A dog's tale...
Discussion
...firstly, sorry for the cheesy title 
Secondly, this (long) post is not for any particular reason, more to collect my thoughts about our pooch. It might help other as a warning to do more research when selecting a puppy or if anyone thinks I need to do anything official then I'm all ears.
I picked up 'Duke/Fraser/Freya' (this will make sense shortly) on the 21st December last year. I had been looking for a puppy for months beforehand but I wasn't looking for a purebred or a toy dog. I wanted a medium sized mongrel as my family dog, when I was younger we had a border/retriever cross and it was a perfect dog.
I came across an advert on the morning of the 21st for a red fox lab. £500 from a woman who had picked the puppy up 48 hours earlier from a breeder. Of course alarm bells started ringing but the pictures were cute (is their any other kind?) but I happened to show this the advert to my dog-mad, owner of two labs, senior manager. She said it's worth a phone call, the woman was an hour drive south, £500 is a good price for a lab.
I phone up and so the story goes that owner Shiree, nearly retired woman lives on her own but works from home had picked up 'Duke/Fraser/Freya' on the Monday (bang on 8 weeks old) for some company and for her niece who lived a few doors down but wasn't allowed a dog as their house was empty most of the day. Shiree worked for Manchester council but worked from home in Warrington or at least she did work from home until her contract had been changed the day after she picked the puppy up and would require travelling into Manchester most working days. At this point she's in floods of tears on the phone...she vetted me with lots of questions and it all 'felt' genuine.
I decided to check the puppy out and my manager actually gave me the afternoon off to go see her. I ended up driving an hour North back to my village to get a friend to come along as an impartial set of eyes and ears. So three hours later I'm knocking on the door to have a look at 'Duke/Fraser/Freya'. At this point the short story is that either Shiree was being genuine or she's an amazing con-artist. Along with the puppy she wanted to give everything she bought for it as she had no need for it and didn't want the memories (she cried during the whole process). I ended up with a cage, a very high-end bed, food bowls, food, toys, everything basically. I also had the puppy's paperwork. I looked at the certificate which listed 'Duke/Fraser/Freya' as a red fox lab 'dog'. The certificate had a long line of parents/grandparents etc with names that read more like race horses. I never started out wanting a pedigree so it was largely irrelevant to me. I also didn't wanted to call the puppy Duke and seeing as I'm scottish decided on a Scottish name...'Fraser' it was.
I transferred the £500 in her account, packed the car with everything and drove two hours back with the new puppy...happy days!
Got the puppy into the house, put him/her on the lounge floor...he/she puked everywhere. Ok...travel sick...I get that.
Cleaned everything up...puked some more...cleaned some more etc. 'Fraser/Freya' was looking a little worse for wear and didn't have much energy. I paid attention to the food I was given for the first time. Pedigree Chum Adult dog food. Errr... I don't think that's good. So I bobbed out to the shop and picked up some puppy food. 'Fraser/Freya' wasn't that interested but he/she had been so ill I put it down to that. Shiree at the time said the food she got was from the breeder as that what she had been given! Thought nothing of it when picking the puppy up.
24 hours later I'm at the vet, very worried that she's properly ill. The vet said Fraser might have been taken from her mum a little too soon and didn't have the right bacteria in the stomach so she gave me a bunch of pastes and specific medicated food and relieved me of a large amount of money for such a small creature (I mean the dog not the vet). This seemed to fix him/her.
I had a couple more visits for various follow up appointments and on the third visit (boxing day) the vet started using the word 'she'.
"She's doing well". "She's putting on weight" etc.
After about the fourth 'she' reference I stopped her there and asked why she's was calling 'he' a 'she'. The vet flipped 'he/she' over and pointed out that it wasn't a miracle dog without a winky. That a dog without a winky was a b
h!
I asked why she didn't correct me on the first visit and she explained that she doesn't judge...she treats two female cats name Dave and Colin...so she never assumes.
So 'Fraser/Freya' was a girl and the closest name to Fraser was Freya so I'll go with that.
So this brought out the question of accuracy of the birth certificate. I called Shiree to let her know of the sex change purely out of courtesy because I had no idea how much she paid for Freya and what her expectations were. She called the breeder but he was away...on business...for two days...in Ireland. I had to change the warning bulb from amber to red.
Again, this didn't bother me specifically as I didn't feel ripped off with all the equipment chucked in with the puppy, plus at this point she was a happy puppy bouncing around the house chewing all my phone charger cables and making swiss cheese of a garden.
