Complaint Review: Boyette German Shepherds/Starview Kennel

 I purchased a male shepherd from the Boyettes in 2013 and he is one of the best and smartest dogs I have ever had. I have been to their home a few times and have seen their dogs, beautiful I might add, and have seen no neglect, or abuse, or anything wrong with any of their shepherds. I would recommend them to anyone. Just posting for the record. Hate to see a good person being crapped on because of one bad or unhappy customer. My shepherd is doing great.

 I recently adopted a GSD from Schmidmuhlen (fka Boyette) Kennel.  I met Katie, the owner about a month ago when I contacted her regarding a litter of pups available.  She offered to let us come by her home to see the dogs that very day.  It is a 3 hour drive (one way) to where she is located, so we wanted to make sure the trip would be worth our while.  She let us see all of her animals, even the ones that were not available.  We met our pups sire and dam and were able to take lots of pictures.  We found her dogs are well taken care of, well behaved, and loved.  We spent quite a bit of time with her and she explained all things GSD to us.  I used to adopt and foster retired racing greyhounds, so GSD's are new to me.  We were both extremely impressed with her knowledge and her professionalism.  It was obvious from the beginning that we were dealing with a well-educated, caring and compassionate person. 

After a lot of research, we decided to make a deposit on our future family member.  At the time, he was only 2 weeks old.  For the next several weeks, she sent us pictures so we could watch him grow.  She stayed in contact with us every step of the way.  Anytime I sent her a message, she was very quick to respond. 

We were finally able to bring our new pup home with us yesterday.  When we went to pick him up, she had them all bathed and ready to go.  Since she knew it was a long drive back home, she also made sure his belly was empty to help him not get car sick.  We decided to take a look at some of the other pups to make sure our first choice was still the right choice.  She never hesitated to let us see any of the pups.  Once we made our final decision (which was our first choice to begin with), she had his puppy packet ready to go.  She gave us a nice expanding file to be able to keep all of his records in for the rest of his life.  It housed future use flea medicine, health history, AKC registration paperwork, and lots of information on bringing home a new puppy.  She explained his current feeding schedule and what he was currently eating.

Our dog is extremely intelligent and very healthy.  He has not had the first accident in the house as he makes sure to tell us when he needs to go out.  I am amazed at how easy the transition has been.  I was expecting mess after mess but have yet to have to clean up anything. 

Before we left Katie's yesterday, I asked her if I had any questions if I could call her and she said, "Absolutely!  I am here for lifetime support of your puppy!"  She asked me to continue to send pictures of him in his new home.  As we got ready to leave, it was obvious it was emotional for her to tell him goodbye.

I also want to add that when I read the accusations against Katie on here, I felt I needed to investigate myself.  I contacted the Dog Warden for her area and spoke with him on the phone.  He said she is a great breeder and that he makes surprise inspections on all kennels in his area and she has always welcomed him and passes every time.  He said he has never had any problems with her at all and that folks look to her to help rescues a lot. 

I'm not sure what happened to warrant such a complaint as this one made against her, but I felt I needed to express my experience to help set the record straight.  I am confident that she is a good person and loves her animals dearly. 

Anyone who is able to bring home one of her dogs is bringing home an intelligent, loving, and beautiful dog.

We're already discussing when Saxon gets a little older getting another one....

Sincerely,

Jennifer, A VERY satisfied customer!!! 

ok, so let me get this straight; the only 2 people with complaints about me are 1 person who is obviously just looking for something to complain about and another that has never even had any dealings with me. I have absolutely nothing to hide and was already in the process of changing my kennel name before all of this came about. Those people that have purchased puppies from me absolutely adore their babies and many have come back for a second pup from me as well. That in itself speaks volumes about the quality of my dogs and the good business practices that I follow. I have absolutely no concerns about finding homes for my puppie. Because they pretty much sell themselves.  you really should not go around slandering people when you have never dealt with them, that is definitely not god business ethics, so perhaps if you have a problem with me you should address it to me instead of making public accusations which you can't back up because you don't know me and have never had a transaction with me. As previously stated, anyone other is actually interested in one of my pups and not into just causing trouble is welcome to come meet my dogs, see my kennels, and look over the numerous letters of recommendation I have received from previous puppy buyers. 

