Our Story
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Our Story
Submitted by norcalErica on April 20, 2010 - 10:04pmHi everyone... I am new to post on this forum....and I dont want to start out on a bad note or bash anyone! I just want to get our story out there....and hopefully help someone learn from our mistakes.
I know there are 2 sides to every story, and I would LOVE to hear the others side...if we could only get him to tell it.
thank you for reading!!!
We recently purchased a dog from Sergio Gomez (Mexico) and ran into some unfortunate circumstances. We would like to let the show world know of this story so you can BEWARE. This is not to degrade anyone or bash anyone….we just want our story known, so this hopefully wont happen again. If we can help ONE person learn from our mistakes…. that would make us happy!
During the 2007 Nationals in Washington, we saw a dog in the show ring we noticed and took a liking too. This dog was Harry (Gomez) aka Diego, who’s owner/handler was Sergio Gomez of Mexico City. We went up and looked at Diego after they left the ring, and liked him even more.
We started discussing it over a drink and it came out that if we all went in as co-owners on the dog, we could see if the owner, Sergio Gomez, would be willing to sell Diego to us. We wanted to purchase this dog for showing/breeding.
On October 6, 2007 we made a deal with Sergio to purchase Diego for $16,000 US dollars. We signed a contract stating the dog was in a ‘good health condition’ and Diego’s AKC papers would be Fed Ex’ed to us as soon as Sergio returned to Mexico. We also exchanged $16,000.00 US Dollars in CASH.
To this day, we have not received ANY papers on Harry (Gomez), aka Diego!!!!
As soon as we returned from the Nationals, Diego was taken to the vet for a health check, and also we had noticed he was regurgitating water and food very often. The vet determined NUMEROUS health problems with Diego. Dermatitis between toes and skin folds, mild bilateral entropion, labored and stertorous breathing and mild screw tail dermatitis. It was also noted that there was a large non-reducible swelling in the area of the left inguinal ring. The swelling in the flank was found to be an inguinal hernia with a large amount of mesentery strangulated within the hernial ring. Per the vet, who is a BULLDOG VET, this type of hernia is considered heritable so it is not recommended this patient be used in a breeding program. His soft palate was elongated. His laryngeal saccules were both everted. His tonsils were both enlarged and his nares were severely stenotic.
The hernia was determined life threatening, and we chose to have surgery performed right away, as we did not want the problem to get any worse, or lead to death.
After determining all these health problems, within one week of purchase, we proceeded to contact Sergio Gomez to inform him of these health issues and to return Diego to him, in return for our money back. Our contract stated we were getting a dog in ‘good health condition’. This was not the case. We are not able to show or breed this bulldog. With his health conditions he is NOT the HEALTHY BULLDOG we felt we were purchasing.
(I must say this now) Through this whole process there are some major mistakes that myself and my partners have made, and have learned a very costly lesson, unfortunately. Our biggest mistake is we thought Sergio Gomez was a reputable bulldog breeder and owner, and one who would stand behind his dogs.
Sergio Gomez has refused to return our money for Diego, despite numerous attempts. We have yet to receive ANY paperwork on the dog either!!
There are certain things we should have put in the contract to protect ourselves in case of this. To release the money without a complete health check of the dog was a major mistake. And I hope everyone will read this and hopefully not let something like this happen to them.
Victor Martinez, Kim Lucier, and Erica Peters
Re: Our Story
Oh dear. Yes big mistakes made here, I would not so easily give away $16000, however I do believe the breeder is responsible and should return the money.
question??
Sergio Gomez is a well known handler/breeder in the US??
Response
Posted for Nacho, per his request. I have nothing to do with this situation.
Nikki
To whom it may concern:
I am Ignacio Villanueva Aguirre, with this email I want to tell the person who has put in question my integrity with the members of the Bulldog Club of America, that I had nothing to do in the matter of the Bulldog named Diego, as I only acted as an intermediary in good faith, since Sergio doesn´t understand any english.
