To all of you who have decided to attack me, I would respectfully like to add a response about Lynda's comments. As Lynda Denson said there are two sides to every story. And she could not be more correct. The problem with Lynda's story is that she has included out and out lies and total fabrication of the truth. First of all what Lynda forgets is that I have her emails. If she retains her past business emails, it would be a good idea for her to look them up and remind herself of what she said. As far as phone calls go, I would be more than happy to contact our telephone company for copies of all bills during that time which would show the times Lynda and I spoke over the phone.
"Once we received the deposit from her, she started talking to AKC breeders who convinced her that any teenie tiny Havanese would be sick and unhealthy and that we were just selling unhealthy runts. She started calling practically every day with more questions and concerns that she had received from AKC breeders. We bagan to think that she would never be happy with any puppy, because she would always be thinking that something was wrong with it... so, we offered to give her deposit back, and we would keep Darby. She said no... she was in love with Darby and she wanted him."
I received my information from a Havanese forum. Although it makes no difference whether I did or I didn't, I never contacted any AKC breeders. I absolutely admit that I ignored huge red flags; however, I was purchasing a purebred puppy for the first time. I should have known better, but I let my emotions regarding our beautiful Darby, of whom I had only seen photos, get the better of me. I am a retired woman, now 61. That was my fault. We had two emails regarding my questions. And I simply asked questions. I gave no indication whatsoever of what I have been accused of above. Just standard questions you ask a breeder. Lynda decided I had been talking to AKC breeders and all of her comments are her opinions. Those words were never said or written by me. She was defensive, upset, and angry that I asked the questions. Lynda's answers were curt and unfriendly. I had obtained the suggestions from various websites as to questions that should be asked of a breeder. After that email, I wrote back to her immediately and basically told her to take a deep breath that I had not intended to offend her; I was simply trying to learn facts. She wrote back a very pleasant email and basically apologized for overreacting as she did. I have these emails. Except for offering our deposit back and my saying we loved Darby and wanted him. The rest is from Lynda's imagination. That is the truth.
"Mrs Warren flew into Kansas City to pick up Darby. We met her at the airport. This saved her a 5 hour drive to pick up the puppy. And, it is true, that for the safety of our family and our puppies, we do not allow strangers to come to our home to look at puppies."
I was not allowed to come to Lynda's home, so I don't know how I was saved a five hour drive to pick up the puppy and I certainly was not going to have him shipped as cargo, nor would I whatever age a dog might be.
"Everything was wonderful for about 2 - 3 months, and then I got this call from Penny.and she was very upset. She had taken Darby to the park where he had been romping and playing and having fun. Everyone who saw him was in love with him! However, when they got home, Darby started getting sick and she had taken him to the vet. Penny said the vet thought that he might have a liver shunt, and if so, he was probably going to die! We were totally devestated. We loved Darby too! I tried to comfort her the best I could and I assured her that we would honor our contract with her. I told her to send us a statement from the vet, letting us know what was determined to be wrong with Darby, and if it was congenital or hereditary we would definitely replace the puppy with one of like value. I also asked her if she was sure he hadn't eaten some sort of plant or something in the park that could have made him sick? She had said that he was so full of life and had no signs of sickness and this came on him suddenly after they returned from the park. I asked if she was sure he didn't have low blood sugar...and was possibly going into hypoglycemic shock? She said that the vet
was running tests and she would get back to me when she knew anything definite."
As I said in my first posting, I flew to Kansas to pick up Darby on Tuesday, September 19, 2006. The day after Thanksgiving, November 24, 2006, approximately two months after bringing Darby home, we were in New York visiting my husband's step-daughter, when I got a call from the friends we boarded Darby with, telling me that when Darby got up in the morning (he had only been left there the day before) he was falling down, disoriented, etc., and they had taken him to the Animal Emergency Hospital. They suspected it might be low blood sugar. I cried and cried. Could this really be happening to Darby? Our Darby? We flew home on the next flight and went immediately to the emergency hospital where they had Darby on medication. They said it was not low blood sugar and suspected it was a liver shunt. They said he would be stable over the holiday weekend and they would fax their report to our veterinarian. I took Darby to his regular veterinarian first thing Monday morning. The surgeon, after many tests, determined that Darby had a liver shunt. Without medication, he would die. And further, without surgery, he would live a short while. We of course, opted for surgery. However, because he was so small (2-1/2 lbs.) surgery could no be performed until he had gained more weight. He was put on a special diet and we gave him two different medications through January 2007. Our vet, who is a well respected veterinarian on the East Coast, said, "This is what happens when breeders mess with Mother Nature". After I learned Darby's diagnosis, I made one call to Lynda Denson. I was emotional and scared and everything I said in my first posting is what actually transpired. I am dumbfounded about this "park" story as that is total fiction and I have no idea why Lynda has concocted such a story. I am stunned. Lynda offered to take Darby back and that was it, but I did not want to give Darby up. I was simply so shaken by his diagnosis. Of course I called her because she said none of her puppies had ever had any health problems. Her website has changed many times as to what is stated on the site since I first learned about Lynda, but she has consistently said none of her puppies have ever had health problems.
