Conwy: Dog owner's warning about bad breeders after 'traumatising' puppy death

• Report by ITV Wales journalist Ian Lang

A dog owner is warning people to be careful about the dog breeders they use after going through the 'traumatising' experience of having to put down her brand-new puppy after vets said he was too sick to survive.

Wendy Jones, from Conwy, bought a puppy in 2021 from what she believed to be a reputable private seller who appeared to have all the correct paperwork.

But just six days after paying nearly £3000 for the pup – named George – Wendy and her family had to make the 'heartbreaking' decision to have him put to sleep.

Vets had discovered George was incredibly sick with hydrocephalus (water on the brain), his head was bulging, and he was also diagnosed as being both blind and deaf.

Meanwhile, new figures from The Kennel Club have revealed that around half of dog owners surveyed in Wales say they have experienced complications and heartache following their purchase of a puppy.

The research said 1 in 3 puppies bought on a whim get sick or die before their first birthday.

About two thirds of buyers did not see their puppy’s vaccination certificates and more than three quarters were not asked about suitability for puppy ownership.

What's more, more than one in four UK dog owners may even have bought their pet unintentionally from a puppy farm.

Despite Wendy's extensive research, spending weeks researching bulldogs, looking at breeders and scouring websites for adverts, she wants to raise awareness of how easy it is to be caught out by bad sellers.

“Everything in the advert was incredibly convincing,” Wendy said.

“There were lots of pictures of the pups and their parents and so we messaged through the website and struck up a conversation.

"We asked lots of questions and they were always quick to reply and were adamant we needed to go and meet the puppies before paying a deposit.”

Wendy said the family "fell in love" with George immediately, but continued asking lots of questions.

She said: "We asked to see the mum and dad. [The seller] explained that the dad was asleep but bought in ‘mum’.

"Looking back now we should have realised she wasn’t the mother. She was very excitable but had no interest in the puppies and didn’t look as though she’d been nursing puppies.”

“When we picked George up he was very smelly and slept the whole time, he just didn’t seem right... He was unsteady on his feet, shivering and started walking into things; he looked like he was drunk."

The breeder had told Wendy his behaviour was simply a reaction to his vaccinations.

Wendy started making enquiries with the vets in Derby, where George had allegedly been vaccinated. They had no record of the seller’s name.

“How could we have missed that?” Wendy said. “He soon became incontinent, started suffering from tremors and had a head tilt. He’d walk around in circles, fall over and not be able to get up.

"He had a fit and suffered nasal stenosis – or collapse of the nasal passage – so vets put him on oxygen and told us he had no quality of life and was unlikely to survive much longer.

“We were completely devastated. We took him home for a few hours so the children and grandchildren could all say goodbye. Everybody was already so attached. And then, at 1.45pm, on 3 March we had him put to sleep...

“To wait that long to be ready for another dog and then lose him after just six days has been completely traumatising.”

Wendy tried to contact the breeder to find the number had gone dead. She contacted the local licensing authority and discovered he did not have a license, so she reported what had happened to Trading Standards and local people.

Since sharing her story on social media, she’s been contacted by numerous people who have bought puppies from the same breeder only for them to fall ill.

Wendy said: “We just don’t want anyone else to go through this. We were totally and utterly blindsided by everything.

"Now, looking back, we feel very stupid even though we thought we’d followed all of the correct information and advice. It has been a horrendous experience.”

Wendy wants to share her story to encourage other people to "use your head and not your heart."

She is encouraging people to do full background checks on prospective sellers and breeders and phone the local authorities to see if they have any knowledge of them, and to seek advice from a professional if anything seems wrong.

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