1. The parties and the puppy
This agreement is between Homegrown Golden Retrievers, referred to as the breeder, and the buyer named at the end of this document. It concerns the single puppy identified in the summary above. It replaces anything said in conversation or written by email before signing.
2. Reservation
A reservation of 50 per cent of the listed price holds the named puppy for the buyer. It is credited toward the total and is not an additional charge. It is not a fee for the right to visit or to be considered.
The reservation is fully refundable if the buyer changes their mind at any point before the puppy is collected or travels. No reason is required and none will be asked for.
If the breeder concludes that the placement is not right after a reservation has been accepted, the reservation is refunded in full and the breeder explains why.
3. Going home at 8 weeks
No puppy leaves the breeder before 8 weeks of age. This is not negotiable and no request, occasion or payment changes it. Between six and eight weeks a puppy learns bite inhibition and dog-to-dog manners from its mother and littermates, and that learning cannot be replaced afterwards.
4. What the breeder provides
Before the puppy leaves, the breeder provides all of the following:
- A full veterinary examination.
- The vaccinations appropriate to the puppy's age, with a signed and dated record.
- Worming, on schedule, from the first weeks.
- A microchip, registered before collection.
- This written health guarantee.
- The food the puppy is already eating, and a settling-in sheet.
5. Health guarantee
The breeder guarantees the puppy against serious hereditary conditions for 1 year from the date of collection. If a licensed veterinarian diagnoses a covered hereditary condition within that period, the buyer must notify the breeder in writing within fourteen days of the diagnosis and provide the veterinarian's written findings.
On a valid claim the breeder will, at the buyer's choice, refund the purchase price or provide a replacement puppy from a future litter. The buyer is not required to return the dog in order to claim.
The breeder makes no claim of formal certification. The breeder is a family home breeder and does not participate in formal hip, elbow, eye or cardiac certification programmes, and nothing in this agreement should be read as asserting otherwise.
This guarantee does not cover conditions arising from injury, neglect, poor nutrition, obesity, over-exercise during growth, infectious disease, or the ordinary consequences of the buyer's care after collection.
6. The buyer's responsibilities
The buyer agrees to all of the following for the life of the dog:
- To keep the dog as a family companion living in the home, not kennelled outdoors.
- To provide routine veterinary care, including continuing the vaccination schedule.
- To keep the dog at a healthy weight, which is the single largest factor in a Golden Retriever's long-term soundness.
- To keep the microchip registration current with the buyer's own details.
- Never to sell, give or surrender the dog to a shelter, rescue, pet shop, laboratory, or any third party, without first offering the dog back to the breeder.
7. Return to breeder
If at any point in the dog's life the buyer is unable or unwilling to keep the dog, for any reason whatsoever, the dog is to be returned to the breeder. The breeder will accept the dog back at any age. This clause has no expiry.
A return after the first fourteen days does not carry a refund. It exists so that no dog bred by the breeder ever enters a shelter, not as a money-back arrangement.
8. Travel
Where the buyer cannot collect in person, the puppy travels accompanied by a flight nanny who remains with the puppy for the whole journey and hands the puppy to the buyer directly. A puppy is never shipped as unaccompanied cargo under any circumstances.
Travel is arranged through a third-party service, is quoted separately from the puppy price, and is paid before travel. Once travel is booked, whether it can be refunded depends on that service, and the breeder will state the position before anything is booked.
Risk in the puppy passes to the buyer on handover, whether that handover is in person or at the end of a journey.
9. Breeding
The puppy is sold as a family companion. The buyer agrees not to breed from the dog without the breeder's written agreement, and not to sell the dog to any commercial breeding operation.
10. General
If any clause of this agreement is found unenforceable, the remaining clauses continue in force. This agreement is the entire agreement between the parties concerning this puppy.
Both parties sign electronically. An electronic signature under this agreement has the same effect as a signature in ink, and both parties receive an identical copy of the executed document.