Complaint Review: Barr Farm Heather Barr

I saw an add in Kijiji for an adult female boxer, 6 years old, in perfect health...she was free granted, but free doesn't excuse the bad behavior of this breeder. She is located in Circleville, Ohio on a nice farm, they seemed like nice, caring people who had the dog's best interest in mind. They apparently got this boxer due to a daughter's friend moving into a smaller apartment where she couldn't keep her. Heather Barr supposedly had her shipped from Colorado to save the dog from being sent to a shelter or being euthanized. She placed the ad that I responded to a few months later because she said that the boxer picked on her littler dogs. So I went and met with her and took Allie (the boxer) home.

Just FYI, the Barr Farm breeds italian greyhounds, some boxers, and horses.

Now, I wouldn't trade Allie for the world - she is everything wonderful that a dog could be - well trained, housebroken, well-mannered - except there was a problem. I WAS LIED TO ABOUT A LOT OF IMPORTANT THINGS. Supposedly she didn't have the vet papers on hand and they had to be mailed - which took me pestering her a week later when they still didn't arrive. Finally they did, and then I figured why: it is my best assumption that she wanted us to get so attached to Allie that any health problems or lies didn't matter. Allie's vet records exposed her lies.

Allie was advertised as having no health issues and being six years old, shipped from Colorado. Here are the problems:

-her birthdate on her vet papers shows she is 9 years old, not 6
-she was from Wyoming, not Colorado (not a big deal, but still a lie)
-she was diagnosed four years ago as having a urinary leakage problem that medication was needed for
-she was on pain meds and arthritis meds (old age, bad hips)
-she had a long history of on-going health issues, no less than 15 pages long
-she had been tested for renal failure over the past few years, and all the test results came back as her being diagnosed with renal failure.
-she had a long history of having skin tags that grew and had to be removed

So basically, Heather Barr knew that Allie was basically about to die, had tons of medical issues, and was pretty old - but yet she passed her off to our family without telling us the truth. We love Allie no matter what, but it is the principal that matters. Had we known beforehand of all of these issues, we probably would not have gotten her due to the high medical costs and extremely short life span left. Allie recently was humanely euthanized due to her RENAL FAILURE. Ironic, how she thought Allie was so healthy, when less than 2 weeks later she was diagnosed AGAIN with the same fatal condition as in her vet papers.

Heather Barr is very unethical for this and yet she still breeds and sells animals from her farm and advertises online. I've emailed her repeatedly and all she comments is that she gave us a healthy dog and that she never had our poor Allie on any meds that she needed - basically admitting that she let her suffer these past few months in her care. IF SHE TREATED US LIKE THIS, CHANCES ARE SHE'LL TREAT YOUR FAMILY LIKE THIS WHEN YOU BUY A CUTE LITTLE PUPPY OR A HORSE FROM HER. I can't say she was in it for the money, since our dog was free, but she sure does not care about the health of her animals. I was told by many humane society workers that I talked to that she should at least be reported, and hopefully by me reporting her, it will help many other families who are considering getting a dog from her in the future.

Outraged
Columbus, Ohio
U.S.A.