Castle Pines Jack Russell Terriers review: changed deposit puppy and raised price after deposit was taken 1

I contacted Castle Pines JRT, in writing, via email, looking for a show quality puppy.

I followed my email with a phone conversation where Susie Mullins, owner of Castle Pines JRT, presented me with several litters of puppies she had available and told me that ALL the puppies were priced at $600.

I told her we were looking for a puppy with show and hunting potenial that we could breed later on. I also told her it was going to be a family type dog and that we wanted a dog to help keep our mice population down around our farm like our previous Jack Russell did.

She said we had come to the right place and that her husband was a JRTCA hunting judge and that they knew what they were doing and had been in the JRTCA business for years.

After she discussed several of her available litters of puppies she had that time, I decided we were interested in obtaining a pup from a litter that had two black and white pups available, a male and a female. These pups were supposed to be genetically clear for a serious eye disease-- PLL, and they were black and white which is my favorite color type.

I told Susie I liked the male's markings better but that we really wanted to get a female that we could show, hunt and breed in the future. She then told me how the black and white female would be an excellent choice because she was from a large litter, she was PLL normal and that she most certainly had show potential.

Susie then presented me with other options of buying a male in addition to the female. However, the dogs from the other litters were possible carriers of the PLL defect which cause dogs to lose their sight.

I told her that since we were wanting to breed our dog we only wanted one that did not possess the gene for the PLL defect. Fortunately there is genetic testing available . I told Susie we may be interested in purchasing 2 dogs from her but again we were only interested in looking at dogs that were not carriers of the genetic defect because we were planning on breeding.

I asked Susie which of the two, AVAILABLE, black and white puppies she thought would suit us best and she said she liked them both and that they both would work for showing and breeding as long as we did not have unreal expectations of their show success. She said she liked the male's head better at this stage in the game and that he might make a better dog. She said that if we bought the female she had another super nice male from another litter that she thought would cross well with her. However, he was a possible carrier for the PLL disease. I told her we that if we could have him tested, at our expense, we would consider him.

I told Susie we really wanted to start with a female but that I liked the male too but was uncertain of my husband's feelings of us getting a male.

I told her I could not make a decision without talking to my husband first and that I would have to get back with her after I had the chance to visit more with my husband. At that time she suggested that I go ahead and place a $100 deposit to hold one of those two puppies and to go ahead and place the deposit. She said to let her know the next day which one we had decided on. She reassured me there was no one else looking at either of the pups and not to worry to just let her know which one we wanted the next day.

I immediately placed a deposit through Paypal and was under the understanding I was purchasing a puppy with show potential, full registration rights for breeding and that I just had to let her know which puppy we decided on the next day.

My husband and I decided upon the female because we felt that she might make have a better disposition as we have two small children.

First thing the next morning when I sat down to email her our decision, I discovered that she had emailed me stating that they had decided to keep the female and that my deposit would be applied to the male.

We were heartbroke because we were afraid to bring a male dog of the hunting caliber Susie had candidly described to me into our home with our small children.

Fot those people who not familiar with what these dogs are bred to do, they are bred to hunt in ground animals. Susie had described to me in vivid detail about how when these dogs are hunting that the mother possums feed their young to the dogs to save theirselves prior to the dogs killing them and that fox were different in that they defended their young until the end. I must admit that I was a little nervous about getting a male at all just because it seemed to me that a male might be more aggressive.

I have one year and three year old chilren and I planned on bringing this dog into my family.

Yes, we wanted to hunt with our dog, but we wanted to do sanctioned events where animals were not killed and we had no intentions beefing our dogs hunting drive by feeding him live possum babies if you know what I mean...

I told Susie in almost every email for the first 2 weeks after we placed our deposit that we really wanted the black and white female. She ignored my comments.

After a few weeks went by, we realized that the black and white female was not going to become available. I contacted Susie telling her that we were not comfortable with the male puppy she assigned to us and that we were going to pass on him. I asked for my deposit back and she said no.

She also said in phone conversation (in a message she left on my ANSWERING MACHINE, ) that is in the JRTCA's Breeder's Code of Ethics that breeder's have the first right of refusal on any puppy even if you already have placed a deposit on it. So in other words, if you place a deposit on a puppy from them and they decide to keep it, they are saying that they can! I contacted JRTCA and questioned them about the Breeder's Code of Ethics and her statements are false.

She called me and asked that we reconsider taking the male dog. She said that male JRT's actually had better dispositions than the females and that we should reconsider and go through with purchasing the male she assigned us.

We did reconsider and decided to take her advice.

The next morning a received a purchase contract for a "pet quality" puppy from Susie requesting that I sign the contract and pay the balance of $500 due for my puppy.

I was alarmed to recieve a pet quality contract because on the the pet quality dogs purchased from Castle Pines JRT they do not offer a signed stud certificate. Without a signed stud certificate it is not possible to register their offspring with the breed association.

I contacted Susie with regards to the contract I received and she stated that I would have to pay another $900 if I wanted my pet quality dog to become a show quality potential dog that's offspring would be eligible for registration.

BOTTOM LINE

1. Castle Pines JRT took our deposit and then wouldn't let us have the dog we wanted claiming she had a breeder's first right of refusal according to the JRTCA Breeder's Code of Ethics

2. CASTLE PINES JRT then raised the price by $900 to obtain full registration on our dog

I wanted to share my troubles with Susie Mullins of Castle Pines Jack Russell Terriers because I hope to prevent someone else from being misled the way I was.

If anyone else does have problems. Please contact Paypal if you placed a deposit through them so they can keep track of Castle Pines Jack Russell Terrier complaints. I would also recommend contacting the Colorado Attorney General's office in addition to the Better Business Bureau. I will be filing complaints with all.

Angela M. in Columbia, MO.
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