Health Guarantees

I have to say I am (pleasantly) surprised at how many breeders in Texas have CHIC #s for their dogs. It'll be awhile before I get another papillon but I'm storing these names away. Maybe one day the PCA will realize health testing is a good thing. From now on though I'm doing my part and only buying from CHIC dogs. Maybe eventually there will be enough pressure for the other breeders to cave.

A breeder I like near me has CHIC #s on all their paps =)

That's awesome! I'm hoping it keeps catching on!

I would not expect a breeder to pay for medical costs associated with a genetic condition if they had done all available testing and taken reasonable precautions against such conditions. I would not feel right about that at all. JMO.

My dog, my costs. I'm uncomfortable sharing choices in treatments and thus do not expect my breeder to pay for my dog. I do however seek out and attempt to keep up a good relationship with my breeders in the hopes they would be happy to assist in forming choices and be comfortably aware of any issues I am facing.

This pretty much summarizes how I feel. If the dog was on a co-own or co-breed contract that would be different, of course. And I am more than happy to share the information with the breeder and do part in keeping them informed about the health of their line.

I don't look at so much the health guarantee but the health testing that has been done on the dogs, the answers I get from asking questions, how old their dogs are. I remember the first time, I talked to Ivans breeder and asked her if any of her dogs had had seizures or epilepsy. Her response is what convinced me I wanted a dog from her. She told me at this point in time(15 years of breeding) she had not had a puppy or dog come down with that. BUT she could not guarantee it wouldn't happen, same with stones. I wasn't worried about stones, at that point didn't care, I just wanted a seizure free dog that would get to live beyond its 4th birthday.

1. I am not anti breeder. Just want to get that straight before moving forward.

2. Not breeder contracts, but contracts in general. I used to work for some sleazy dealerships and I got to see people screwed out of perfectly legitimate things that were promised in writing, but werent promised quite well enough. Considering all that I've seen there I have real reservations about someone who knows nothing about contracts writing one. You have to have things spelled out perfectly.

Tons of other people in this thread have said most contracts aren't worth the paper they're written on. I am saying the same. Just with more what-if questions to make people think. A health guarantee sounds great! It really does. But most of them are complete wastes. Stack the deck with health testing, and if you have to have a contract have a lawyer write it up for you.

So I wouldn't say I'm venomous about the issue - jaded, for sure. However, you're welcome to assume anything you like about me - some of it might even be true!