I want to make something perfectly clear. Not once, never, ever did Lynda Denson ask me for a statement from our vet. Not once. This along with the park story is total fabrication and where she came up with that, I have no clue.
"We didn't hear from Mrs Warren for a day or two, and then she called and said she had taken Darby to another vet and he didn't think it was a liver shunt, but it might cost $3000-$5000 to treat it. I asked her what he said was wrong with the puppy. She would not give us an answer. She wanted us to pay the $3000-$5000 to fix her dog. I reminded her that we still had not received anything from a vet telling us what was wrong with Darby, and I told her we had a fax machine, where she could fax the information to us quickly. There was still no offer to send us any vet information telling us what was actually wrong with Darby. Penny kept calling and telling us how sick Darby was and how hard this was on her. She kept insisting that we were going to pay the $3000-$5000 to make Darby well. We loved Darby and we definitely wanted him well too! We were truly sorry that Penny was having to go through these hard times with Darby. We were also very worried about him! However, If we were going to pay that kind of money to treat a dog, we wanted something in writing from a vet, showing what was actually wrong with the dog, that it was truly genetic or hereditary, and that the vet thought there was a good chance that the treatment would work and that Darby would be a healthy happy dog with a chance at a good life! Also, if we were paying that kind of money to treat a dog, over a long period of time, we would want the dog to be here with us, where we could supervise his treatment, and so that we would know WHAT we were paying for! We still had no way of knowing WHAT was actually wrong with Darby. Penny would give us no actual vet information, and we had no way of knowing
if this was truly a congenital/hereditary problem? or if the dog had eaten something poisonous? or what was actually wrong with him?
We did refuse to send any money... We had no information!
That is when Mrs Warren got really upset with us. She called at all hours of the day and night telling us that we were horrible breeders and accusing us of being a puppy mill and of breeding sick and inferior dogs. She called us all sorts of negative names and accused us of all sorts of things and didn't believe anything we tried to tell her. I finally had enough and I told her that I was extremely sorry for what was happening with Darby, that wheter she believed it, or not, we loved Darby too...and that we were willing to stand behind our contract 100%. If Darby
died, we would definitely be willing to replace him with a puppy of like value, as the contract/guarantee stated...but that until she was willing to send us a vet report, letting us know what was actually wrong with Darby, that there was nothing we could do to help her. We finally asked her to not call back again, until she was willing to send us a vet report, showing what was wrong with Darby. I suppose this is what she felt was rude... We never heard from Mrs Warren again, until about a year later, when she wrote and asked us to take her name off of our E-mail list.
Since Mrs Warren never sent a vet report, showing anything wrong with Darby, we assumed that it was NOT congenital or hereditary, BUT, just to be on the safe side, we did not ever breed those two dogs together again... Even though they had produced GORGEOUS puppies and there had been 2 chocolates in the litter. Since we had not received any information as to what was actually wrong with Darby, it was not worth taking a chance, in case it was some sort of a liver shunt...We were very sad about Darby and we often wondered about him? whether he was alive? or if he had died?"
I do not know what Lynda's motivation is here other than to discredit what happened, but everything short of asking for her to pay for Darby's surgery ONE time, and the figures she suggests are simply bogus...again in Lynda's imagination. She did ask me not to call her again and she never received another phone call from me. I have never been in touch with her and only when I received an email from her regarding new puppies, did I respond with a request to remove my name from their list. NONE of the above ever took place. These multiple calls from me NEVER took place. I have not a clue as to why she would go to such great lengths to come up with this story. We are not in a court of law, but if we were, I absolutely would not hesitate to provide proof that those phone calls never took place. Lynda, you can make up stories all you want. But for a woman who claims to be a Christian, you have lied.
