Just Musing ....

MurphysMinder

MurphysMinder

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There have been quite a few threads in Tack Room recently from people trying to trace horses they have sold and being upset when new owners don't keep in touch etc, and the general consensus seems to be that once you have sold then you cease to have any rights or responsibility.
Yet with dogs, the breeder is supposed to be prepared to take the dog back at any time if need be, and people who don't do this are criticised. I obviously agree with this but just wondered why we view horses and dogs so differently? I am sure there isn't an answer, as title I was just musing. :)
 
Perhaps we view things differently because (mostly) we don't breed the horses we sell, so are not responsible for their creation as it were? Having said that, if the girl I had sold Bob to had told me she was going to sell him after only 5 months, I would have bought him back without hesitation :(

I do agree, it is an interesting and thought-provoking difference in attitudes
 
I've always keep in touch with the breeders/former owners of my own dogs but I think that's because we've always sourced dogs from people we know and it's quite a 'small world' in working and showing GSDs. I think horses live much longer, are more utilised and more likely to be moved on if they don't suit/are outgrown? It's a good question.

It's a good question!
 
I was actually thinking about something similar when I was reading one of the threads, MurphysMinder. But I was thinking about how many dog breeders (which I've met), have used sales contract with a buy back clause, saying that the buyer must agree to not sell the puppy/dog without first contacting the breeder and giving them the option of buying it back. And I was wondering why people doesn't seem to sell horses with such a clause in their sales contract?

So basically, I don't have the answer to your question, but I want to add my question.
 
Yes, my pups always had such a clause. With our horses and ponies all bar one previous owner has kept in touch, and it was the same with my childhood ponies, but it certainly doesn't seem to be the norm with equines.
 
With the horses that I've bred, and there've been several, I only know of the whereabouts of one, and even then we fell out!

With dogs, or rather puppies, as mine are always work bred or intended pups, then those who take them are advised as best I can, and there is always the assurance that if things don't work out, then I will always take the puppy back. Generally they've made that much of a hash of things that they're glad to see the back of the bloody thing, and surprisingly and generally, with a bit of a "lick-and-a-spit" of polish, I've a reasonable youngster on my hands. Advice and help are always freely available, but it's amazing how often people don't ask until they've reached the tipping point.

I don't ask buyers to sign contracts, and if that makes me less than responsible, then so be it. I do however, do my level best to prepare owners for what's in front of them, to the point that I've 3 x 3 month old Cocker dog pups here, which I'd very much like to sell, but some holiday home owners, who called by the stables today said that they'd come down because they'd heard of the pups, but they left without one, as I'm not that desperate, yet!

I work on the basis that whilst I wont do what I KNOW to be wrong, I'm not my brother's keeper.

Alec.
 
To the best of my knowledge, first refusal/buy back clauses in contracts are not generally enforceable - as you would normally seek financial compensation for losses caused by someone ignoring a contract and there is no financial loss to the breeder in situations like this.

I have to admit that if I'd had to rehome my rottie (the only dog that I ever had that had a contract of sale) his breeders wouldn't have been my first choice. Not that I had anything against them but most of their dogs were understandably enough kennelled. My dog was a house dog with a very close relationship with his sofa :) so I would have preferred him to him to go to a home of my choosing, direct from mine rather than having to spend time in kennels. In saying that, I still would have preferred them to rehome him rather than him go to an 'all breed' rescue centre IYSWIM.

Luckily I was never in that position but being a natural born worrier I do play all the worse case scenarios over in my mind...just in case!
 
I have never sold a dog but the pure breeds we bought have always been told the breeder would have them back .Brandy is 6 now and I still email her breeder a couple of times an year with updates. The rescues have always been on a 'if you can't cope we will have back' basis.
 
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