Roll on six months and many conversations about Freya being a red fox lab later (I didn't believe she was as I didn't believe anything on the birth certificate) and I'm sat in my local dog friendly pub when a couple walk in with two Vizslas. One two year old and one two month old.
From the neck backwards, their stance, hips, chest, paws...a complete match for Freya. A quick google for Lab/Vizsla cross puppies and it's like I'm looking at Freya when I first got her. I get chatting to the couple and they agree that Freya has the body of a Vizsla but with broader paws and a lab face.
As I said, this post isn't for any particular reason...I just wanted to post my odd story maybe to help someone to do more checking than I did and maybe I should take issue with the birth certificate not for my sake but other people could be being ripped off etc.
I love the dog massively and wouldn't want to change her in the slightest... she's a family dog who's a bit bonkers but a lot of fun.
Anywho...some pics of her growing up.
Secondly, this (long) post is not for any particular reason, more to collect my thoughts about our pooch. It might help other as a warning to do more research when selecting a puppy or if anyone thinks I need to do anything official then I'm all ears.
I picked up 'Duke/Fraser/Freya' (this will make sense shortly) on the 21st December last year. I had been looking for a puppy for months beforehand but I wasn't looking for a purebred or a toy dog. I wanted a medium sized mongrel as my family dog, when I was younger we had a border/retriever cross and it was a perfect dog.
I came across an advert on the morning of the 21st for a red fox lab. £500 from a woman who had picked the puppy up 48 hours earlier from a breeder. Of course alarm bells started ringing but the pictures were cute (is their any other kind?) but I happened to show this the advert to my dog-mad, owner of two labs, senior manager. She said it's worth a phone call, the woman was an hour drive south, £500 is a good price for a lab.
I phone up and so the story goes that owner Shiree, nearly retired woman lives on her own but works from home had picked up 'Duke/Fraser/Freya' on the Monday (bang on 8 weeks old) for some company and for her niece who lived a few doors down but wasn't allowed a dog as their house was empty most of the day. Shiree worked for Manchester council but worked from home in Warrington or at least she did work from home until her contract had been changed the day after she picked the puppy up and would require travelling into Manchester most working days. At this point she's in floods of tears on the phone...she vetted me with lots of questions and it all 'felt' genuine.
I decided to check the puppy out and my manager actually gave me the afternoon off to go see her. I ended up driving an hour North back to my village to get a friend to come along as an impartial set of eyes and ears. So three hours later I'm knocking on the door to have a look at 'Duke/Fraser/Freya'. At this point the short story is that either Shiree was being genuine or she's an amazing con-artist. Along with the puppy she wanted to give everything she bought for it as she had no need for it and didn't want the memories (she cried during the whole process). I ended up with a cage, a very high-end bed, food bowls, food, toys, everything basically. I also had the puppy's paperwork. I looked at the certificate which listed 'Duke/Fraser/Freya' as a red fox lab 'dog'. The certificate had a long line of parents/grandparents etc with names that read more like race horses. I never started out wanting a pedigree so it was largely irrelevant to me. I also didn't wanted to call the puppy Duke and seeing as I'm scottish decided on a Scottish name...'Fraser' it was.
I transferred the £500 in her account, packed the car with everything and drove two hours back with the new puppy...happy days!
Got the puppy into the house, put him/her on the lounge floor...he/she puked everywhere. Ok...travel sick...I get that.
Cleaned everything up...puked some more...cleaned some more etc. 'Fraser/Freya' was looking a little worse for wear and didn't have much energy. I paid attention to the food I was given for the first time. Pedigree Chum Adult dog food. Errr... I don't think that's good. So I bobbed out to the shop and picked up some puppy food. 'Fraser/Freya' wasn't that interested but he/she had been so ill I put it down to that. Shiree at the time said the food she got was from the breeder as that what she had been given! Thought nothing of it when picking the puppy up.
24 hours later I'm at the vet, very worried that she's properly ill. The vet said Fraser might have been taken from her mum a little too soon and didn't have the right bacteria in the stomach so she gave me a bunch of pastes and specific medicated food and relieved me of a large amount of money for such a small creature (I mean the dog not the vet). This seemed to fix him/her.
I had a couple more visits for various follow up appointments and on the third visit (boxing day) the vet started using the word 'she'.
"She's doing well". "She's putting on weight" etc.
