A Lesson Well Learned

A Well Learned Lesson

I bred a bitch to one of my stud dogs that was brought in by the owner. He brought in the pedigree, reg. #, went to vets and did hips and elbows. Simply kind of forgot to mention that the registration was still on the blue slip litter registration.

I find out when I was talking to my vet and asked when the OFA clearance came thru on the bitch and what her clearance numbers were. They say no send in because he showed them the blue slip and she was not individually registered.

Not a problem, Right? Wrong! The litter owner did not sign the back of the blue slip. So I get the owner to track down the litter owner who is now divorced and living elsewhere but this is accomplished by getting a phone # and address from her ex. So things are looking rosy and now everything is going good according to the bitch owner. He sends the registration to the breeder and gets it back. I tell him $60 to AKC and he says it is all done. Off in the mail.

The litter is born and he is doing an interesting job with the pups. The bitch has her ideas as to where they belong and he can have the whelping box while she resides on the bed.

The pups are growing, healthy and finally ready to be sold without hearing from AKC on her papers. Now since he lives in a big city and the neighbors are complaining just because 7 rowdy beasts are romping and barking in the backyard at all hours of the day and night, I take 3 of the pups that he didn't have sold and place them for him. No problem, he gets the money and I promise papers on them to the new owners. I sign this because I foresee no problems since the papers on the bitch are "in the process."

I call and he says there was a slight problem. He "forgot" to send $60 and the explanation and the papers are sitting in his mailbox as we speak. I tell him to write what happened and resend to AKC with the explanation. I even give him the phone # to call to get it from the horse's mouth. Okay, he says he sends it.

Pups are now 3 months old and I am getting antsy. I want the litter registered. I promised AKC papers to the new owners in writing. He hasn't heard anything and when I ask him if the check was cashed, he got vague, very vague. I call AKC since I have an 800 # and a special pin code. I am convinced that they sent this in self defense as I have so many screwups.

No, nothing, nadda on the registration. How can this be? Back to bitch's owner who says that the blue slip and all enclosed MUST have gotten lost in the mail. Dead end. NOPE. I go through the whole tracing thing and find the litter owner who tells me that she has NOT signed anything, nor heard from the bitch's owner. He who will no longer answer the phone and refuses to acknowledge my messages.

I get the breeder to request a duplicate on the bitch and I pay for it. She gets it and signs it and I hand deliver it to the bitch owner, who has me send it through the mail slot to sign and returns it the same way. Fortunately, I also had him sign the litter registration at the same time. He says to "Go away and don't come back."

Now I am so pleased with myself as I KNOW nothing can go wrong now. All I do is send the individual in and then get the litter registration sent to my address and go down and corner him again. The pups will be 6 months old within one month. Remember the 6 mos. or $60 for the registration rule.

So, happy as a dog rolling in something dead (which is quite another story as I am now smelling "He Who Rolls in Dead Things" and his father who is now named "He Who Smells Worse"), I fax the required individual registration to AKC along with the explanation signed by the litter owner and MY credit card # and authorization.

I give it two weeks and phone in to see if the reg. has been issued. Well, they got it but it is on hold. It seems that the registration dept. charged only $10 and they need the additional $60 which is a penalty not the charge for the late fee. Hmmm, credit card, authorization signed, now where is the problem here?

I explain that I have only 10 days left before this litter is 6 mos. old and I REALLY do not want to have to pay another $60 plus the $20 for the litter registration. Could someone please go see that this is taken care of? This lady whom we will label #1, says to fax her the litter reg., with credit card info and she will hand walk it over to the registration dept. and put the litter reg. on hold so it is recorded as being received. Sounds good.

I call back 3 days later. Registration is still on hold, litter reg. has no record of being received. This is now #2 lady who assures me that she will get it taken care of immediately and call me back. Well, I'm not falling for that one, so I call her back the next day. Now I am dealing with #3 lady. She wisely backs out after hearing the long tale. She does look up the individual reg. on the bitch to find it still on hold and the explanation that insufficient funds accompanied it.

Okay, we are back to #1. She has now assured me that she has cleared the individual reg. and that it will be posted this afternoon. Then she will release the litter reg. and it will be under the 6 month wire. I now have 2 days until the litter is 6 mos. and Thanksgiving is looming on the horizon.

Afternoon and I call back and the individual registration is off hold but not posted yet so the litter reg. is still not filed. #1 promises to get it taken care of by Wed. when the pups are 6 mos. With my luck AKC will figure 30 days to a month and they are over 6 mos. now.

I think I will just save this post and send this as the explanation when I am required by AKC to explain the delay in registering the litter. I should be bald by then as it has been a trial to contain myself and be civil throughout this. I may just package 'He Who Smells Worse' and his son and send them collect.