When we have a litter of puppies to place, each of us as breeders inteviews every potential buyer to insure that our puppies go to loving homes with people who will care for them for life. Also of concern is that the people we choose to sell to understand the commitment they are making and that they are willing to follow through with the contracts they sign. Unfortunately no matter how careful one is problems can sometimes arise.
As I breed, each litter is evaluated on its strengths and weaknesses and plans for future generations are in the making when puppies are but a few days old in the whelping box. Each quality bitch in the litter is invaluable as she can be bred to the top stud or studs in the country to improve breeding and showing stock. When a litter has several bitches one has many opportunites to choose studs from different lines and then to bring subsequent generations together in half brother sister or like breedings.
Such was the litter by Ch. Storybook's Rip It Up, SOM out of Ch. Encore's Tres Cher. There were 7 puppies in this much anticipated litter. The bitches became Ch. Encore's Kithara, now dam to 3 champions, with several others pointed, Encore's Kaleidoscope, now dam to 2 champions, with several others pointed, Encore's Kieta, spayed and sold as a pet at 8 weeks, and Encore's Kismet, bred one time by her owner and then spayed as final plans to breed her to fulfill her contract were being made.
Encore's Kismet, was sold by me to Mr. Charles Vose and Mr. John Tennette, she was Mr. Vose's pick at 4 weeks, being the most like her dam, from my litter by Rip It Up, the Number One Boxer and Number One Working Dog in the nation at the time, out of my homebred Cher, local and national favorite having beaten the odds finishing as a plain girl at 6 years of age.
Cher was the Veteran Grand Sweepstakes Winner at the 1999 Regional in Los Angeles, to a standing ovation, and was also Best Veteran Bitch at the American Boxer Club 2000 National Specialty. For those of you who never saw her she was truly a breath taking bitch. That year at the National Marion Ward Davies, of England's famed Winuwuk kennels, approached me and asked if she could pet my Cher, and remarked what a "truly lovely bitch she was" and said that she "could have held her own in England." I was honored.
All of my bitches have been sold with basically the same contract. In the case of Kismet, her owners Mr. Charles Vose and Mr. John Tennette, wanted to breed her to a dog of their own that I had previously finished for her first litter. They asked would I mind if they bred her with their dog for the first litter and then I could get my puppies from the second litter? I said no problem. She was bred and whelped a litter of 8. In the meantime, they decided that they were not going to show her any more, she being plain, having had her beautiful long ears cropped down to basically nothing because they could not get them to stand, and not being a perfect bitch, are any of them?
At this point in time, as her breeder with a vested interest to attain my breeding goals of making her dam a Dam Of Merit, I drew up another contract, through it waving close to $5000. in professional fees, with the agreement that I was to get the entire second litter.
Fast forward to 2003, plans were being made to breed Kismet. She had already been cleared for SAS and in January 2004 I hooked her up to my Holter at a show in northern, CA. Her Holter came back with a "0" PVC reading at 4 years of age. All was a go. The personal situation of Mr. Vose and Mr. Tennette had changed and at this point I offered to whelp the litter and raise it at my home at my expense.
I made plans to breed her to the stud that I chose, per our contract, and had decided that I wanted to use 2 studs for this litter as it would be the only chance I had to attain puppies from this bitch. One was to be a line breeding and the other an outcross. I might add here that there was to be considerable expense to me to facilitate this breeding. I added the upcoming litter to my web site and advertised it in the ABC catalog for that year.
This is when things started to go awry, Mr. Vose told me that I would have to choose only one stud stating that he was "against this concept of intentional double breedings." In every way that I could via emial, through friends, a phone call to Mr. Vose which was never returned, and finally through an attorney, I tried to work this out. After several weeks of negotiations, the day I was leaving for the 2004 National, Mr. Vose's attorney informed my attorney that Kismet had been SPAYED.
I cannot even begin to convey the instant and ongoing anguish and turmoil that this act has caused me. As many of you know I have had several personal blows over the past few years and my dogs have been one of the few constants in my life. While I will never be able to see what my Kismet could have produced or have the opportunity to show her puppies who could possibly have helped her dam Ch. Encore's Tres Cher attain Legion of Merit status, I can stand up for what I believe is right and try to educate others as to the possible pitfalls of selling their show and breeding stock.
Breeding Boxers has been a lifelong endeavor for me. Starting as a young child, age 10, with my parents at Notelrac Boxers, I have devoted my entire life to dogs, as a handlers assistant for 10 years and as a Professional Handler for 29 years all the while keeping the passion alive for ethically breeding the very best Boxers that I can.
My dream is that my Encore Boxers will someday make an indelible mark to the betterment of our breed. Those of you who are true "breeders" can understand the loss that I feel. When one loses a bitch from one's breeding program, even if it is unavoidable, it it devastating. As a breeder I am saddened that there are those who would intentionally try take my dream away.
Cheryl A. Cates
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