So, I've kept up with this report since it was filed. I had previously thought of getting a puppy from Boyette. But, seeing as how shady their business practices are, I would not recommend them to anyone. Boyette has now changed their kennel name to Schmidmuhlen German Shepherds. It's so obvious. They advertise all over hoobly.com and when you go to their website, the tab at the top still says Boyette German Shepherds. Clearly they are ashamed of themselves and are sneaking around, changing things up so they can still manage to sell puppies. They are nothing but glorified backyard breeders. Beware of them, is all I will say about them.

And what about you??  You've bred a female with no health clearances or titles, probably to a male with none as well. And you currently have an ad up looking for other females, saying hat it is not necessary that they have health clearances either. So, what is your hurry?

In the attached picture you will see that ofa prelims can be submitted as early as 4 months of age, though I never said anything about submitting them to Ofa. I worked for a vets office at the time and we did the X-rays there with the opinions of the 2 vets that worked there. The male and female were returned for a full refund, so it is really no longer your business what kind of health they have and you were not damaged in any way by any of our transactions. Both of these dogs are now in happy homes, with all of their records and their owners are very happy with them. 

I am happy to show my kennels to those that are interested in puppies. They are on my property, which is nearly 10 acres, so they are not visible from the front of my house. Our dogs also enjoy daily runs in our large fields and have a wonderful life. As previously stated, we have a kennel license and have monthly inspections from the dog warden with written reports that are also a matter of public record for anyone who would like to call him and ask. 

also as previously stated before, I have receipts and can provide proof from my trainer that the littermate of your female had gone to training. She is also in a happy home and that transaction had absolutely nothing to do with you so is really none of your business. 

Okay first of all, I asked you about whelping boxes because I had seen the whelping box that you had in your house and didn't know how you had made it. It was a nice whelping box so I asked about it. I do appreciate that information. Secondly, the male's vet records and statements were never provided to me, I only had your word. And you can't do OFA prelims before the age of 1 year. So if you didn't send these prelims in to the OFA for evaluation just say so. But, the fact remains that the female's hips turned up with mild dysplasia and she was still bred before this so she's produced puppies and has less than okay hip conformation. What's the rush?

 Also, I have already stated that I have gotten the facts on Earl's actual condition and I apologize for jumping to conclusions. I was clearly wrong about my thinking in how well I thought I knew his previous owners. I would have never thought that they would have let a dog get that bad but just goes to show you never really know people. Like I said before, I believe that the main problem here is a lack of communication. I have made it clear that I jumped to conclusions about Earl and I apologize and admit I was in the wrong. Earl is clearly lucky to have had you save him and I'm glad that he's doing much better now.

 Also, when you were asked if my pup's littermate had any formal training you admitted to her not having any formal training. So, the day that I was there to pick up the male I only saw the male that I was picking up and three other dogs. One male that you claimed had just been neutered and your two females. And you showed me two puppies from your litter that you had. Where the other dogs were, who knows? I have heard from a couple of other people that have dealt with you that they have also never really seen where you keep all of your dogs at so there is no telling. I'm not making assumptions but come on. One has to wonder.....

 I've stated my facts and my experience. I have also cleared up that I was wrong about the Earl rescue situation and I shouldn't have jumped to those conclusions. But, the facts remain said about what happened with the female co-own and the male that I purchased. I had the stud ads taken down a couple of days after you had advised me on the situation. Some people actually do have lives and don't always have the time to take down ads right then and there. Also, about the male. You told me that you had never studded him out to outside females, yet a lady contacted me about breeding to him that had already bred her female to him once. So, you lied to me there about him again. You also didn't tell that lady about the male's t******e issue either. There is a major lack of communication on your part and as a "breeder" I would imagine that you would disclose every single thing about a dog before you sold it.

Even after this all happened she still emailed me asking advice on whelping boxes, which I happily gave her some information and sent her pictures of my boxes. I just really don't understand what her problem is?

These are my dogs and it is my business should I choose to buy or sell them. They are all in excellent health and I am a licensed kennel in Spencer County KY.  Our local dog warden does regular inspections and we have a wonderful working relationship with him. I even assist him with caring for strays until spots open in the no-kill shelter because I am of the opinion that if you breed, you should also do what you can to rescue. I have not sold most of my dogs, I have sold some of the younger ones that will do best in adjusting to a new home. 

I do not know why she brought Starview/Carolyn into this as she has never had any dealing with her and this situation does not involve her at all. And when she says she "decided to end all ties" she was still contacting me asking me to sell her one of my adult females and when I told her that dog was not for sale she wanted a puppy from one of my future breedings, which I have since told her will not be available to her. 

