. She is the love of our lives and can't imaging our life without her. Oh yeah, our puppy was sent up without her papers and of course Merri from Chaffin is giving me the run around on them, it is going on 3 months of me trying to get them from her. I am not really concerned about the akc stuff, it is just the point that she advertised akc registerd yorkies and then doesn't send you the paperwork. I truly believe that every dog has it's day and what comes around goes around. I love our little girl and she is staying on the petite size. She just reached 5lbs. and 7 1/2 months old. She does have the greatest little personality and disposition. I think it is from my husband and I working with her. She does have some major separation anxiety and as soon as you put her into her crate and shut the door, she will pee and poop and step in it. She is fine if you leave the door open, she will lie down and take a nap. The trainer that we go to with Madi thinks that she was in bad living conditions to pee and poop where she sleeps. I hope things get better for your situation.

Debi

[michele h]

thank you for your repy - you are 100% right when you say bad living conditions - and as for the pee and poop - my yorkie too would do it in her cage and step and lay all in it all the time

[michele h]

do you ever get any money back from them for madi

[DebiDebb]

No, I didn't. She keeps stating that she was perfectly healthy when she left to come to Boston. At this point, I feel sooooo lucky that my Madi ok and is healthy. She truly is our beloved baby. She is in my lap as I type.
Debi

[debbieslittledo]

I was told that if there were about 15 to 20 people who had been wronged by the chaffins when buying a dog that the FBI would get involved. How many of you would like to see JUSTICE? I am willing to be the go between for all of you, if we can get that many. Just let me know. You can count me in, we need 18 more.

[DebiDebb]

What has to be done for this matter to be taken seriously? I personally feel lucky that I actually have a puppy that is happy and now healthy. Please keep me informed on what needs to be done and what everyone else is thinking.

Thanks
Debi

[debbieslittledo]

Originally Posted by DebiDebb

What has to be done for this matter to be taken seriously? I personally feel lucky that I actually have a puppy that is happy and now healthy. Please keep me informed on what needs to be done and what everyone else is thinking.

Thanks
Debi

If you will do your DNA on your puppy and it does not match the listed parents AKC will deal with them. If the chaffins get one more bad DNA they could be banned from AKC for life.

Pass it on. Do DNA testing with AKC.

Every dog reg. should require DNA testing, matter of fact each State should make it mandatory. If DNA test fail the breeder should be banned for life and the DAM the litter came from. This would make breeders responsible breeders. We all need to write all demand tuffer laws for breeders. I think alot of people would go out of business if there were tuff laws.
Debbie

[DebiDebb]

I never got any paperwork from the chaffins. I have been trying to get it from merri, she hasn't been answering her phone and now I am told that she has sold the website. I guess I will have no way of knowing anything about my baby girl. Thankfully she is healthy and we couldn't love her more.

Thanks for the info
Debi

[pauldo]

Wow, I haven't been on yorkietalk.com for a long time and didn't realize that people were still responding to this thread -- to be quite honest I was avoiding yorkietalk.com because I was disheartened by how judgmental and harsh some of the comments were (i.e. several members didn't understand what I was trying to say about this breeder, but rather focused on critizing my concerns with Tiko's weight). Update -- Tiko is fully grown (2 1/2 years old -- 13 pounds!!!). He must have come from a really big mom and probably not a 2lb dad. We still have him and love him, but it still bothers me the way the Chaffins (Merri) have and continue to treat people. Debbie can you tell me what information you need from me to report the Chaffins to the FBI. Thanks.

Doris Paul
Saskatoon, Saskatchewan
Canada

[tegamom1]

In the last AKC Gazette, there was a notice.
The AKC's Management Disciplinary Committee has suspended the following individuals from all AKC privileges for an additional six months and imposed a $500.00 fine for having submitted or caused to be submitted three litter registration applications that they knew, should have known, or had a duty to know contained false certifications (DNA exclusions).
Effective April 7th. 2008
Ms. Merri Chaffin (Atoka, Ok)
(Multiple Breeds)

Since this does say "additional", it appears they have other suspensions on her. This may not stop people like this, but at least it's something. Of course, she can always go to other registries, but at least AKC has stepped in.

[pauldo]

I've heard that the Chaffins have been having alot of problems and have actually auctioned off all their dogs -- no longer in business!!! When we work together, buyers do have a voice!!! I'm thinking of having my Tiko DNA tested -- just curious whether the picture of the cute little 2 lb. yorkie Merri sent me really is my 13 lb. Tiko's father.

[Ines3185lyorkie]

Originally Posted by pauldo

I've heard that the Chaffins have been having alot of problems and have actually auctioned off all their dogs -- no longer in business!!! When we work together, buyers do have a voice!!! I'm thinking of having my Tiko DNA tested -- just curious whether the picture of the cute little 2 lb. yorkie Merri sent me really is my 13 lb. Tiko's father.

It's great to hear that these breeders were put out of business . Of course they could also do business under another name.

[ILOVEYORKIES2]

Originally Posted by pauldo

I've heard that the Chaffins have been having alot of problems and have actually auctioned off all their dogs -- no longer in business!!! When we work together, buyers do have a voice!!! I'm thinking of having my Tiko DNA tested -- just curious whether the picture of the cute little 2 lb. yorkie Merri sent me really is my 13 lb. Tiko's father.

They had an auction a year or so ago but were back in business a few months later. They were probably just cutting back or selling off their culls.

[BakersDozen]

I live about 30 minutes from them...do not know them personally, but it is my understanding that they no longer have dogs to breed. (Since I don't know them, I'm not 100% sure on this.) They do run a kennel supply business.