Offering Health Guarantees On Your Puppies

All responsible breeders should have a contract in place before they begin selling any of their puppies. This contract should be designed to protect the buyer as well as the breeder. Careful consideration should go into creating a contract for the sale of your puppies. It is also very important to consider offering health guarantees on your puppies. New breeders may be apprehensive to offer these types of guarantees but it is a really important practice not only for the betterment of the breed but also for the protection of the breeder. This article will outline some factors to consider when offering health guarantees on your puppies as part of the buyer's contract.

First and foremost new breeders should consult with more experienced breeders as well as a lawyer before developing contract language to detail the extent of health guarantees. More experienced breeders will be helpful in helping you to pinpoint health concerns which are most relevant to your specific breed. The lawyer will be able to assist you in developing the contract language to ensure it is fair for both parties. The lawyer will also be able to carefully review the state laws in your area. This is critical because in most cases the state laws will supersede your contract so it is useless to include contract language that contradicts state law.

All responsible breeders should be aware of the health risks associated with their breed and should take proper precautions to minimize the potential for passing these health concerns onto future litters. One way breeders can do this is to have all dogs and bitches in a breeding program certified to be free of genetic disorders. Dogs and bitches that cannot be certified should be neutered or spayed to avoid passing these potential problems onto future generations.

Even the most responsible and diligent breeder is likely to produce puppies that have traits which are not desirable or even a hazard to the health of the puppy. The purpose of a health guarantee on a puppy is to provide clear direction on what should occur in these cases. For example a responsible breeder may not intentionally produce a puppy with hip dysplasia. The breeder may have even taken precautions to avoid this problem by selecting a bitch and a stud dog with hips rated as excellent by the Orthopedic Federation for Animals. However, even in these cases a puppy with hip dysplasia may be produced. The puppy contract should clearly detail how these cases will be handled. In some cases the breeder may wish to have the puppy returned and offer the buyer a pick from a future litter. In other cases the breeder may wish to refund the cost of the puppy and allow it to stay with the current owner only if the puppy is neutered or spayed to prevent future breedings. Regardless of how the breeder wishes to handle these types of situations, the details should be spelled out clearly in the contract and the buyer should be made aware of these stipulations in the contract before the purchase is made.

There are also likely to be cases where a particular puppy is deemed to be unfit for sale. Health guarantees should cover a variety of different illnesses for which the breeder is willing to offer some form of compensation. This compensation may include refunding the price of the puppy with or without taking the puppy back or offering to take the puppy back in exchange for a puppy from a future litter.

Most states also have laws in place to protect those who purchase puppies. If the puppy you sold dies or is deemed unfit to be sold within a certain time period, the buyer may have legal recourse whether or not your contract provides a health guarantee. This is why it is very important to understand your state laws in regard to the sale of puppies before you begin breeding.