Dodgy breeder alert after dog found to have hip, elbow dysplasia

A dog buyer has warned against unethical and unaccredited breeders after discovering her black labrador puppy had serious health issues.

Jett the two-year-old black labrador has severe hip and elbow dysplasia. Picture: Zak Simmonds

• How to know you’re getting a healthy pet

When Gayle Ayers planned to buy her nephew a labrador puppy, she didn’t imagine she’d be scheduling two years of intense hydrotherapy and radiation appointments followed by a life-or-death hip operation.

Three years ago she asked all the right questions of her chosen dog breeder, including joint scores and parent health.

She even took note of the housing conditions where the labrador litter was born.

But despite ticking all of the breeder boxes, when eight-week-old Jett came home he almost immediately started having trouble with his legs.

At just seven months he was diagnosed with severe hip and elbow dysplasia.

“At first we were told to put him down,” Ms Ayers said.

“But we gave him in hydro and laser therapy to exercise him and build his muscles, and booked him in for a hip replacement next year.

“If the surgery doesn't go well, we’ll have to put him down. It’s just one of those things.”

Ms Ayers was shocked to learn of Jett’s condition, but she became more concerned when the breeder started screening her calls and texts.

“I first thought was it because we’d maybe sent him to daycare too early, or walked him too much,” Ms Ayers said.

Jett is booked in for life-or-death hip surgery next year.

“There was clear vet check when I got him. She was on the registered breeders list and there were no adversaries reported against her.

“But I did try to contact her to let her know several times and no response.

“A part of me thinks we should have done more research and been more careful and another part of me thinks he was meant to come to us so we could look after him.”

Not-for-profit adoption agency Waldo’s Friends chief executive Sasha Gusain said a third of Australian pet owners had no idea whether their pet breeder was ethical.

Ms Gusain will soon be launching a website that makes it easier to ethically adopt a pet, creating a directory of ethical and certified breeders.

“Breeding is an industry that needs its own checks and balances,” Ms Gusain said.

“While we might have very ethical breeders, where the problem arises is this profit margin when people want to profit as much as possible, they breed (the same animal) too many times and too quickly.

“If somebody must buy from a breeder, I always recommend to please visit them in person, don't buy a dog from (online marketplace) Gumtree or a website where they have very loose criteria of what makes an ethical breeder.

“See where they are, see the conditions, paperwork, what has it been assessed for, when the mother is pregnant what were the nutritional and caretaking aspects.

“Rescue shelters are also a good option.”