DEB MEJCHAR - DEB WESTBURY - GREEN ACRES MASTIFF Ripoff CONVICTED FELON DOG BREEDER SOLD ME A GENETICALLY DEFECTIVE PUPPY WHO LATER DIED SCAMMED ME OUT OF $1200, VET BILLS AMOUNT TO $5000 PARDEEVILLE Wisconsin

In January 2005, my fiance and I agreed to purchase an English Mastiff puppy from Deborah C. Mejchar of Pardeeville, Wisconsin, whom we found by performing searches for puppies on the Internet. We paid a total of $1,200.00 for the puppy, by way of two US Post Office money orders mailed to Ms. Mejchar. We made arrangements to drive from New York to Wisconsin to pick up the puppy when he was 8 weeks old. Several weeks before we were to leave on our trip, Ms. Mejchar informed us she would be out of town and would have to ship the puppy to us when he was 7 weeks old.

Within a few weeks the puppy, whom we named Aonghus, was walking with an odd gait but we attributed this to his being a large-breed dog who was growing at a rapid rate. Months later, Aonghus was examined by a veterinary specialist and certified to be afflicted with a progressive genetic defect called Cervical Stenotic Myelopathy. The procedure to treat or cure this genetic defect was extensive surgery, but we decided against the surgery because of the high-risk factors. According to our veterinarian and the veterinary specialist, this disease was crippling and our dog would most likely have to be euthanized as he became more and more debilitated due to paralysis. Aonghus underwent weekly acupuncture and hydrotherapy to relieve the pain and help soothe his muscles.

We incurred over $5,000 in vet bills to treat Aonghus's illness. Through phone calls and emails, we informed Ms. Mejchar of the genetic condition, provided her with our veterinarian's certification of the disease and unfitness for sale, and asked for reimbursement of his purchase price of $1,200.00, which we felt was completely fair considering she sold us a puppy with a genetic defect. We were not asking for her to pay for his vet bills. She has been completely uncooperative and gave us lame excuses about what Aonghus's problems could be. She even claimed he must be suffering from Lyme Disease. Mejchar is not a veterinarian and is not qualified to make a diagnosis.

We acted in good faith and at this point realized we have been taken by Ms. Mejchar. We wanted nothing more than to be reimbursed for the purchase price of our puppy, $1,200.00, which would have helped with his exorbitant vet bills.

In retrospect, we should have paid attention to the red flags associated with this sale: first, paying by money orders; second, being told we could not drive to Wisconsin to pick up our puppy and that he would have to be shipped to us; and third, after doing some Internet searches on Deborah C. Westbury (the alias Deborah C. Mejchar used to register her dogs with the American Kennel Club and the very name listed on Aonghus's AKC registration papers), we learned that Mejchar is the same Deborah C. Westbury who has a felony criminal record in Wisconsin and who served 6 years jail time for possession and sales of drugs. Mejchar/Westbury was found guilty of selling crack cocaine from her home while she operated a children's day care center. Here is the link to her court case: (((ROR redacted link)))

What is so astounding about this so-called breeder is that Mejchar now calls herself a Reverend and volunteers for the prison system, counseling other prisoners.

Sadly, Aonghus became so weakened to the point he could no longer walk and we had to have him humanely euthanized on July 17, 2006. Since he could not even get up, our veterinarian, who also loved Aonghus, came to our house to end his suffering. He was just over one year of age and his loss at such a young age due to a genetic defect has simply devastated us and our family. And Mejchar couldn't have cared less.

We filed a formal complaint with the Wisconsin Attorney General's office but Wisconsin has no puppy lemon law. The complaint will remain on file in that state for three years however we will continue to expose this unscrupulous dog breeder as a warning to other potential buyers and also for what she has done to Aonghus and us. We will not let his suffering and death be in vain.

Deirdre
Orangeburg, New York
U.S.A.