If Diego has or had some health problem I never knew about it until today. I also want him to know that I had no economic benefit from that sale. It has come to my attention that this person is doing a negative campaign against me. I have a spotless reputation in the USA. I have been competing for more than 10 years and my behaviour has always been impecable. That is why I am asking this person to stop maligning me. The one you have the problem with is Sergio Gomez Suarez. You have his address, phone numbers and all relevant information. If you have some other problem with me I would appreciate if you told me personally. My phone number is 011525520980896. I have a friend in San Antonio, whose name is Alex Rodriguez. You can leave any message with him and his telephone is 2108253260.
Sincerely,
Ignacio Villanueva
Just-LoneStar Bulldogs
www.2008nationals.homestead.com
Sandra
I did not say that a breeder should not be acountable for what they breed. I was only speaking of one person. I will not discuss this breeder on the boards any further as this is a BCA memeber and a very well known handler/breeder in his country. I respect that.
Reputable Breeder????
A Reputable breeder would not sell a dog with these faults knowing that we wanted to SHOW AND BREED HIM...
Our contract states that the dog "Diego" was in good health the day we bought him... NOT!
The hernia was up in the groin and the only way you could see it was by flipping him over on his back and turning him a bit...
Rhiann I love you too... but I think you'd be crazy not to agree that this is not a reputable breeder???
Yes a very big lesson for us to learn on what to do if there is ever a next time (which there won't be)
Posting for Sandra.......
This is a very interesting post coming from you Rhiann. Do you feel breeder's are not responsible for dogs they produce? They are not responsible to disclose problems that they have?
Think about what type of world in dogs that would be.
There were mistakes made here, lots of mistakes. But bottom line is a breeder should be held accountable where ever they live. And a dog should come with a health guarantee.
PS..I have never looked at this as Nacho is involved. He was just an interpreter.
Sandra M.
Wild West Bulldogs
Pictures property of Wild West Bulldogs.
personally not something i would have posted
but since its already out there here is my opinion. You admit that there were some mistakes made on your part. And i agree. I do not feel you can go and state that Sergio was at fault in any part of this. YOU signed a contract stating the dog was in good health. All of the health porblems mentioned should have been noticed by the group. Mild entropion..well we see Bulldogs often with mild entropian...no big deal and again something that each of you should have noticed.
Dermatitis..again noticable..
Hernia..noticeable..so with all these glarring things wrong with the dog how did one NOT notice these things. When investing 16,000 dolllars on a dog I would hope that my hand would have been on each and every part of this body..checking his tail, groin, folds, gait, breathing etc.
Dogs raised in Mexico are raised differently than here, medical treatment is different as well..again something that should have been researched.
So i do not feel it is fair in any way to state that Sergio is not a reputable breeder from this one incidence. Kim and Erica are both new to the Bulldog community and should have consulted with others who are far more experienced. So I now ask ...how many other people were consulted on this decision? You don't have to answer to me..just something to ask yourselves..and is that person truly an experieced breeder who has bred Champions and bettered the breed?
Why go and pay 16,000 for a dog when there are just as nice dogs here in the states for far less? Gota question the motive behind that one.......
Kim ya know i love ya ...Erica i have yet to meet..This is not a post to bash either of you...
But this truly is a lesson learned and an expensive one at that. If it were truly all that easy to go and buy a spectacular dog from Mexico that was going to come back here to the US and become the next stud dog HOF'er dont you think many others who have been doing this for 20 plus years, would have jumped that gun along time ago....
As I stated before..I do not feel Sergio is at fault here in any way regardless of the dogs conditon.
Re: Our Story
I don't know both sides of the story but I do agree...contracts make for much better arrangements and both sides are more protected and understand their agreed upon responsibility. Sort of like Fences making good neighbors...in dogs as in life and friendships, clear boundaries make for happier relationships.
Lorraine
If only I was as good a person as my dogs seem to think I am!
Find us on:
www.karismakennels.com
Thank you everyone for reading "Our Story"
Thank you to all that took the time to read "Our Story" and thank you to everyone that responded... we take full responsibility for our mistakes and we learned a very valuable lesson..