I met the girl that made the original report in December. Since that time she has continually flipped dogs, at least 4-5 that I know of, buying and then turning around sometimes days later and selling them. She herself has bred a female with a shotty pedigree at best, without hips/elbows/dm testing being done and probably bred to a male with no health testing as well since she probably could not afford a decent stud dog. Her female is not titled.  In short, she is looking for adult females to pop out puppies for her to sell without regard to the health of these puppies or how they conform to the breed standard.  Is it a coincidence that this all happened months ago and she is just now posting this the same day that she has confirmed pregnancy with her female?  Or is she simply trying to discredit the competition?  She was given a full refund of what she paid for the male and given more than enough money to pay the living expenses of the female while in her care. I insisted upon taking the dogs back from her when she did not remove the stud ad. That was not her call on the situation as she claims, it was mine. She was treated fairly through all of this yet still feels the need to go on multiple websites making false claims. 

I have numerous letters of recommendation from people I have worked with in the past. I also welcome anyone to come visit my home and meet my dogs. You are also welcome to come and see paperwork and health clearances on all of my breeding dogs. Feel free to visit my website and contact me win any questions or concerns. 

There are several inaccuracies given in this Report (The original and the recent update).  First of all, the males records including all vet statements as to his condition were readily available to you at time of purchase. Also, this male was listed for stud service to outside females by the purchaser within an hour of pick-up, even though I had retained AKC paperwork and it had not been signed over to her. When asked to remove the stud ad she said that she understood, but still did not remove the ad. How can someone offer a dog for stud service when they do not technically own the AKC papers?  

On to the female.  This female had prleiminary hip X-rays done at 6 months old showing normal hip conformation. She came into heat just prior to turning 2 years old so her hips could not be officially certified, but we had the preliminary results and we based our breeding decision on that. After getting this dog back from Kristen we took her in for her official OFA X-rays, which Kristen had not done yet. When the vet showed me the X-rays he said that he would consider her to have mild displaysia in his opinion and would not send them in to OFA. The laxity in her hips could have been caused due to the hormones from pregnancy or her upcoming heat cycle since the X-rays were done pretty close to her next heat. I had recently lost my job and needed to downsize some (part of the reason for offering co-ownership to this undeserving person). So, we ended up placing the female in a pet home at a huge loss to us.  Why would I want to do a co-own on a female if I knew she had bad hips? 

The littermate to her female puppy was sold due to me needing to downsize as well. She was sold for more than I paid for her due to the fact that she had gone to my trainer for 2 weeks of in-house training. She was even at training when Kristen came to pick up the male and I had told her that. I have receipts to back this up. 

Earl was purchased and in terrible condition when purchased. Extremely emaciated, liquid stool with blood, very dehydrated, sore feet from being on a gravel lot, infested with every parasite imaginable, several severely infected bite wounds left untreated. I have records from my vet on his condition. He weighed 55# when I got him and know weighs 80#. He eats everything that you put in front of him.  He is now available to a pet home to live out his years enjoying life as I have purchased an IPO3 titled male for my breeding program. It is not really this girls concern who i breed my dogs to. 

I purchased a 7 year old male IPO3 kkl1 titled male for my breeding program as it was an excellent opportunity for me to own him. He is available for stud to a select number of outside females at a very reasonable rate. There are many stud dogs in the area producing well at 10 years old and AKC will register litters from males as old as 12. I do not see the problem or concern of hers with using a 7 year old male stud dog. I had to sell one of my other females to be able to afford this male. 

It has also been discovered that Starview Kennel is, in fact, not involved with this miscommunication issue at all. The only way that Starview is involved was that they bred two of their females to Earl after he was brought back to health. I have also assumed a lot of things about Boyette and some of them aren't true.

I am the original author of the report and I made a mistake in the original report. Earl was in bad shape when they got him so my assumptions about that situation were wrong. Also, whether or not the male that I was sold was a true cryptorchid remains unsolved. I have yet to see any vet statements about his surgery that was supposedly done to determine if he was in fact a cryptorchid. But, the fact does remain that the female was bred prior to having her hips officially scored and the xrays did show that they would have rated mild according to her owners. So I retract my statement about Boyette being a nut case. There have been a lot of mis communication here and we can all learn a lesson from this. Boyett did offer to return my money on the male and did pay me back for some of the female's living expenses. Bottom line is that the communication could be better.