Return Policies and Puppies: Prep your Program for this Predicament
It has happened to many of us...
The unexpected email or phone call that makes your heart sink into your stomach. We don't know what else to do. “We just aren't clicking with Fido. We have made the difficult decision to rehome him.”
As a breeder, it is heartbreaking to find yourself in this situation. It can make some breeders feel like they have failed their puppy and their customer. And, it isn't always a new puppy that needs to be rehomed. Sometimes, we hear from families who need help six months, or even six years down the road.
In this article, I want to share four things that will help you:
avoid frequent puppy rehomes,
ensure customers return puppies/dogs to you,
potentially revert a rehome situation or predict one in advance, and
protect your puppies.
I also want to point out that this article assumes that all of my readers already have a first right of refusal clause in their puppy sale contract. In other words, I am writing to breeders who accept returned puppies or dogs without hesitation.
1. Breed great dogs
Breeding great dogs is the ultimate goal of an ethical breeder, and is the best way to cut down on the number of puppies from your program that will need to be rehomed during your breeding career. We are breeders because we want to replicate and share our amazing dogs with the rest of the world. But, sometimes the dogs that we esteem ourselves do not produce puppies that please new customers.
Are your puppies effortlessly meeting the expectations that you advertise to your customers?
Most rehomes are related to puppy behavior. How are the puppies that are being rehomed related to each other? If you see a familial pattern (i.e. most of the puppies being returned are out of one particular bitch, or one particular stud, or one particular pairing. etc.), retire the common denominator from your program.
I recently retired a 10-month-old puppy from my program. He hadn’t even sired his first litter yet. I already had thousands of dollars invested in this dog in purchasing, training, caring for, and health testing him. Of course, I was also emotionally attached. However, his early retirement was an easy decision for me. I have a great relationship with his breeder and I had her support, too. In fact, she encouraged it. The dog turned out to be not what she was aiming to produce, either (side note, I really hope that breeders can start talking to each other more!).
Ethical breeders invest thousands and thousands of dollars into purchasing, preparing, and raising a breeding dog before they even begin breeding it. Retiring a grown, health-tested – maybe even shown and titled – breeding dog early, can seem devastating to a newer breeder with a young program. But, keeping a dog in your program that produces puppies that are regularly returned to you will be a huge setback for your program development. These decisions become easier as your program matures.
Breeding dogs that families couldn't imagine living without is the first step toward ensuring that you are placing puppies into furever homes. If you find that your puppies are often being rehomed due to incompatibility with their owners, you may need to alter your screening process and/or client education procedures.
2. Choose amazing families
It is very important to have a first right of refusal agreement in your puppy sale contract. I don’t want to get into detailed contract discussion here, but I will at the very least advise that you hire an attorney to write your contracts. If you wrote your own contracts, or borrowed them from someone else, I strongly advise you hire an attorney to review them.
Though there are multiple sections in my contract that address selling/rehoming, this is one excerpt from my Puppy Purchase Agreement that is placed into my contract to offer extra protection for my puppies:
Restrictions on Transfer: If, at any time, Buyer is unable to keep or care for the puppy/dog (including upon Buyer’s death or incapacity), at Breeder’s sole election, the puppy shall be (a) returned to Breeder together with duly executed documentation transferring Buyer’s ownership interest in the puppy/dog to Breeder or (b) rehomed by Buyer with Breeder’s prior written approval, in each case without any refunds or payments due to Buyer. If, following receipt, Breeder decides to rehome the puppy/dog, Breeder may elect to refund Buyer a portion of theoriginal Purchase Price after deducting applicable maintenance, training, veterinary and othercosts. Such refund amount shall be determined by Breeder in its sole discretion. Buyeracknowledges that the refund amount may be significantly less than the puppy/dog’s original Purchase Price depending upon the age, training, and condition of the puppy/dog. Breeder mayelect to offer no refund whatsoever if it is determined by the Breeder that the puppy/dog was received malnourished, neglected, untrained, or unsocialized.
A great contract isn't going to help protect your puppies as much as you think it is, especially if you sell your puppies to difficult people. Your pre-requisite to an iron-clad contract is to have a thorough puppy application, as well as an involved interview process. The families that are willing to jump through a few hoops (within reason) in order to bring one of your puppies home are the families that are more likely to hang on to their puppies. However, even these families can sometimes fall into future hardships with their puppy that they have no control over.
A great contract isn’t going to help protect your puppies, even puppies with amazing families, if your customers don’t read your contract before signing.