After about the fourth 'she' reference I stopped her there and asked why she's was calling 'he' a 'she'. The vet flipped 'he/she' over and pointed out that it wasn't a miracle dog without a winky. That a dog without a winky was a b
h!I asked why she didn't correct me on the first visit and she explained that she doesn't judge...she treats two female cats name Dave and Colin...so she never assumes.
So 'Fraser/Freya' was a girl and the closest name to Fraser was Freya so I'll go with that.
So this brought out the question of accuracy of the birth certificate. I called Shiree to let her know of the sex change purely out of courtesy because I had no idea how much she paid for Freya and what her expectations were. She called the breeder but he was away...on business...for two days...in Ireland. I had to change the warning bulb from amber to red.
Again, this didn't bother me specifically as I didn't feel ripped off with all the equipment chucked in with the puppy, plus at this point she was a happy puppy bouncing around the house chewing all my phone charger cables and making swiss cheese of a garden.
Roll on six months and many conversations about Freya being a red fox lab later (I didn't believe she was as I didn't believe anything on the birth certificate) and I'm sat in my local dog friendly pub when a couple walk in with two Vizslas. One two year old and one two month old.
From the neck backwards, their stance, hips, chest, paws...a complete match for Freya. A quick google for Lab/Vizsla cross puppies and it's like I'm looking at Freya when I first got her. I get chatting to the couple and they agree that Freya has the body of a Vizsla but with broader paws and a lab face.
As I said, this post isn't for any particular reason...I just wanted to post my odd story maybe to help someone to do more checking than I did and maybe I should take issue with the birth certificate not for my sake but other people could be being ripped off etc.
I love the dog massively and wouldn't want to change her in the slightest... she's a family dog who's a bit bonkers but a lot of fun.
Anywho...some pics of her growing up.
Stunning dog and great news that she's healthy and happy.
When we bought our last dog, a pure, pedigree KC registered Springer, we went through a lot of really dodgy breeders. Like you we didn't set out for a pedigree dog but ultimately found this was an easier way to vet the breeders.
This time around we decided not to go for a pup but to rescue a dog, purely because there are so many out there and puppies always find homes, less so grown dogs. Again we spent ages going through the various Spaniel charities and it rapidly became apparent that adopting children would be easier AND you ran a good chance of ending up with a dog with some pretty serious issues.
We eventually found Louie, a 2 year old working Cocker, who is now 6 months with us and the perfect family dog. The chap we took him from was superb but had wholly under estimated the energy levels and required exercise of a spaniel. He had got him from a "Breeder" and there were a great many stories about being Irish KC registered and his paperwork being in the post. We didn't care but it highlights just how many people get caught out.
He is fit and well and suitably "Spaniel".
When we bought our last dog, a pure, pedigree KC registered Springer, we went through a lot of really dodgy breeders. Like you we didn't set out for a pedigree dog but ultimately found this was an easier way to vet the breeders.
This time around we decided not to go for a pup but to rescue a dog, purely because there are so many out there and puppies always find homes, less so grown dogs. Again we spent ages going through the various Spaniel charities and it rapidly became apparent that adopting children would be easier AND you ran a good chance of ending up with a dog with some pretty serious issues.
We eventually found Louie, a 2 year old working Cocker, who is now 6 months with us and the perfect family dog. The chap we took him from was superb but had wholly under estimated the energy levels and required exercise of a spaniel. He had got him from a "Breeder" and there were a great many stories about being Irish KC registered and his paperwork being in the post. We didn't care but it highlights just how many people get caught out.
He is fit and well and suitably "Spaniel".
You've got a great mix of temperaments there. She's ace! We got a Patterdale crossed with a Jack Russell last year and she's a terrorist (and we knew her breeding!).
On a serious note, these Irish dog farms need shutting down. Your girl may well be the result of an unintended pregnancy. Good that she is so healthy.
On a serious note, these Irish dog farms need shutting down. Your girl may well be the result of an unintended pregnancy. Good that she is so healthy.
S10GTA said:
You missed that she had a fooey rather than a Johnson?! HOW?
After 30 seconds of wtf
and I managed to decipher you're excellent euphemisms... yes...I know. . But she had this little 'nub' and tuft of hair and I kinda thought maybe that'll grow in something more...I'm surprised this wasn't asked sooner to be honest! My only defence which is crap is that it was advertised as a 'dog', birth certificate said 'dog' and the first two visits to the vet didn't flicker anything to say it wasn't a dog...only the third visit de she start referring to he as a she...lame of me I know
Edited by hondafanatic on Monday 5th June 15:31
Pedigree dogs usually cost a lot more than £500.
