Castle Rock Bulldogs English Bulldogs in Ohio Avoid Bulldog Puppies! Tallmadge, Ohio

In August of 2009 we contacted Melissa with Castle Rock Bulldogs about getting a bulldog puppy. She had a bullie that was already about 8 weeks old that we liked, so we decided to make the purchase. The bulldog was $1800, which included him being up-to-date on his medicals, his pedigree papers and a "Health Gaurantee." My girlfriend flew to Ohio to pick up our puppy that we named "Mauer." Mauer is the best dog in the world, personality wise, but he is an absolute mess when it comes to his physical health.

The Problems Begin:
When Mauer was about 4 months old he started exhibiting a limp on his right leg. We immediately took him to get checked for hip displaysia since this is pretty common with bulldogs. We found that he was already exhibiting signs of hip displaysia but that wasn't the issue with his limp. We took Mauer to an orthopedic surgeon that found luxating patellas on both knees. Only one knee had become lame and we were advised to operate on it. Of course, we chose to do the operation to fix our puppy's leg. During their examination of his knee they advised us to consider widening his nasal passage and also shortening of his soft pallet in order to help him breathe better because he had a very constricted airway. The knee and airway surgeries cost just over $2500. About halfway through the recovery, a pronouced limp returned so we had to re-operate on the knee in order to put permanent suchers and pins in his leg. The reason for this is because Mauer's legs are so crooked that the standard procedure for a luxating patella would not be enough. The 2nd procedure was $1800. Mauer had a long recovery from the 2nd operation but his right leg has been doing well for quite a few months now. Almost as soon as his right leg was back to full strength he started limping on the left one and we knew what we were about to go through. The surgeon again tried the standard procedure to fix the luxating patella so that he wouldn't have permanent suchers and pins in his leg if he didnh't have to. Of course, the standard procedure didn't work and he had the knee operated on twice. The cost for the first right leg surgery was $2400 and the cost on the second was $800 because the surgeon didn't charge us for his time because he felt bad for us :(. Mauer is currently in his 8th week of recovery and seems to be doing really well.

Aside from his breathing problems, hip displaysia and bad knees, Mauer also has severe allergies. He first showed signs of allergies at about 4 months old. He has very bad seasonal allergies and really bad food allergies. He has experienced rashes, hives, huge bumps in between his toes, vomitting and itching so bad that he cuts himself and bleeds. During the late summer/early fall he was on the steroid predisone because it was the only thing strong enough to help him. He is now restricted to eating Salmon or Herring and has to take Benadryl everyday. Mauer is also extremely overweight right now at about 70 lbs. His target weight is between 55 and 60 pounds. It is impossible to get him to lose weight because he cannot exercise and hasn't been able to in about a year. He is not overfed as he receives under 600 K/cals a day and he is suppsed to get 750 on his "diet". The most exercise he has gotten is meeting me at the gate when I get home from work. This week is the first week in a year that I've been allowed/able to walk him everyday and he is only allowed to go for 5 minutes at a time. We were supposed to be getting a mini bulldog and Mauer's ideal weight is 55 lbs ...

Will Castle Rock Bulldogs Help?
The answer is No. I contacted Melissa with Castle Rock Bulldogs and expressed to her the many problems that we had experienced. At the time, Mauer hadn't started getting his 2nd knee operated on yet but I made her aware of his displaysia, the luxating patellas, allergies and airway problems. Her initial response was that it must be the food that I was feeding him. I told her that we were using the same brand food that she sent Mauer home with, which was Eukanuba brand puppy food. She again blamed the food and said we must have been overfeeding him or feeding him something else. At this point, I realized that I was dealing with someone that only cared about money and was going to make every excuse not to refund me. The funny thing is that a refund had never crossed my mind until my Orthopedic Surgeon said that I should ask for a refund because if anyone deserved a refund, we did! I tried to reason with Melissa that it can't be the food. How could a certain food cause his knees to be out of place? How could food constrict his airway? She only responded that these issues were not covered in her "Health Guarantee". Her "Health Gaurantee" is basically just a contract that says that under no circumstances will you ever get a refund. Also, in order to have this "Health Guarantee" you must purchase NuVet with a special promo code she gives you. She makes it seem like she is doing you a favor by giving you a deal but in reality she is getting a cut of every sale made with that promo, which is why she requires your puppy to be in NuVet in order to honor the Health Gaurantee. The other big reason not to buy from Melissa or Castle Rock Bulldogs is because Ohio does not have a puppy lemon law. If I had bought this puppy in a state like Minnesota, I could have taken her to court and easily won back my money with the laundy list of problems Mauer has had. Unfortunately Melissa operates in Ohio which allows her to get away with these bad business practices. The final time that I talked to Melissa she made sure to tell me that none of this was her fault because the puppy I bought wasn't even bred by her! WHAT?!? She explained that she put the puppies on her site for a friend and that these aren't even her dogs. I was under the impression that I was buying a dog bred and raised by Melissa with Castle Rock bulldogs. In the end, she sold me a dog that she didn't breed or raise and when everything went wrong with his health she thought it was ok to tell me that I didn't even buy one of her dogs.

If you are considering buying a bulldog from Melissa at Castle Rock Bulldogs, then please consider my story. We have spent well over $10, 000 on Mauer's health and many of these issues are genetic. I wouldn't wish the last year of my life or Mauer's on anyone. If you wish to contact me with questions or concerns about my story, just search for this compaint on complaintboards.com and send any inquiries to my email address at the bottom. RipOffReport doesn't allow emailing addresses.