This blog post is about Whispering Winds Kennel in Bagley, MN run by Kevin and Kim Sellin. It is based on my personal experience after buying a dog from them. Feel free to contact me with any further questions or suggestions.
Our dog Chops was diagnosed with canine PFK deficiency (phosphofructokinase deficiency) a while ago. You can read about it here here or here. It is a genetic disorder that prevents affected dogs from metabolizing the glucose given off during exercise. Basically our dog's muscles and blood cannot handle exercise because of his missing enzyme. His red blood cells burst and enter his urinary tract causing his urine to darken and appear that he is peeing blood. He cannot hunt although he is well trained to do so, cannot even go for a walk around the block, can't play with other dogs for extended period of time, and must be closely monitored all the time to watch for episodes of exercise intolerance. He can have a flare up from even too much barking, panting, or whining, or stress. He becomes lethargic, refuses to eat or drink, and racks up some large vet bills when he has flare ups. Diagnosed dogs can live a normal life with a normal life expectancy. They cannot over exert themselves however. Depending on how affected a dog is, their episode could clear up in a few hours, or they may need to be admitted to the vet for a period of days. Our dog has had both types of episodes. Sometimes he acts no differently, continues to eat and drink, and has normal urine within a few hours or the next morning. Other times he has lost so many red blood cells he is borderline for needing a canine blood transfusion, is at risk for kidney damage or failure, and has to have fluid IV's because he will not drink. His IV's need monitoring so the reduced amount of blood he has left does not become so diluted he dies. Each time this happens I become very angry because I feel that breeders should be held accountable but there is no system in place to make this happen.
After a few episodes, multiple trips to different vets, and worry and stress about what was wrong with our dog, he was diagnosed by completing a genetic test sent to a lab. His results came back as "affected."
This means that, because this particular genetic issue is autosomal recessive, the "carrier" gene had to be passed to our dog from both of his parents. Both of our dog's parents were carriers for this disorder. This Kennel has at least two carrier dogs. How many more of their dogs were carriers? How many affected and carrier puppies were they breeding? How many of their puppies dogs would breed puppies of their own? And how long can breeding practices like this continue until certain dog breeds are no longer viable hunting breeds, or even exist at all due to unregulated breeding practices and genetic damage? From our litter I can remember at least six or so pups. Each of these dogs was either affected or a carrier. This is from one kennel alone who may be using more than just two carrier dogs to breed their litters. To me, IT IS A HUGE PROBLEM.
The first thing I did was let the breeders know. I was willing to work with them. After the first email I sent a response came back telling me that their contract states they will either replace my dog if I return him to the breeder, or give me a discount on a new dog. As a side note they offered their sire as our next dad who "has had his eyes certified." That statement clued me in that these breeders had no idea what they were doing. They hadn't heard of the disorder, and didn't realize not only it's affects but the role they were playing to weaken the English Springer Spaniel breed. After responding to their email, trying as politely as possible to explain what my dog had and that I was requesting to keep my dog and would like a refund I had no success. After this, I sent the "rude email" letting them know how I felt about the situation as professionally as I could, and explaining to them that what they were doing was not only wrong, but was going to ruin the breed. I felt taken advantage of. I also mentioned the fact that the testing for my dog cost $160. I had saved them $320 dollars because they didn't have to pay for testing for my dog's parents. Added to the vet bills it took to get my dog healthy again and figure out what was wrong in the first place, they really owed me more than the purchase price of the dog, much less than what I was asking for. And WHY would I give my dog back. I had committed to my dog, loved him, trained him, and spent money to take care of him, a now life long commitment for this dog that I was willing to continue. They were asking me to give him back without me knowing what would happen to him. Would they put him down? Would they keep him and pay for his vet bills? Would they let him die next time he had an episode? And what about his well being? Why take him away from those he was attached to? In my eyes it would have been to their benefit to work with me. I'm sure that they knew there was nothing I could do about it, being that there are no breeding regulations, I had signed their purchase contract, and I had refused their offer to replace my dog or buy an additional discounted dog from them. Of course they wouldn't do the decent thing and refund the price of one puppy when they breed and sell hundreds a year, knowing we would keep our "lemon" genetically affected dog and love him and care for him and pay his vet bills. What makes people so indecent and unwilling to do the right thing? I guess money.
After realizing I would get nowhere with the breeders I went to the AKC. They monitor registration of breeds. You can complain if you question a dog's breed authenticity, lineage, or have trouble with your breeder about the dog's papers. They do nothing about breeding practices or quality control. I was recommended to the Minnesota Attorney General and Department of Agriculture to complain to the business bureau. The Attorney Generals office told me I could file a formal complaint and they would contact the business on my behalf. To me that was no different than what I had already done. Why have them tell the breeder I was upset when I had told them myself? At that point it wasn't worth it to call the Ag department. I would never spend the money to go to court over this, and would likely not have a chance at winning anyway since I had agreed to their purchase contracts.
There are a few ways I have found to complain about this breeder to have any kind of affect. None of these will make my dog better or get any of my money back. The first way I found was word of mouth and letting people know our situation, who our breeder was, and recommending that they ask about genetic certifications and negotiations about purchase contracts if they go through a breeder. The second was to monitor my breeder's website. I check regularly to make sure my dog's parents are not being bred again, and to see what updates the breeder has made. Any time the breeder registers on a website (for example gundogsonline.com) I find them on the site and see if I can submit a comment. That way if anyone looks at that breeder's profile they will hopefully see my comment. The other way is this blog. If anyone searches the Kennel name online I hope this blog post comes up in the search results and deters anyone from using this breeder.
