Anyone know about Merckle's Hilltop Mastiffs in Ohio?

[ruthcatrin]

Ask Smokeycat, her Kryton's going to have to have surgery for severe elbow dysplasia, and he's not yet two. She didn't know elbows needed to be checked, she found out the hard way.

 

[Smokeycat]

Ask Smokeycat, her Kryton's going to have to have surgery for severe elbow dysplasia, and he's not yet two. She didn't know elbows needed to be checked, she found out the hard way.

Yep it sucks. I had already decided that the next puppy I got was going to be from a breeder that did the recommended testing but now I'm going to make sure I know what that testing is. If his parents had been tested the chances of him developing ED would have been greatly reduced since many dogs show no clinical signs until later in life when they are diagnosed with arthritis. In one respect Kryten is lucky, he has health insurance. The cost for each elbow is over $6000. To me paying an extra $1000 for a genetically health tested puppy could save you multiple thousands of dollars later, not to mention the emotional stress and trauma of not having been able to keep your puppy health. Kryten just turned 16 months, he likely will not have clean bill of health until he is 2 years due to the intensive nature of the surgeries needed to fix a genetic problem.

 

[alwcm4]

Well I found out that one of her males (who has the only pedigree I would consider nice) was not sold to her as a puppy. The breeder of that dog has been alerted and is trying to contact her now and find out how she came to get her hands on the dog and use it in her breeding program. More to come...

 

[mx5055]

Well I found out that one of her males (who has the only pedigree I would consider nice) was not sold to her as a puppy. The breeder of that dog has been alerted and is trying to contact her now and find out how she came to get her hands on the dog and use it in her breeding program. More to come...

​Very interesting Amanda

 

[northernmastiff]

That is interesting Amanda.

Not that this is related but I recently found out that giant dreams is using a LazyD dog. Made me wonder if they know about it.

 

[bubbagum]

That is the dog I liked. So she is not using that dog of Kim Wampler's with her permission?

 

[alwcm4]

Kim is checking on it, that's all I can verify for now... I'll let you know what I find out.

 

[cookiedough39]

Well I found out that one of her males (who has the only pedigree I would consider nice) was not sold to her as a puppy. The breeder of that dog has been alerted and is trying to contact her now and find out how she came to get her hands on the dog and use it in her breeding program. More to come...

not surprising. If you come to this forum for advise dont get mad when you get it.

 

[bubbagum]

I am not mad to get legitimate information; that is why I asked on here. Saying dogs are bad based solely on price was not really helpful advice. The breeding in question was a nice looking dog of Kimmit's bred to a nice looking bitch also not from her program. If she got these dogs through non shady means this is a breeding that should produce nice pups. If she is above board I would love one of these pups..if she is not above board people need to know.

 

[bubbagum]

http://ohiomastiffs.com/images/document/Maggie.pdf xhttp://ohiomastiffs.com/images/document/Cooper.pdf does not look like a bad breeding to me.

If puppies were listed at $3000 you would probably say it was a good deal; at $1000 you would say she was greedy and in it for the money. That was the advice I found odd.

If she is doing something criminal she needs to be stopped. If not this seems to be a nice breeding.

 

[alwcm4]

I'm lost, is someone mad?

 

[Iymala]

I will agree Cooper is a good looking stud which makes sense cause Kimmit has nice dogs. I would not buy a pup from that pairing though because I would be way too afraid Maggie woukd throw that head to the pups. Not to mention no side shots of Maggie standing would be a huge concern to me. Everyone is entitled to their own opinion, but I do not think that is a good pairing regardless of the price.

 

[Duetsche_Doggen]

Bubbagum, I agree with you as far as price. Price does not make a good dog. One of the best dogs I had was free, lol.

The only thing I don't feel comfortable about with the breeder is the LACK of health testing and the number of litters they produce per year. I will say that there dogs look somewhat consistent ( some of them I like better than today's overdone show EM).

If a breeder produces many litters a year how will you keep track of your acheivments and failures???? To me personally the breeder seems like an upscale puppy mill.

That doesn't mean they are "bad" but just keep in mind their "true" intentions may not be in the right place. Good luck.

 

[cookiedough39]

I didn't say go with a dog purely on price. I didn't say a $3000 dog would be the best dog. I simply stated a full bred mastiff for $1000 would throw up red flags to me. If you were buying a new car and 10 places have the car between $25k and $30k would you really buy a car at the 11th place for $15k? Red flag. I'm just saying. Not saying it's a bad breeder but just I see a red flag.

 

[bubbagum]

If I didn't see red flags I wouldn't have posted on here. I know lots of places where I could get a beautiful female today for a few thousand dollars. I most likely will do that in the next week or so. We just lost our 11 month old female (from genetically tested parents) last week and have been talking to breeders I know and trust. When googling dogs in a pedigree I stumbled upon this breeders site since that Cooper dog's pedigree had one of the dogs I was looking for. I was curious about the Cooper and the bitch that wasn't a product of her breeding program.

 

[Duetsche_Doggen]

Yep it sucks. I had already decided that the next puppy I got was going to be from a breeder that did the recommended testing but now I'm going to make sure I know what that testing is. If his parents had been tested the chances of him developing ED would have been greatly reduced since many dogs show no clinical signs until later in life when they are diagnosed with arthritis. In one respect Kryten is lucky, he has health insurance. The cost for each elbow is over $6000. To me paying an extra $1000 for a genetically health tested puppy could save you multiple thousands of dollars later, not to mention the emotional stress and trauma of not having been able to keep your puppy health. Kryten just turned 16 months, he likely will not have clean bill of health until he is 2 years due to the intensive nature of the surgeries needed to fix a genetic problem.

Geez Smokey, I must have missed this. Sorry to hear that about Kryten.

I didn't say go with a dog purely on price. I didn't say a $3000 dog would be the best dog. I simply stated a full bred mastiff for $1000 would throw up red flags to me. If you were buying a new car and 10 places have the car between $25k and $30k would you really buy a car at the 11th place for $15k? Red flag. I'm just saying. Not saying it's a bad breeder but just I see a red flag.

Out of curiosity why is it a "red flag?" IMO red flag = "buyer beware"

So a breeder that chooses to go below "average" is a "buyer beware" breeder?

Using your car scenario yes I would buy that vehicle for 15K it means I got a hell of deal providing everything checks out. My example mom brought dishes from a yard sale for about $40, these same dishes cost twice as much in Dillards. Deal or beware?

Again just curious.......

 

[cookiedough39]

You already have the answer...PROVIDING EVERYTHING CHECKS OUT. And I seriously doubt these dishes were brand new like they were @ dillards. That's almost funny.

 

[Duetsche_Doggen]

You already have the answer...PROVIDING EVERYTHING CHECKS OUT. And I seriously doubt these dishes were brand new like they were @ dillards. That's almost funny.

They were......believe or not the dish set were brand spanking new. Hell she called me to tell me that lol. And she's knows I'm not a shopper. On top of that she went to see her mother in another state, goes to Dillards.....what do you know she finds the same set she just brought from a yard sale marked down. Yet she couldn't hit the lottery tsk tsk...

Pfft A good dish to me is one that can stay on my paper plate, haha

Back OT

 

[cookiedough39]

Also Deutsche....how would you go about knowing if everything checked out? Would you just listen to the dealer? Good chance this vehicle was wrecked or involved in a flood or something. If it was flooded, how would you know because that's not on Carfax.

 

[cookiedough39]

I would think those dishes were stolen then. That's just me though.