I did not call Lynda at all hours of the day and night and I never called her any derogatory names; and especially did not call her a horrible breeder, puppy mill or anything else she wants to fabricate. Why she has gone so overboard in her character assasination of me, I can only conclude is because she is trying to defend something dishonest she did and her only means for doing so is to lie.
The park? Darby eating something at the park? Never happened. Asking me for a statement from Darby's vet? Never happened. Making accusations of her being a horrible breeder, a puppy mill, etc.? It never happened.
Now, Lynda aside, those of you whom have chosen to attack me without knowing the facts, what I have written about her is the absolute truth. From this point on, I can do nothing about what you think and I am not going to continue to respond to your rubbish. You are simpy defending someone you believe to have told the truth but, again, without knowing all the facts. I can do nothing about Lynda lying, other than tell you exactly what happened between Lynda and me. I am just a regular person who was trying to buy a new puppy, the first puppy of my own, who could also travel with me from the east coast to the west coast and back to see our grandchildren. Our grandchildren adore Darby. Everytime they see him, whether I am out there or they here, it's always a fuss between our excited granchildren as who gets to hold Darby.
I did tons of research over a two year period prior to buying Darby. Despite that research, I now know I should have investigated this breeder further. I didn't, and that was my biggest mistake. But for Lynda to get upset with me for asking questions in one email that are standard questions to a breeder is simply silly. Should I have asked them BEFORE I sent her my deposit? Yes. Should she be be rude to me for it? No. For her to be upset with me for calling her when Darby became seriously ill with a liver shunt and to exaggerate (lie) beyond all common sense is incomprehensible to me.
Darby had his surgery in January 2007. It was a horribly agonizing day, plus he could not come home for three days so I practically lived there. The good thing is that the surgeon and everyone at the vet's office, adore Darby like everyone else does. The surgery was clearly successful and they were able to close off the shunt. I have photos of Darby afterwards all stitched up and green tape around his right paw/leg for the intravenous tube. He was pretty quiet due to the sedation wearing off, and after three days, was more than ready to come back home. He still had to stay on one med for awhile, but that's been over for some time and he's been back to a happy and healthy little dog. He turned two on June 28th this year and we celebrated. Not that Darby knew what was going on! I care very much about Darby and at the slightest sign that something isn't right, I take him to our vet. He goes in very soon for his yearly physical and to be safe, the vet plans to run some liver enzyme tests to make sure there are no problems associated with the liver shunt.
Back to Lynda's accusations, this blogging attack from her is too ridiculous. I'm not even going comment more about it because it's just another unwarranted attack.
And to Savage Truth and the others, you simply do not know me and you have chosen to comment without doing any investigation of the facts. I cannot do anything about what you wrote; I just have to write it off to your defending Lynda because you had a good experience with her and that is wonderful. I did not. More than you know I wish our Darby hadn't had to go through the pain and suffering of the surgery.
Many of the people who are most aware of my experience with this breeder have encouraged, pushed, nagged me over the past couple of years to put up a web page to alert others about our experience. I did not and I wouldn't even know where to begin. Finally, I gave in to posting on this blog. I gave my story and now you have all of it except copies of Lynda's emails and a statement from Darby's vet (which I will be happy to provide to anyone who asks). Perhaps, with the facts, you will come to a different conclusion about this incident.
Darby is the most beautiful dog in the world to us and to everyone that meets him. Everyone loves him. He adores us. He is fun, funny, loving, playful, sweet, cuddly, kissable, adventuresome and the absolute light of our lives and we are grateful every day that his illness was caught in time and he is with us still. Every night he is on our bed right by my head or my side. He always makes sure a part of his body is touching mine. He loves it when my husband walks in after work and is simply a happy and healthy dog. He is not a barker. He will be sitting on the floor by my husband or me when we're on the computer. He will wait and wait and wait, and finally when he doesn't get your attention, he does one little, "Arf!" He loves to play fetch and loves to run around the room in and round the furniture like a race dog with this low growl. The only other time he barks is when you are playing with him and he will get so happy and excited he will bark encouraging you to do more. He is very good at sit, down, stay and come. He completely knows what you're saying when we say, "Wanna go outside?" or "Wanna treat?" And we're working on tricks with him!
For those of you who apparently think of me as a heathen, I hope you now think differently. But if you don't, you don't...and my life will go on. For Lynda's future customers, I hope they never have to go through what we did with Darby and obviously with Lynda. May you all continue to enjoy your beautiful Havanese puppies/dogs. They are clearly the best breed there is. |
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