Dale Malony
2740 Jewett Rd.
Powell Oh. 43065
614-888-3839
Dale@SteelShepherd.com
|
Buyer Information: Name _________________________________________ Address________________________________________ Phone #________________________________________ Information specific to your new pet: AKC Litter Reg. #________________ Sex______ Tattoo Number_____________Whelped____________ Color - White Sire:__________________________________________AKC#____________________ Dam:_________________________________________AKC#____________________ Delivery Date___________ Price: _________ Contract Introduction: When you adopt a Steel Magnolia puppy, we enter into a partnership. In reality it's all about relationship and partnership and this contract is just for people who don't work that way. As long as we work together through whatever problems you and your dog encounter, our partnership will thrive. If you decide your knowledge and experience are sufficient to get through any problems without my participation, our partnership is weakening as you are denying us a chance at remediation. If your puppy shows signs of sickness or disease, call me sooner rather than later. I may be able to either give effective advice, or get it for you from other experienced White Shepherd owners and breeders. The White Shepherd community knows more about White Shepherds than your vet or trainer. If you take choice of care into your own hands and do not allow me to work with you until a problem is out of control and ignore advice I give you that may improve the situation, you have BROKEN our partnership and it is entirely up to me to determine how proceed from that point. All guarantees in this contract will then be null and void. My pledge is that I will provide you with a healthy dog at the time you either pickup the dog or I ship it to you, and that it will be free of the major genetic health problems as described below. If you properly care for and socialize your dog, you will likely enjoy years of health, love, and loyal friendship. There is nothing that I can control about the environment and care of your Steel Magnolia puppy once it leaves my care. When you adopt one of my pups, I'm entrusting you to provide it high quality food, love, attention, training, excersize, health care, and everything else the dog needs. It will be YOUR DOG just as if it were YOUR CHILD. You need to look at this with the same attitude and responsibility. If you fail to raise your pup well, the resulting problems are your responsibility. I will NOT guarantee your dog's health if you:
I hate contracts but let's face it, I need to write a contract because I need to protect the dogs and myself. There is a small segment of the population that doesn't properly care for pets, and there is another segment of the population that does care for their pets, but wants to blame any and all problems on the breeder - expecting the breeder to take responsibility for everything. They naively believe that breeders have genuine control over the genetics of the puppies we produce and want to sue the breeder if their dog gets a runny nose or other problems out of the control of the breeder. I don't “make”puppies. I don't even completely understand the miracle of how they are made. Beyond selecting the parents, I'm certainly in no control of the process. I try my best to do better than most. If you fall into either of the categories described in the previous paragraph, please don't adopt a Steel Magnolia puppy. Don't pretend you care for dogs more than you do and don't pretend you aren't the type to put blame on me and sue me when the cards fall other than you dreamed. If neither of the categories above describes you in any way, then we can proceed to provide as much love and care to your puppy as possible. I assure you that I took care in the selection process to match sire and dam together to produce a healthy “total dog”. Where there are known concerns about the health of a specific puppy or the genetic probabilities of the litter as a whole, I will share them with you prior to completing the adoption process. Anywhere this contract refers to “me” or “I”, it is referring to, Dale Malony, owner/operator of Steel Magnolia Estate Shepherds. Anywhere it refers to “you”, it means the buyer. If you are in agreement with what I have stated above in the “Contract Introduction” and agree that guarantees are binding only as long as we work together as partners, please sign below. (if you don't trust me, that's OK. This is more of a serious hobby to me than anything else and I'd rather move on than work without mutual trust.) I, ____________________________________, agree to the entirety of the statements in the contract introduction. OK – We trust each other. Now to the details Health Guarantee: Please first understand that a “guarantee” doesn't mean that the items guaranteed will not happen. I'm not omnipotent. Guarantee only means that I expect something will not happen, but if it does I will compensate you in some manner for it – of course providing that our partnership is in good standing.
