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Purchased a Samoyed in 2007, at 3yrs old she was blind in one eye from Glaucoma a hereditary disease, at 6 she is now completely blind and we are so angry. The Breeder has NOT stopped breeding the line and since it is inherited others have it. She also has Lupus and is losing al pigment in her nose & lips. We are DEVASTATED! She offered us a replacement dog. that is unbelievable!
The complaint has been investigated and resolved to the customer’s satisfaction.
First off I'm sorry that your dog is blind, but the thing is with glaucoma is that you don't know that your specific lines carry it until you have a dog turn up with it. So you can unknowingly breed carriers & never have an issue until a pup inherits the disease. "The only way to know if your pet has glaucoma is to have the intraocular pressures (IOPs) measured (this is called “tonometry”) by a veterinarian, preferably a veterinary ophthalmologist. It can be difficult to accurately measure the IOP if the patient is in pain and/or agitated. Additionally, we have to contend with the “white coat effect”— this refers to the stress that a patient (dog, cat, or human) experiences when they visit their doctor’s office." (Quote from http://animaleyecare.net/diseases/glaucoma/).
To spay/neuter an entire line does more damage in terms of genetic variation in an already closed gene pool. It seems that this particular case glaucoma is a recessive trait meaning that you breed carriers to clears then you can do away with the issue without compromising the limited gene pool. Do you know for a fact that other dogs have gotten glaucoma from her line? If so were they litter mates to your Samoyed? If so, then it was a cause of bad genes in that particular breeding.
As far as Lupus - lots of dogs lose pigment as they get older, just like people! It may not even be Lupus!
Breeders don't usually offer refunds, especially after 3 years after you originally purchased the puppy. A replacement dog is quite the norm for a breeder.