I recently put a deposit down for a puppy rottweiler. I have visited the puppies in their home a couple of times and there are plenty of good signs but also a few bad signs. Good signs: all puppies appear healthy, the mother is beautiful and seems to have an brilliant temperament, there is another dog (white staffy), a cat and several young children all living happily together (i have sat amongst all in one room and all get along brilliantly). The seller has plenty of advice for me about getting the puppy vaccinated, feeding, training etc...all good and said to me i am welcome to visit as much as i want any time til i get the puppy.

However, there have been a few things which have set alarm bells ringing:

1)The puppy was advertised as having papers. It turns out the puppies are not kc registered but ARE pedigree according to the owner. I have asked to see the pedigree certificate and the owner has told me they haven't received them yet but should have them on the day i collect and that I can kc register them myself.
2)The owners asked me for the rest of the money upfront but i insisted theres no way i am paying until the day I take puppy home which they later accepted.
3)On top of that, the sellers told me they should be ready to go at 6 weeks unless they feel they arent quite ready yet, i told them i won't take one home til 7-8 weeks regardless. They responded by saying they have a right to charge me for each day they keep her after 6 weeks to cover feeding etc which i reluctantly agreed i would do.

I'm concerned about the dishonesty i am detecting from the seller. I am not too bothered about registering with kennel club or whether the dogs are in fact pedigree, I am just after a good rottweiler for companionship.
Price advertised was £300 with papers, I believe a dog without papers is worth less than that. If the puppy had been adverstised as having no papers i would have been happy to buy one but for much lower price.

what are my rights about getting my deposit back if i decided not to go ahead with the purchase? The puppies are advertised on several websites as 'having papers'. I am happy with what I'll be getting in terms of the quality of puppies but not happy about all the payment issues. What should I do??

Walk away, if you want a dog with a good temperament then you need to know the sire as well.
Pedigrees are written by the seller and registration comes from the KC.
Beware, too many lies have been told

Totally Agree With Rona..
Walk away.. it all sounds very odd to me to!

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DON'T SWEAT THE PETTY THINGS AND DON'T PET THE SWEATY THINGS!

Red Dog Pics @ http://www.flickr.com/photos/24819879@N07/

On the legal issue as to whether you can walk away and get your deposit back - yes you can if
- it was agreed with the breeder that you could change your mind and get your money back
OR - if you consider you have been misled in some way (on that paper/KC issue) you should be able to rescind the contract and get your money back but it may not be easy if the breeder is unwilling. I am also assuming here that the breeder is a private individual not a professional, right?

I would say that 6 weeks is too early for pups to leave mum although more and more breeders seem to do it anyway...I would say you should have the right to say its too early without having to pay them for anything really...so I suppose thats a bad point for that breeder in that he seems to be in it only or mainly for the money..but then hes not being completely dishonest nor unreasonable in today's context...

As for the price I dont know about rotties but id say £300 for a non-registered but pure breed dog is not excessive as far as I know. Its not cheap but its far from being out of the ordinary. As far as i understand it pups are very expensive to "raise" and that is regardless of KC (KC only add the price of registration which is minimal).

xx

Did you ask if the parents had been health tested (whatever the relevant tests are for rotties)?
What about the support the breeders will give you if anything should happen in the future? will they help you? will they take the dog back if necessary?
I think those are more important issues than whether the owners tried to get the money upfront (doesnt necessarily mean he is dishonest although it is a bit uncommon).

At the end of the day its up to you but personally I wouldnt nec worry to much as long as you are safe the pup is healthy and has a good temperament and nothing you said gives rise to doubt on that.

Good luck
x

hello if i was you i would stay clear. the k.c papers should be done by the breeder NOT the new owner. infact it is only the breeder that can do this as they are the owner of the dam and the k.c will not allow anyone else to do this. did the sire and dam have hipscores done? if you want you can p.m the breeders details and i will see if i can tell you anymore.

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estalea rottweilers

I would say walk away too, things dont seem to add up.

If you are not happy and as is said alarm bells are ringing, walk away.

We bought a cocker pup who was half show half worker - we were delighted with every aspect of her breeders and had no worries at all.
When we got her checked by our vet, it transpired she had luxating patellas in both back legs. We told the breeder, she asked us to take our dog to her vet to get it confirmed, and when it was confirmed, she gave us all our money back - I think that is the sign of a truly lovely breeder.
In the event of any problems, hand on your heart, do you think your breeder would do the same?

Walk away - now!!!!!!
xxx

This is untrue. ONLY the breeder can KC register puppies, and in order to both parents need to be registered (and certain restrictions apply too).
I would not trust this breeder on this point alone.

6 weeks is IMO too young. 7 weeks to an experienced home with other dogs already, otherwise 8 weeks. The breeder is beyond contempt for charging you for each day over 6 weeks that she keeps the pups.

You have not mentioned health testing. I appreciate that KC registration doesn't matter to everyone, but health testing should. Hips and eyes as a minimum although there may be other tests too (rotties are not my breed).

Unfortunately, if you have already paid a deposit then, seeing as this breeder seems a money making unscrupulous one, I suspect you will not get your deposit back. It may be possible to go to trading standards regarding misrepresentation as they lied about KC registration.

Either way, I would recommend walking away, even if it means losing your deposit. Health problems could cost you far more in the long run than your deposit, not to mention the heartache.

Edited to add:

I don't know about rotties, but £300 for a kc registered puppy from health tested parents sounds very cheap - I would expect to pay around twice that amount. I would suggest that £300 is more the going rate for an unregistered dog.

Also, forget the reference to 'papers', it doesn't mean anything. They are either KC registered or unregistered. HTH