Complaint Review: DDR German Shepherd

In August of 2018, I was going to pick up a puppy I had put down a deposit on. To my heartbreak, the situation was extremely different from what was described to me. Below is word for word the email I sent him describing the situation that was presented to me vs. the situation I walked into, and asking for my $500 deposit. I haven’t been able to get a hold of him since. "JD, After careful consideration, I must request return of the $500 deposit. You greatly misrepresented the health, wellbeing and suitability of the puppy. II had many concerns when I actually arrived at the location where you housed your dogs, observed their living conditions and saw and heard the unsuitability of the behavior necessary for my needs in a therapy/search and rescue dog. First of all, the pictures you send me of the dogs presented them as beautifully groomed, healthy, and well kept dogs. The pictures showed the parents and the puppy with beautiful coats and of good body weight, giving the impression of strong, healthy dogs. You described the puppies in your email as "real healthy pups.” In reality, it appeared your dogs' hygiene was extremely deficit. They had massive undercoats that needed to be kept up, they were dirty, malnourished, and living outside in the extreme heat of Arizona. The dogs were completely misrepresented in the pictures. The beautiful, healthy puppy that I put $500 deposit on, turned out to have hair loss, scars, and her ears and eyes were infested with fleas. I was not expecting to have to pull fleas off of my $1800 pristine bred German Shepherd. The health of the puppy should have been verified by a certified veterinarian. You told me that your dogs would commonly disappear for days at a time. This shows a lack of supervision regarding the health of your dogs, not knowing what they were eating or drinking. With your dogs being malnourished and disappearing for days at a time, shows that your dogs were not cared for properly and may have major health problems. All of the dogs that I saw looked like uncared for, dogs in the wild. In my communications with you, you promised me that you would give me food for the puppy. You told me, "Yes you can get food from us if you want on pickup and if not we will send a couple bags with you for transition.” Upon arrival, you told me that you had zero food for the 8/9 week old puppy. In regards to litter behavior, you told me that the puppy would be suitable for therapy, obedience, and Search and Rescue work. I specifically told you that I could not take on the liability of a dog that was suitable for protection work. In speaking with you face to face, you began telling me that the puppy would be great for protection work. In my encounter with the mother, she showed to be somewhat aggressive, growling, and completely unsuitable for therapy. In regards to the father, you sent me a picture of a beautiful dog and told me that you owned all of the dogs you bred. In fact, when I asked to see the father, you said that you did not own him and he was already sold. I found myself blown away by how disappointed I felt. I spend a lot of time, money, and planning driving across the U.S. to be presented with a heart wrenching disappointment that was far from what was sold to me. I feel very deceived by what you presented to me as a pristine bred puppy and therefore should have my $500 deposit returned to me.