Legalities of NI Sale Discussions

I wonder if there is anyone out ther that knows the law on dog sales, by this i mean (Please read problem below)

My breeder was asked by one of the purchasers of a puppy 2.5 years ago to find a trustworthy person to re-home his 2.5year old NI bitch as they had had a baby and the wife no longer wanted the dog in the house, he felt that as he worked away from home and arrived late in the evening that he could no longer offer the dog a good quality of life saying quite strongly that he did not have time for her. He wanted the breeder to take her but as she rightly pointed out it was not fair to take a house dog and shove her in a kennel for quite sometime.

He had now stopped the dog from entering her home completely and she was having to live in a brick outhouse attached to the house, spending the rest of her time in the garden. She had food and water but no household comfort anymore.

The breeder put an advert on her website so other NI owners could contact her if they could offer the dog a home.
I made a request for details on the dog and as this was the breeder of my Ni she gave me the mans details and I asked if he was serious about re-homing his dog, he said that actually he wanted to sell her, he said he could not offer her the right amount of affection or time now that they had a baby, and that the wife did no longer want the dog in the house near the baby.

This being the case i spoke once again to the breeder who had had the dog in kennels while they went away, she said she was a loving a gentle dog. On her recomendation i made an appointment with the owner to travel the 170 mile round trip in the hope we could offer this girl a new home.

We met the dog she was beautiful and gentle as the breeder had said so we said we would love to have her(My 13yr old daughter came with me) We asked him how much he wanted for her he said £350, i said would he accept £200 he said no but would accept £300, me being soft and sad at her predicament as she only had a dark outhouse or garden to live in now having been used to a warm house and attention on tap said ok and paid a deposit of £80 the balance to be paid in 2 installements the owner agreed and wrote out a bill of sale & Receipt and signed it. He would not allow me to take her there and then and arranged for me to travel the 170miles to collect her the following weekend.

Late on the Thursday nite he rang me to say i could not have her as he had changed his mind, he had £80 deposit for her and would not change his mind. I was angry at this as he is not fair keeping her in this manner as she will be lonely sad and unhappy being shut away from her family. He argued that he was going to keep her whatever.

I feel he will try to sell her for more money not making sure that she has a good home!! Please can anyone advise me if i have any rights or if there is anything i can do to help this poor little girl?????????????

Sorry this is so long!!!!!

If anyone wants more info please PM me. Thank you for reading this thread.

keeping a dog outside is not illegal,its cruel if the dog was mistreated in some way,has she a comfortable bed for her,i guess not i think from your post your mad he changed his mind when you traveled so far twice costing the same diffrence in petrol as what you and he agreed for the bitch,if he intends to try and re-sell her to make up the diffrence then he in my opion he dont give a toss about the poor dog,and only wants money,but i dont think you can do anything unless he is being cruel to her,the breeder should have taken her back,if shes outside anyway,without that breeder the dog wouldnt be there in the beginning xx

The breeder didnt know he was keeping her outside, as he failed to give her the facts! She as far as i have seen is good at rehoming NI's when stupid people change there minds about there dogs! She would have taken her had she known the facts, she was so angry when i told her 2.

NI's need alot of Human interaction and do not do well in this change of situation. If she had been an outside dog from the start fair enough but not after 2.5 yrs. Yes i am angry as I will worry about the safty of this dog. I have been a dog owner dor over 20 yrs and have never given a dog away or sold a loving pet! A dog is for LIFE!!

can you ask her to take her on your behalf and let on shes rehoming her xx

oh poor thing! I hope she's okay!
I suppose it depends on the dog and the owner's schedual, but my parents had two dogs when they had me, and they had an ample ammount of time for all three of us! And one of the dogs wasn't but a year old, still a puppy needing lots and lots of attention-but I don't think it ever crossed their mind to get rid of him! THEN they had my brother (i was three at the time) and STILL kept the two dogs-AND ME!
Dogs are like kids, you can't just shove your kid outside and say "I don't have time for you anymore" because you're having another one!
that makes me so sad!

We had to dogs when our first was born, GSD's to they greeted him when we got home from hospital and then just got on with things! It's no excuse to shove her outside

I don't think legally there is anything you can do. If the dog had been handed back to the breeder then that may well have been different but the dog is his and in his possession so basically (rightly or wrongly) he can do what he pleases.
Personally if that were me I would have insisted on the dog being returned to me so it was in my actual possession.
Becky

I don't know if this would stand up legally but the way I see it, by accepting a deposit and issuing a receipt for the money received, the owner has entered into a contract with you and he has now breached that contract by refusing to uphold his end of the contract.

I do know that dogs fall under the Sale of Goods Act and it may be worth checking yout legal staning under the Act via the Citizen's Advice Bureau.

I'm not 100% on this, but as you have a bill of sale, and I assume his signature, you have a binding contract between you and the dogs owner. The fact that you've paid a deposit also goes in your favour.

Unfortunatly, this is also a civil matter, so therefore probably expensive to persue :-( :-(

If you can, speak to this guy and tell him you have a bill of sale from him, which is a legal binding document.

I'm sure someone with a little more legal knowledge will post on this and give you a bit more of an insight.

I hope you get it sorted out xxx

Thanks, this is what I thought, was hoping some-one on here may be in the legal world and would be able to advise but have plans to check with Cits Ad tomorrow!

Thanks i feel the same so told him that but he would not see reason!I'm only trying to do what is best for this dog, I understand that deep down he loves his dog, but the wife has put her foot down thus leaving the dog stuck outside. He may as well have a photo if she is always going to be behind glass!

RC, I've done some googleing and from what I've been reading, the sale of animals comes under the UK Sale of Goods Act 1975.

Try giving Trading Standards a ring as well as CAB

Thanks for that will try tomorrow, i want to think i have done my best for this poor girl!!

I think you have done a lot more than some people would of done RC

Has this guy given you your deposit back yet?

He sent a cheque on the 6th which was received today. But i will not cash it till i know more.

Does the breeder have a clause in her puppy contract with the owner stating that, in the event of the owner no longer being able to keep the dog that they must return it to her?

I know a lot of breeders do put this in their contract in which case the breeder could contact him and remind him of his obligation to return the dog if he can't keep it. If he is just trying to get more money for the dog then this may be enough to make him think twice. Breeder could then take the dog and rehome it to you.

That's disgusting behaviour! I don't know that you can do much other than get in touch with your local trading standards office and CAB and get some advice at this stage; find out if you have any rights.
I'm so sorry for both you and the poor dog.

Yes she does,but it seems that will not stand up in court, I have checked that one already!Thanks.

Oh my,
Poor girl.
Hopefully you will be able to take her from that selfish man,
I just hope that he doesn't try and home her else where,
tell him that you will be taking legal procedings against him as he signed a binding contract.
people like this make me so mad
Like you said, a dog is for life