STICKER (Havamalt, Havanese/Maltese) - 11 weeks old for sale in Nixa, Missouri

$850

Sticker is so named as he likes to stick to ya! He wants your approval and will look to you for reassurance. He is fun to watch and likes to cuddle too! He was bred to be your lifelong companion as his only job! He will be about 10 pounds. His dad is an AKC registered Maltese and his mother is purebred Havanese. Non- shedding and hypoallergenic!

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I bought Sticker - he's gonna be OK but NEVER work with Lori!
By Jess, August 19, 2015

I recently purchased a puppy from Lori. After speaking with her on the phone, I really trusted her and thought that the puppy I was getting would be a great fit for our family. I was looking for an emotional support animal, and disclosed that info to her. She said that her puppy, Sticker, would be perfect for me.

I drove down to Nixa and met Sticker and saw where he grew up. He was super sweet, cuddly, playful, and happy. After asking lots of questions, I decided to buy him and bring him on home.

Not even 15 hours after welcoming him into our home, I noticed very troubling signs of fear aggression. When he met new people, he growled, nipped, and barked at them - such different behavior from when I met him (but, now looking back, that is how his sister behaved, and I should have known better). We immediately invited a behaviorist to come look at him, and she gave her professional opinion that he is severely under-socialized, but with the right training and very careful socialization, he could work through it.

This terrified me. I needed a dog to be my emotional support, and didn't plan or budget for this sort of training and stress. I emailed Lori and let her know of the issues, and said if it does not resolve quickly, the best thing for Sticker may be to return him to her so she can find a home that can care for him adequately. Due to my disability, I may not be the best fit.

Lori didn't respond directly, but sent me some info she found on the internet about fear aggression. A week later, she emailed me and asked, "Are you and Sticker happy?"

I responded, telling her we were doing OK, but I would have to spend hundreds of dollars on training with a behaviorist and would like her to pay for it (or at least part of it). She wrote back something vague about "The internet can direct you to whatever info you need, but having someone to help sure is nice!" ... when I wrote her back and asked that she respond more directly, she wrote me back and said that "she had talked to a professional" and that I had done things incorrectly to cause the issues. That I didn't want to deal with training myself and was essentially lazy, and that I was trying to get her to pay for it so I don't have to. She said that "you should train him yourself, for your own personal development if nothing else."

I was flabbergasted, and returned her email telling her that I felt that was a harsh, irrelevant, quite unjustified attack (um, excuse me, you spoke to a random professional who has never met me, or even the dog in question? did you tell that professional I emailed you less than 24 hour after picking him up with these complaints? I bet not...) on my character and intentions, and then explained that I had also spoken with a professional (who met the dog and worked with him for over an hour) and received a quite different opinion, and that I couldn't have messed up the poor guy in the 15 hrs it took for him to start behaving in fear aggression. I also said that she didn't need to worry about the money - that dealing with the way she has spoken and treated me is reason enough for me to forget about it. Its just not worth it.

She wrote back and said, "I did not read your email. My family suggests that if you are not happy with Sticker, you sell him."

I wrote her back and said, "Don't worry about it, Lori. We're keeping him, and we'll make it right since you can't."

Lets talk for a second about what would happen if we followed her advice to just sell him. First off, the sweet guy is 17 weeks old...he was 15-16 weeks when we got him. NO WAY could we make back our $850 investment selling a puppy that age. As a result, we'd have a lower asking price for a dog with behavior issues, which would NOT send him to a good home. Selling him would probably result in him ending up in a shelter, or worse, a kill-shelter. If she really cared about the dog, she would NEVER recommend we sell him away to someone else, especially given the circumstances aforementioned.

I am outraged that a breeder would suggest this, and that she would not own up to these issues I told her about. She is obviously defensive and hiding something.

I am keeping sweet Sticker and will see him through these issues - we are seeing great improvements already after our consistent, careful work. I love the little guy and would never want him to end up in the situation she suggested.

All this goes to say, please never do business with Lori. She seems to care more about the money than about the wellbeing of her puppies (and her customers, to boot).


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