Sunny Days Havanese Laura Strecky, breeder sold Havanese puppy with hereditary disease, she refuese to pay Cape Coral, Florida

I purchased a Havanese puppy from Laura Strecky in Sept. 2009. I thought she was great breeder by letting me come to her home and visit with the puppy before I was able to bring her home. She was also agreeable to letting me make payments on the purchase of the puppy. Boy, was a wrong about her character.

After having the puppy for few months I noticed she was favoring her right leg and wasn't putting full weight on it. I thought she possibly hurt herself while playing. I monitored her for a couple of weeks and the condition only got worse. I took her to my vet and had X-rays taken at that time.

The vet diagnosed her with Legg Perthes, a hereditary disease. I was informed that she would need to have surgery or the condition would get worse and she possibly could become lame in that leg. Since Florida has a pet lemon law, my vet immediately wrote a letter to the breeder explaining the situation and her responsibility as a breeder. [continued below]....

..... When I arrived home I emailed the letter to Laura and then called her.

Laura agreed to return my purchase price for the puppy but asked if she could make payments. I was more than willing to do that since she let me do the same for the purchase of the puppy. After three months of promises to pay I finally sent her an email informing her that I would no longer take payments and needed my money since I had to pay for the surgery. I informed her in the email that she had two weeks to pay the $850 she owed me or I was going to take her to court.

I received no money or any other emails from her after that so I had no choice but to take her to court. In Oct. 2010 we were scheduled to go to court. LAURA DIDN'T EVEN BOTHER TO SHOW UP!!! I was so angry that she couldn't be bothered to face her responsibility. The judge heard my case and my evidence without her. Because I was angry I asked the judge to grant the cost of my X-rays as well, another $385 and she granted it.

Now, more than a year later I am still waiting for my refund of the puppy, cost of X-rays and court costs to the tune of $1,460. As you can see from the photo, I won my court case and don't know how to get my money other than letting others know that Laura is NOT the nice breeder she portrays.

My dog is getting along very well, even though her right leg is a half inch shorter than her other legs. I wanted to train her in agility, but that's not possible because she cannot jump very high.

Does anyone have suggestions on how I can get my money? The only thing that I can hope is that she realizes she should pay or I will continue to tell everyone what kind of breeder she is. If she can't pay me, then I can hurt her in her pocket.