Caveat Emptor....Buyer beware!

[Eric, Paulette and Fenway]

So here's our story about Fenway and our processs of him adopting us as his family.
This is definitely a story of "caveat emptor" (buyer beware).
We began our hunt for our little guy about 5-6 weeks ago. We have had 2 Shih-Tzu's name Menuki and Sambuca for 13 and 12 years respectively. We had to put Menuki down about a month and a half ago. He was healthy but had 3 seizures w/in 14 hours and each one took him down more. We made the difficult decision to put him down as even if we found out what was wrong with him, what could we really have done for him at that age. His brother Sambuca has a big heart murmur and we were rally worried about the effect on him of the loss of his brother. So through a lot of research and meeting doodles in Boston a few weeks ago, we decided to add another to our brood but try and go local so we wouldn't have to fly a dog across the country.
We looked for local breeders and through a friend and an ad in the paper found a woman who lives about a mile away who just had a littler of 13 Goldendoodles. She is an obedience trainer and breeder who has bred Great Danes and now Poodles/Goldendoodles. This was her 3rd litter and she had 2 boys left. I knew if I went with my kids, we wouldn't be leaving without a dog and should have known better. Long story short, we talked with her for several hours and felt good and comfortable with her (hey, she lived around the corner and said she would even watch the little guy if we went away). With that we brought Fenway home(8 weeks) last Saturday afternoon. Fenway was one of the runt of the litter so he was smaller but that was ok as we were looking for a smaller sized doodle (no offense Marty!). He is a joy (most of the time, well all right, only during the day) to be around and very happy go lucky.
He was due for shots this Tuesday and she had told us if we brought him back, she would give him his shot. Tuesday went by and she was not available, then Wednesday no response by phone or text, then Thursday same thing. She was going to email all the pertinent info and we had not heard world one. We were hurt and angry and confused. Why not at least send us the stuff. In the meanwhile we contacted our vet as we needed to figure out what to do about the shots and he was scratching a lot at his ears and hi hind quarters. So we have made an appointment for him today to see if he has ear mites (which we strongly suspect). We'll keep you posted.
Other than that he is settling in to our house except he has his days and nights mixed up! We haven't got more than 2-3 hours of sleep in a row for the past 2 nights!
Long story but pretty exhausting.
Lessons learned: Go with breeders you know or can get multiple good recommendations for. Don't rush to get a pup. They are cute and steal your heart but it's good to have support from your breeder. Get all documentation up front no matter what.
I know there have been minor inconveniences but he is truly a cutie and we'll just figure it out as we go along. Hopefully she didn't lie about the health screens on the mom and dad since we didn't get any of the paperwork.

[Eric, Paulette and Fenway]

So to update everyone, we took Fenway to the Vet on Friday and she thought he was underweight and that was her main concern. With how small he was she was wondering if he was really 8 weeks old. She gave him the 4 in 1 shot and did a stool test. Initial results when she looked under microscope was inconclusive. We sent samples off and got results back today. He has both giardia and coccidia. The vet says this is common but we still are unconvinced. We now have him on medication and hope he starts gaining weight now. He is certainly eating a lot so now we will see how he reacts with the medicine.
We did take the puppy home the same day we met him as the rest of the littler was gone save for a brother and sister.
The breeder finally contacted us when I texted her that the puppy was sick. I haven't gotten back to her yet but hope to this evening. She said that a friend had passed away but I think a voice mail or text asking us to hold on until she could talk to us at some point would have solved the whole situation.
Anyway, we have had 2 decent sleep nights and we are hoping for more this week. (Fingers crossed).

Thanks for all the feedback and well wishes!

[Stella]

Hopefully, you do get to hear from your breeder, and your puppy stays healthy. We brought our second doodle home the day we went to see him, but we already had a doodle from the same breeder previously and had stayed in touch with her ever since we got the first one. But, I would definitely be suspicious of someone happy to let a puppy go there and then on the first visit unless you already had a relationship with the breeder.

[Dianne Carter ~ Trinity Doodles]

Hi Eric, from a breeders standpoint I am curious - were you permitted to take your pup the same day you first met him? It is a little unclear to me about that, I cannot imagine any breeder ever sending a puppy out on the same day as the first meeting. That said though sometimes is does take a while to get paperwork together, I like to provide our families with much information and I am organizationally challenged. There have been occasions that I have followed up with paperwork later like when I have not received the ALAA individual litter registrations back yet. As far as the shots go, is there any chance that there was an emergency with the breeder?

I sincerely hope that you are pleasantly surprised in a resolution however you have pointed out some very good points that all should take note of, for more suggestions please visit either of the doodles for sale groups here. Yet another advantage of doodlekisses is that there is a owner recommended breeder group too.

A good breeder will not let you get a puppy in a rush. They will guide you to take your time and to places where you can get solid information to make informed choices rather than emotional ones. They will also show you the copies of health testing done on the parents at your request, but on this issue it is as much your responsibility to ask to see these as it is the breeders to show them to you. If for some reason you are unable to obtain all of the documentation up front (this does NOT include health test results, you MUST be able to see these before you commit) then ask the breeder to note what is missing on your contract and health guarantee before each of you sign it and how she will provide it to you.

On the no sleep thing, this too will pass ~ quickly I hope!

[Nancy, Ned, Clancy, and Charlie]

Vets check out different things, so even if the breeder gave your pup his shots, it is important to have an unbiased medical person look at him.

[Adrianne Matzkin]

I hope that all went well today! I am really sorry to read about Menuki. I know first hand just how hard that is. Without knowing you I know you and the whole story I know you made the right decision for Menuki.
Let us know how Fenway is doing. I hope the breeder turns out to be a woman of her word and you are not disappointed by her.

[sandy b]

Max and I are sending positive thoughts that little Fenway is healthy. It has to be frustrating not to hear from her and then you really wonder if she's legit but given those circumstances it's probably best you have him checked out by your vet. If it's any consolation I was sleep deprived for several weeks after bringing Max home!! Good luck with your little guy.