About dysplasia: Joint dysplasia is essentially a bad fit between the bones of a joint. In a hip, it is a ball and socket joint and a poor fit is visible in X-rays. In an elbow, 3 bones join in a more complex union that is more difficult to evaluate in X-rays. A bad fit in these joints can result in damage and arthritis. The skeleton and it's joints are a complex genetic trait and dysplasia is believed to be associated with rate of growth along with genetics, diet and other factors. Abnormal development (dysplasia) exists in most larger breeds and some smaller ones. Serious breeders are constantly seeking to reduce the frequency of it's occurance. The most well known organization in America devoted to dysplasia is the OFA. X-rays are commonly sent to them for evaluation and grading. It is important to note that when OFA evaluates and grades hips, they actually evaluate the joint formation and fit. When they evaluate elbows, none of the scoring evaluates the bones of joint itself. OFA scores elbows by measuring sclerosis and osteophytes in the joint and grades normal or 1-3 based on size/thickness – zero detected is graded “Normal.” Observation of any abnormalities on the bone surface of the elbow at all earns a grade 1 “Elbow Dysplasia” score, which some (including myself) consider a faulty method of evaluation since OFA takes the easy way out and does not evaluate bone fit at all. Other nations use a superior system which uses 3 views of the joint and actually evaluates fit as is done with hips. Regardless, most White Shepherds have OFA “normal” elbows. Hips are guaranteed until 30 months (2 ½ years) of age against either motion limiting and symptomatic, or “OFA poor” or PennHIP DI of 0.70 or worse grades of hip dysplasia. IF AND ONLY IF the hips are evaluated by age 2 1/2, then the guarantee extends to the life of the dog. Elbows are guaranteed until 30 months of age against motion limiting or “OFA Grade 2” or worse Elbow Dysplasia. IF AND ONLY IF the elbows are evaluated by age 2 1/2, then the guarantee extends to the life of the dog. I guarantee only against “motion limiting” because dysplasia can vary infinitely from very mild to very severe. Milder forms can be completely non-symptomatic for most of the dog's life even without treatment. I require that you have your dog's hips radiographed and evaluated by either OFA or PennHIP before 30 months and the results sent to me. If you fail to do this, your dog's hips are not guaranteed. I STRONGLY recommend that you have your dog's hips evaluated using the PennHIP method. It costs more, but it has proved to be a better predictor of the future development of hip problems than OFA. I pledge that have acted responsibly as a breeder to ensure your pup has genetically quality hips by breeding dogs with healthy hips and known to produce offspring that are less often than average for the breed affected with hip dysplasia. If your dog is affected with HD or ED by 30 months as described above, I will either refund half the price paid for the dog or replace the dog - the decision must be made before the dog is 3 years old. If you wait until after 30 months to share the problem with me, compensation is completely at my option. The earlier it is diagnosed, the earlier proper measures can be taken to limit severity and allow the dog to have a good life. If it happens later, let me know and I still might work something out with you. As long as you maintain our partnership we can work together beyond the details of this contract.
If your puppy dies or is so sick and needs to be put down before 5 years of age as a result of any genetic health problem, I will provide you a puppy of my choice for free – not including shipping – or I will refund half the price paid for the dog. Of course I'd need proof of cause of death and all criteria described in the “Contract Introduction” must be met – our partnership must be in good standing.
I'm not going to attempt to list the things that can go wrong because I might miss some. This falls under the partnership. If your dog has it's quality of life robbed by any genetic problem, I will either provide you another puppy or refund half the price you paid. Of course, all Contract Introduction criteria applies.
A Steel Magnolia White Shepherd should not have either a fearful or aggressive temperament. Keep in mind though that compared to a Golden Retriever, any White Shepherd of proper temperament OUGHT TO seem (from the perspective of strangers) to be a bit aggressive in some situations. If you don't want that, don't get a White Shepherd. If your dog has been thoroughly socialized and properly trained but still - after 1 year – has an extreme temperament problem, I will replace the dog (with a pup with at least one different parent) at no charge. I will not refund your money in this case because if the dog is too extreme for you, you shouldn't keep it. If you keep it, I'm not going to give you another dog. Examples of “extreme
temperament”
are dangerous behavior towards people the dog is familiar with or
towards nearly all other dogs, or so fearful that it wets itself,
hides, or panics. Such a dog must be either returned to me or placed in
a home that can deal with it. I must approve of that
placement. Some dog's may even need to be euthanized due to
temperament problems. If you believe that is the case, return it
to me and I will make that decision after evaluating the dog in my
environment. 5. For all health guarantees, I reserve the right to get a second opinion from a veterinarian of my choice. Other guarantees: Your Steel Magnolia puppy is:
Registration, Naming, and Spay/Neuter requirement: Papers for individual registration for your puppy will be provided to you once payment has cleared, and crate (if provided by me) has been returned. I require that the registered name
of ALL pups produced by my kennel begin with “Steel”. For
example, one
customer is considering naming her female “Steel Schei-ann
Rose”.
What you call your dog at home doesn't need to be related at all.
Some connections between reg. & call names can be
interesting. As an example, I hope to someday name a male "Steel
Man in Black" and give him the call name "Cash" after Johnny Cash. I also require as a part of my “Standard Contract” that you spay/neuter your dog before 16 months of age. I recommend you do it as soon as your vet will agree to it. I will not provide registration papers for your dog until I receive certification from the veterinarian that performed the operation that the procedure is complete. The only exception to the above is if I have a personal interest in your dog for future breeding purposes and you agree to co-own the dog with me for breeding purposes. A separate agreement will then accompany this contract. Breeding rights without co-owning are covered on another contract. What I do not guarantee: I do not guarantee (with THIS contract) that your dog will be able to perform competitively in shows or any performance events. I do not guarantee in this contract that any specific instincts will be present in your dog. If you want such guarantees I use a different contract and I charge more. I never know until 6 or 7 weeks of age or later whether there will be any pups in a litter which I am specifically willing to make such guarantees on. Liability waiver: You (the buyer) agree that I (the breeder) will not be held responsible for any damages caused by or in any way associated with any dog owned or bred by me, either on my property or anywhere on this planet. You must agree to take full responsibility for your dog and that I am in no manner responsible for any damages, whether real or imagined- physical, mental, structural, emotional, spiritual, karmic, or otherwise. As soon as I release possession of the dog to you, a representative of you, or for shipment to you, I am completely relieved of any and all liabilities associated with anything that happens associated with the dog other than as specifically mentioned otherwise in this contract. I agree to Liability statement here:_________ Other things I require from you – the buyer:
Buyer signature _______________________________ Date _________________ Seller (Dale Malony) ____________________________ Date _________________ |