r/DutchShepherds

Think Twice Before Sending This Breeder a Deposit

I placed a deposit in December 2024 and later paid in full, only to spend months being strung along with excuses, broken promises, and disappointment after disappointment. Nearly a year later, I still do not have the dog I paid for.

I waited almost 8 months for this breeder to supposedly “train” my dog, only for the final solution to be putting me back onto another waiting list for a future puppy — with no real timeline and no guarantee of when that would even happen.

What made this experience even worse was the communication. Updates became more and more minimal over time, and getting any information at all felt nearly impossible. Messages would go unanswered for long periods, questions were brushed aside, and every attempt to get clarity was met with another excuse or delay.

When I finally pushed for answers after months of waiting, the communication turned rude, nasty, and extremely unprofessional. Instead of showing any accountability or understanding toward someone who had already paid and waited nearly a year, I was treated like an inconvenience for simply asking about the dog I was promised.

On top of that, this breeder moved across the country with the puppy without even notifying the people who had already placed deposits and made payments. There were also MULTIPLE “phantom litters” and repeated delays with little to no updates given to buyers.

No refund was offered, and rather than resolving the situation, I was essentially told the only option was to start over from the beginning on another waitlist.

For dogs advertised under the FCI name and reputation, this experience has been an absolute tarnish on what people expect from that standard.

Absolute red flag. Save yourself the stress, money, and wasted time. This has been one of the worst business experiences I’ve ever had.

So unprofessional...

So when weather is bad enough we don’t go outside aka raining and muddy and my pup needs to work we play seek and destroy inside.

Basically I sequester him in a room and close the door and go and hide his toy in the house, he gets to use his god given talents and his brain to find it. It really seems to scratch that itch when he’s wound up.

Hope this helps someone else out when you can’t get outside.

(rhetorical question, or more like a horrible humble brag)

was teaching my guy a new trick yesterday, just because I feel like it and he LOVES learning, it's really fun

and it always amazes me how QUICKLY he gets ts. it goes like "word" > he tries smth else > he gets it right after a couple of seconds > reward > "word" again > he immediately has it down correctly and pretty much forever

wtf?? after the first try is legit crazy. really humbling, too. like, there's probably so much he knows that I'm not even aware of and that I'll never understand?

(he also looks super cute doing it - so sometimes, he performs a cool trick, looks sweet and patiently waits for his reward... which he gets 😭 bro is training ME)