About two years ago, one of my customers reached out to me. This retired husband and wife had purchased a puppy from me 6 years prior. They had recently been forced to move in with their terminally ill daughter. They moved from a large house with a fenced yard to a condo without a yard. They also moved from a life of senior retirement, to the lives of live-in caretakers. They knew they weren't being fair to their dog because of the amount of time that was required of them by their daughter. They reached out to me and gave me the opportunity to help them rehome their sweet, beloved Molly. This decision was absolutely heartbreaking for them, and I am honored that they turned to me for help. Of course, I had a first right of refusal clause in my contract, however, not all owners abide by contracts.
I am so grateful that this family, after six years, still felt they could call on me in a time of crisis. This was an amazing family. They upheld their promise to me to protect and love their dog by reaching out to me for help because they remembered my promise of lifetime support, even though they were embarrassed and brokenhearted.
3. Provide lifetime support
Every breeder's definition and level of lifetime support is going to be different, but it is important that every ethical breeder provide some form of lifetime support. This offering is not just for the benefit of your customers, but it is for the safety and well-being of your puppies, too.
My lifetime support includes:
pet owner mentorship, which means me keeping all lines of communication open to my customers for the life of their puppy;
a moderated online community available exclusively to my customers where they can share photos of their puppies, keep in touch with siblings, and ask questions and solicit advice in a safe space; and
an open door policy when it comes to rehomes or owner-surrenders.
You can typically predict a potential rehome situation in advance, assuming that your lifetime support includes keeping the lines of communication between you and your customers open at all times.
About a year ago, I was faced with rehoming an 8-month-old puppy. The puppy’s owner had survived my application process, and I felt she had done ample research concerning the puppy’s training requirements in relation to his breed and temperament. The match turned out not to be made in heaven. I started receiving emails just a week or two after she brought the puppy home. The owner was already struggling. I should have suggested she bring him back to me early on, but deep down inside I was hoping the match would eventually work out. Per my advice, she continued to bond deeply with the puppy even though she knew he wasn’t right for her family. By the time she finally made the decision on her own to bring him back to me, she was tired, frustrated, and very sad.
My advice is for you to do your best to mentor your customer and help them work through normal, minor puppy problems. Some people just need a little encouragement early on.
However, don’t push a fearful, frustrated new puppy owner into doing something that inevitably they will not be able to follow through with. Instead, offer your support in taking the puppy back before the situation becomes more complicated.
4. Protect your puppy
When it comes to someone that doesn’t want your puppy because it has become inconvenient, or because it becomes clear that they had very unrealistic expectations of your puppy, timely intervention is crucial. If a family wants to get rid of their puppy, don't try to talk them out of it.
Is your puppy in danger of abuse or neglect? Keep your cool. Remain calm and professional. Prepare to set contracts and conflict aside to do what is necessary to get your puppy home and safe.
Threatening a difficult person with a contract or legal recourse will either:
cause a fight response, where they will become combative, using the puppy as leverage to get what they want from you, or,
cause a fight response,where they will disappear completely, in which case you lose leverage over the situation. This disappearing act is now commonly known as ghosting. By the time you track down a customer that has ghosted you, your puppy may have already been sold, given away, or surrendered to a shelter
There are always caveats to contract terms. Though we may like to think so, most contract terms are not black and white. In the United States, for example, dogs are considered personal property. Based on my understanding and experience as a non-lawyer (and also in consultation with my attorney) your customer is technically bound by your contract to offer you first right of refusal. However, if your customer sells or transfers ownership of their puppy without notifying you first, this can create complications. The puppy is now likely the personal property of its new owner, and that new owner is not likely the party to your contract. Enforcing the contract at any step in this process can also be very expensive.
You could try to add in additional contract elements, like an enforcement fee on to your first right of refusal clause to cover your damages/loss from the value of the dog if you are not offered first right of refusal, but this will not necessarily recover a puppy that has already transferred owners (and cost you a lot of money in attorney fees and potential court costs!). The possible upside, however, is that this fee could be a deterrent for families interested in breaching contract terms.
Try not to aggravate an already difficult customer before you get your puppy back, or resolve the issue in a way that ensures the safety of your puppy!
Attempting to punish one of your customers by suing them or threatening them could potentially put your puppy in danger. I’m not suggesting you ignore your contract. But I want to warn breeders that may make the mistake of losing a puppy completely over a battle of wills. Is the fight worth losing a puppy over?
Conclusion
If you have never had one of your puppies returned to you, I am so happy for you! I hope this is a result of great breeding practices, sound contracts, and excellent customer relationships. I have learned many lessons throughout my breeding career the hard way, because I did not begin my career with sound mentorship. I hope my article can help a few newer breeders navigate through this difficult, but somewhat normal part of having a breeding program. I’m so glad you’re here to learn from my mistakes, and my victories.