The kennel club gives out the certificates of lineage and of course you get the pedigree name which are always something a bit flash and wacky
My family own a puppy farm Black lab that was due for battersea at 8 weeks old. We took her on and a lot of issues with her being sick And diarrhoea and both at the same time. Severely underweight, vet bills galore to a point we thought this is it then we tried a gluten free diet. She is perfect weight now
Second pup we chose a Doberman. We had moved to a quiet country area and he was chosen as a guard/companion.
Very noisy as a pup, very noisy as a 3 year old now. He too is gluten intolerant!
3rd and final is a rescue mastiff cross, 4 years old and neglected to the point of ulcerated feet, all four! Nearly deaf in one ear due to untreated infections and a possible permanent skin complaint.
The dogs trust did an amazing job getting her back to health. She is now currently 42kg in weight, her furr is now fully grown back, she can now walk without being in pain and her ears are nearly fixed although she has a permanent cauliflower/thickened ear now. Her diet was changed and that is also a gluten free version.
She still has a week left till removal of stitches to her back but she is a corker.
How her previous owner if you can call them that could be allowed to own and neglect such a lovely creature I do not know
The picture shows her doing her best to get on the dogs sleeping sofa the shaved patch on her back is due to a operation with a big line of stitches under that plaster.
She is a happy girl now though
The kennel club gives out the certificates of lineage and of course you get the pedigree name which are always something a bit flash and wacky
My family own a puppy farm Black lab that was due for battersea at 8 weeks old. We took her on and a lot of issues with her being sick And diarrhoea and both at the same time. Severely underweight, vet bills galore to a point we thought this is it then we tried a gluten free diet. She is perfect weight now
Second pup we chose a Doberman. We had moved to a quiet country area and he was chosen as a guard/companion.
Very noisy as a pup, very noisy as a 3 year old now. He too is gluten intolerant!
3rd and final is a rescue mastiff cross, 4 years old and neglected to the point of ulcerated feet, all four! Nearly deaf in one ear due to untreated infections and a possible permanent skin complaint.
The dogs trust did an amazing job getting her back to health. She is now currently 42kg in weight, her furr is now fully grown back, she can now walk without being in pain and her ears are nearly fixed although she has a permanent cauliflower/thickened ear now. Her diet was changed and that is also a gluten free version.
She still has a week left till removal of stitches to her back but she is a corker.
How her previous owner if you can call them that could be allowed to own and neglect such a lovely creature I do not know
The picture shows her doing her best to get on the dogs sleeping sofa
the shaved patch on her back is due to a operation with a big line of stitches under that plaster.She is a happy girl now though
hondafanatic said:
After 30 seconds of wtf and I managed to decipher you're excellent euphemisms... yes...I know. . But she had this little 'nub' and tuft of hair and I kinda thought maybe that'll grow in something more...I'm surprised this wasn't asked sooner to be honest!
and I managed to decipher you're excellent euphemisms... yes...I know. . But she had this little 'nub' and tuft of hair and I kinda thought maybe that'll grow in something more...I'm surprised this wasn't asked sooner to be honest! 
She is a really lovely looking
hondafanatic said:
42KG!!! Blimey... I'm thinking about a second dog to keep Freya company and I'm considering a rescue dog. Or perhaps another pup and a rescue dog...
Go give a rescue a good home, they need reassurance but will be grateful to a forever home Our rescue has only been with us for 6 days and she is a big softie. The rear of our garden is bark chipped and fenced off to the main part with a small entrance for our dogs to toilet in.
Our new recruit only took a day to figure where to take herself to the loo
RobXjcoupe said:
She is now currently 42kg in weight.
How her previous owner if you can call them that could be allowed to own and neglect such a lovely creature I do not know
The picture shows her doing her best to get on the dogs sleeping sofa the shaved patch on her back is due to a operation with a big line of stitches under that plaster.
She is a happy girl now though
What a cracker. Not sure you're in a position to argue if she wants on the sofa. How her previous owner if you can call them that could be allowed to own and neglect such a lovely creature I do not know
The picture shows her doing her best to get on the dogs sleeping sofa
the shaved patch on her back is due to a operation with a big line of stitches under that plaster.She is a happy girl now though
I'm always astonished at the depths of cruelty people can inflict upon dogs. Lovely to see her happy and well. Good effort.
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