Zona Labradors - BUYER BEWARE - Sick Puppies - Dishonest Breeder - Mean People Puppy bought as service dog - had severe giardia - hundreds in vet bills - 3rd medication - still sick Tempe Arizona
Our dog trainer referred us to Zona Labradors to get a service dog for my husband who has MS. We were told they had a 6 month old puppy that had been given the foundation training for service dog work. We live in California and arranged to drive to Tempe to pick up Ace. First they sent us pictures of a dog that was not the puppy we were buying but our trainer recommended them so we went on our trip.
We met the breeder at the trainer's house. They had about 14 different dogs there. We didn't go over the paperwork that carefully, which was a mistake. They put 2 different father's name on our paperwork, one on our contract and a different name on the AKC paperwork. They gave us a health certificate when the puppy was 8 lbs. We bought him at 42 lbs. They didn't give us enough food to transition him properly and he had soft stools when we got home.
We thought maybe the drive and not having enough food to transition him had cause the soft stool but then the puppy developed bad diarrhea. We took the puppy to the vet and he tested postiive for giardia. We contacted Zona Labradors about covering the vet bill. They became pretty hostile towards us in text messages and called our trainer to tell her that we were harassing them with millions of calls. We actually didn't call, we sent texts and let the trainer know on Facebook.
The breeder told us that the puppy had a clean bill of health when they sold him to us and their contract only covered life threatening illnesses for 72 hours. We asked for a copy of the "clean bill of health" from the vet and she was no longer willing to communicate about the issue. Our vet called the vet Ace saw was he was 8 lbs. There was no record of any other testing or health certicate for our dog.
After 2 medications and prescription food for over a week, the puppy is not better. We're picking up a 3rd medication and more food for the puppy today. We saw a Yelp review from a person in Mesa who got a puppy from Zona Labradors that died at 8 months. I'm sorry we didn't see his review before we drove to Arizona to get our service dog. The hardest part about this is that my husband is disabled and we had to cancel the dog's training because he is sick.
Zona Labradors is not a reputable breeder in our experience. Our vet told us that our puppy has had giardia for a lot longer than 4 weeks when picked him up. They sold us a puppy they knew was sick. They are heartless about the suffering this poor animal has gone through being sick for so long. They have beed rude and uncaring towards us and my husband's condition. We probably won't be able to get our money back to get another service dog. Hopefully this dog won't die also.
It is horribly abusive for a breeder to sell sick puppies to people for top dollar. It is horribly abusive for a breeder to sell a disabled person a sick animal as a service dog. We are very diappointed. Do not buy a puppy from this breeder. They should not be allowed to abuse animals and the people who are buying service dogs. I'm a bit overwhelmed that instead of having a great service dog, we have a sick animal that is missing critical training and may have worse health problems in the future.
2 Updates & Rebuttals
duckmahon
Cottonwood,Arizona,
USA
ZONA IS REPUTABLE
#3Consumer Comment
Fri, July 07, 2017
Potential Customers: This report is blown WAY OUT OF PROPOTION
I am a breeder of Labrdor Retrievers. I have personally worked with Zona Labradors for 4 years. I know the owner personally and we have a great working relationship. I also have personal relationships with other Zona Labrador Retriever puppy owners. I believe this negative report to be very agressive and entirely outside the bounds of what is reasonable and good.
Here's what I KNOW TO BE TRUE:
Giardia is a "puppy thing." It happens. It is not a communicable disease to humans in 99.9% of cases (you essentially would have to have direct contact/consumption of the puppies feces to get giardia). However, it is highly communicable in younger dogs. It can be picked up by them very easily. In fact, we have had an entire litter affected in the past. Giardia typically takes a week or two to get under control and it very rarely becomes a huge issue. In the litter we had that was affected, it only cost us $60 for a stool sample and meds FOR THE ENTIRE LITTER, 9 PUPPIES! In my opinion, this complaint ought to be filed against the Veterinarian. What a rip-off!
Here's what I suggest to the filer of this complaint:
While I appreciate the fact that you have put in an update to your original post, explaining that Zona made this right by you... I think you should remove the entire complaint and go after your vet. Don't ruin Zona's reputation. Trust me, I have worked with other breeders and have seen first-hand how much Zona cares for their dogs, pups, and the dogs and pups of the people they work with. Even if Zona sent your puppy to you with giardia (which I highly doubt), you must understand that it is VERY easy to treat giardia and, in my opinion, you blew this WAY out of proportion.
Your use of the word "abusive" is abusive. By the way. Unbelievable!
The sad part of this story... You missed out on an amazing dog! Probably one of the best in the entire country!
Breeder turned out to be reputable. Cares about the well being of the dogs sold. We're grateful that Zona Labradors bought back the dog and covered all vet bills.
#3Author of original report
Thu, July 06, 2017
The breeder contacted us to let us know that they were very concerned about the well being of the dog and wanted to buy the dog back from us. They also covered all our vet bills. We're so relieved and happy to know that Zona Labradors really does care about the animals they sell as service dogs.
They arranged for the trainer in Arizona to meet our trainer and pick up the dog in California. They assured us they are going to get the dog to their vet so he can get the medical attention he needs. Our trainer explained that the dog may have a sensitive system and it can happen in puppies.
If you're looking for a labrador puppy or service dog, we can now recommend them as a reputable breeder. Everything was taken care of to our satisfaction. It was a difficult experience that ended well. We are thankful. We hope you will know if you see this report that Zona Labradors will do the right thing and you are safe getting a dog from them.