28th July 2008

Beware Puppy Gazumpers

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Just as the unscrupulous behaviour of sellers continues in the property market, a relatively buoyant pedigree dog market has reported incidents of would-be owners who have been gazumped on their perfect puppy, according to Petplan, who have issued a set of guidelines to help prevent puppy buyers getting gazumped: https://www.petplan.co.uk/factSheets/factSheets.asp

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When the right dog is considered the ‘must have’ accessory in certain circles, it is not surprising that potential puppy owners are chasing the same "it" pooch litter. They’re the ones with parents from the right bloodlines. The puppy gazumpers want a dog with a good pedigree and they're willing to pay more to get one.

According to the Petplan Pet Census, almost a third of puppies have been homed before they are even born and would be dog owners are spending hundreds, if not thousands of pounds and sometimes travelling the length of the country for the perfect puppy; no wonder there’s some stiff competition.

Diana Foultier from Oxfordshire knew buying her first dog would be memorable, but she could not have forseen that it would be memorable for the wrong reasons. “I’d always wanted my own Jack Russell so when changes in my lifestyle finally made this a possibility, I spent plenty of time searching for my perfect puppy. Numerous miles and phone calls later, and on my birthday, I finally found a litter and was given my pick. I spotted Chess and was smitten. I paid a £50 deposit and patiently waited until I could fetch her. Two days before, I received a call from the breeder to say that Chess was no longer available but that I could choose another from the litter. Apparently somebody else had simply offered more than the original price I had agreed with the breeder. I was heart-broken I couldn’t believe I’d been puppy gazumped!”

There was a happy ending to Diana’s story, after a further three months of searching, her husband found Chess (Mark II).

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