- Report: #1347434
Complaint Review: Ronda Dube - Internet
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Ronda Dube
Internet, USA
Phone:
251-223-7244
Web:
http://www.puppyfind.com/breeder_directory/breeder/?acct_id=623132
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Ronda Dube French Bulldog Breeder Loxley, Alabama Internet
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We bought a puppy from this breeder in December 2014. While he's turned out to be a gem of a dog, he also turned out to be the $10,000 puppy. We wouldn't trade him for the world, but Ronda is not a responsible breeder and I would discourage anyone from even considering purchasing a dog from her. I'll spare all of the details but will give you enough to detail out our experience. He came home seemingly fine, at 8 weeks old, but Ronda text us a few times the days after he came home to see how he was feeling, and even let us know that his sister who recently went home to her forever family was diagnosed with a spine issue. Her issue turned out to be spinal meningitis we found out. Ronda seemed genuinely concerned that our dog was healthy, which he seemed to be at the time. Looking back though, I'd like to think she was genuine, I think she knew he wasn't healthy.
We have an English bulldog as well, so we were well aware that he could have a few health concerns. He snored, it was cute, but we noticed right away that his breathing was labored, his stomach would suck all of the way in when he took a breath, and he would hesitate before he could breathe again, almost like he was suffocating every few breaths. He couldn't sleep, he would fall asleep standing up and when he'd finally doze off, he couldn't breathe so he would wake himself up again. About a week after him being home we realized that his breathing was absolutely abnormal, took him in and after x-rays and found he had an abnormally small windpipe. She said it was like him breathing through a crimped straw. To make matters worse, he needed palette recession surgery, (that part isn't uncommon for the breed.) His palette surgery was $1,800. Okay, great, we have a dog that can now breathe.
Fast forward 4 months, he's almost 7 months old, while he breathes better than he did when he first came home, he still can't breathe well, and can't sleep and now has a hump starting to grow on his back. Next round of x-rays at our vet and we find out that he has a spinal issue. We did not know what kind yet, or how severe, but something that needed dire assistance of a specialist, a neurologist. Our vet referred us to LSU vet school and after weeks of traveling between Florida and New Orleans, we were told that he had hemivertibrae, a condition not unfamiliar to the breed. His spinal cord was being pinched and he had misshapen vertebrae that needed to be separated just below his shoulder blades. If we didn't do surgery on him, he would lose his hind leg mobility and the ability to hold his bladder or bowels. It was a very serious surgery which included a CT scan and MRI, as the neurologist who saw him thought he had a brain tumor based on her initial physical exams of him. (Turned out to be side effects of his spinal cord being pinched).
Problem with this condition is if you don't address it ASAP, the dog will continue to get worse and when it progresses, it's not reversible. You don't get much time to wait with this condition. His spinal surgery cost us over $6,000 and he has almost 20 titanium screws and plates cemented into his back now. It was a very long recovery for him, took months to heal, he had to be kept as calm as can be for a 7 month old puppy while he healed, it wasn't easy. Fortunately, because of all of his health issues, he was never an extremely active puppy.
We have three dogs, and as I mentioned, another purebred (whom we have had not a single issue with, from another breeder). We have paid $2,000 in normal vet bills for his appointments with our vet and all of his x-rays here, add on the $1,800 from his palette recession surgery and the over $6,000 to the neurologist and we've got a nice, expensive dog (not including the price we paid for him, of course.) Thank God we got him and could afford his surgeries, because often times these dogs sadly must be put down due to the cost associated with their condition(s).
I can put a lot of things aside, and I do believe that sometimes you just get an unhealthy dog, but I don't think that this breeder is responsible. I emailed her letting her know about the issues, never asking for a penny back, but I wanted her to know, and to at least address me, apologize maybe. All of his issues arose within his first 7 months of life. She never even responded to my email. This is not a responsible breeder, I've read other complaints on other boards about her (ripoffreport.com for example), and I know about our dogs littermate who was very sick as well. All signs point to her being irresponsible, either in-breeding, or unhealthy parents have to be contributing to the poor health of her dogs.
