Buying anything over the internet sight unseen from an unverified source can be risky the item could be used when it was supposed to be new, arrive damaged, or never arrive at all and then you are stuck trying to get your money back from a seller who just isn’t interested anymore and will not return calls or emails. Why then would you buy a living breathing animal sight unseen from someone you have never met and know nothing about and expect it to be everything the online ad cracked it up to be. Not only that but people will spend thousands of dollars to get these new dogs from the other side of the US or Europe.
On Oct. 4, Jason Dubin drove to La Guardia Airport to pick up the newest member of his household a 5 year old German Shepard named Emmi. The kennel portrayed Emmi as an obedient, well-trained, even-tempered dog. Apparently that was not the case within a week of Emmi arriving she had terrified and traumatized the cat, bitten another dog on the muzzle and had tried to bite a child in the house twice. The dog was supposed to be from Germany originally and should have known at least basic German commands Emmi responded to none of them or to commands in English. Not only that but most of the extensive number of dogs for sale on the kennel’s website have supposedly gotten Schutzhund titles which means the dogs understand German commands in order to participate in the sport.
Mr. Dubin contacted the kennel where Emmi was purchased and asked that the owner call him back to discuss the issue. The owner never called him back to discuss the problems the family was seeing. On Octber 8th the family sent the kennel an email telling them that they were unable to control the dog and that they needed to send Emmi back because she was a danger to the household. Instead of trying to work with the family so they would feel safe and Emmi would not be in danger the owner of the kennel told them the 72 hours had elapsed and therefore the company return policy was void. A responsible and reputable breeder or kennel would have been available to work with the family to help them find a trainer or figure out why the dog if it was really trained was acting so out of character. They will also have a lifetime return policy of course you will not necessarily get your money back but even then depending on what happened a new dog might be offered or some other deal worked out.A reputable breeder and Responsible breeder will always keep the best interest of the dog in mind when dealing with situations where the new owners need or want to return the dog. They understand that not every dog is right for every family and sometimes situations do arise solutions to the problem are offered by the breeder and if that doesn’t help they offer to take the dog back. Some reputable breeders even welcome back their former puppies when their new families go on vacation or have an emergency and need to board the dog.
The kennel Emmi came from was told by the family they were sending Emmi back but when the airlines contacted them to let them know when she would be arriving they told the airlines they would not be available to pick her up. A new flight was booked and it was after Emmi was already in the air that the Kennel decided they would not pick her up and so the dog spent the night in a shelter. Instead of speaking with the family and telling them when they could go to the airport to pick up Emmi they just flat out refused to take her back. Because of the danger she posed to the family they felt they had to send her back because taking her to a shelter and telling them why they were giving her up would have resulted in her being put down for aggression.
The kennel website says that all older dogs are sent with a dvd to teach the new family how to handler their new dog since their dogs are specially. In some cases will go to the new families home to teach the family how to interact with the dog or have the family come to their facility to learn about their new dog before taking it home. The kennel therefore knows that someone receiving one of their dogs for the first time needs hand holding and help in getting the dog to adjust to its new life. Instead no help was offered and they don’t seem to care that the “well trained” dog was terrorizing the family cat as the owner of the facility said that was all the initial call to his facility was about and he knew nothing about the biting of another dog or Emmi trying to bite the child/ Of course he couldn’t really know much when he didn’t return the call after several days of waiting therefore allowing the 72 hours in the return policy to expire.
So Emmi the $7,500 dog was returned to sender only the sender didn’t want her back and was not going to go and pick her up at the airport because it was against their return policy.
