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Report: #865122

Complaint Review: Hugapuggle - Templeton California

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  • Reported By: Puggle Lover — Aptos California United States of America
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  • Hugapuggle Templeton, California United States of America

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    I'm near retirement and in the market for a best friend and companion and decided to buy a puggle. I took the time to research various breeds and it seemed the puggle had the characteristics to best suit my needs. The cost of a pup was not an issue; finding the right dog to fit my life style and personality was my prime consideration. I wanted to avoid a puppy mill and find a breeder that was interested in matching the unique personality of each dog to the needs of the owner. I'm in California and after some internet searching I found a breeder that I thought could deliver on my expectations, Hugapuggle located in Templeton, CA. At $1,600.00 for a puppy they were the among the most expensive but their website promised, "You receive personal service from the breeder" and went on to say to "Choosing the right puppy is an important decision. We are the most recognized puggle breeder in California. We are confident that you will enjoy working with us as you find the puppy that is just right for you and your family." The website was professional looking and had many photos of cute puggle puppies. I called and talked to the breeder and she told me that the selection of available puppies by clients is determined by the date a deposit is received. I told her that when I received the puppy was relatively unimportant and that I would be happy to wait until I could have first pick on an available litter. She said that would be fine as long as she had my deposit. I sent the deposit through PayPal on December 6, 2012. 

    Although I've owned two cats that lived to be 17 years old, I've never had a dog of my own. I wanted to really do it right from the start and asked her if she could recommend a good book for the care and training of the puggle. Margie recommended two, "The Art of Raising a Puppy" by the Monks of New Skete and "Guide to Raising a Puppy" from the Keep It Simple Series of guide books. I bought both books and read them cover to cover. Both books stress the importance of careful consideration and planning. Different pups are suited to different circumstances, and it is important for a breeder to come to an accurate appraisal of each dogs possibilities.

    In late February I made arrangements to visit Hugapuggle. Its a 270 mile round trip but I wanted to see the facility and discuss the puppy aptitude testing with the breeder. The facility was attractive. The kennel area was clean and well kept and all of the dogs looked well cared for. When I asked about the puppy aptitude testing she said that they dont do it and dont believe it is necessary for the puppies they sell, but I could do the testing if I wanted to. On March 28, two of the dams at Hugapuggle had a total 14 puppies on the same day. I thought, great! Ill be able to find the perfect match. I received this message from her, Have you seen the new litter pictures? We had 14 puppies on Wednesday of last week! You have second choice of Sadie's as she has four males to choose from. I tentatively have the choosing weekend set for May 3-5th. Would it be possible for you to come on the Thursday evening, May 3rd at around 6:30 ish? I am trying to get clients that have either first or second choice to come on that Thursday to get their choices picked prior to all those after them. As you live fairly close, is this a possibility. I called her and asked if I was second on the list why did I have to chose from four males from a litter of six. She said that a lot of the new buyers wanted female-only and that I had to have a male because that is all I had talked about. When I reminded her that we had discussed the puppy aptitude testing, not that I wanted a male only, she became in my perception and opinion argumentative and confrontational. She told me I had to come on Thursday, May 3rd at 6:30pm for the choosing weekend and that I would have one hour to decide on a male puppy. I told her I would check with my wife and let her know. I sent her an email that evening stating that the books she recommended stated that the puppies needed to be close to seven weeks old to do aptitude testing. Since the take-home time for the puppies was the end of May, I asked if we could move the selection of a puppy back a week. I also asked to be able to view the puppies late in the morning (as recommended in the books) when they are active rather than in the evening.  I offered to take time off work to be on a day convenient to her schedule. I asked her to call me to work out the details. Instead I received an email including this statement, While we respect your desire to use the puppy aptitude test and believe that it is an important part of your choosing process, we are not be able to accommodate your request. We have refunded your $310.00 deposit into your Paypal account. So much for the personal service and finding just the right puppy as stated on their website. If she didnt want to have the aptitude testing as part of the process, why not tell me that in Feb when I was there?

This report was posted on Ripoff Report on 04/06/2012 10:52 PM and is a permanent record located here: https://www.ripoffreport.com/reports/hugapuggle/templeton-california-/hugapuggle-my-experience-with-hugapuggle-templeton-california-865122. The posting time indicated is Arizona local time. Arizona does not observe daylight savings so the post time may be Mountain or Pacific depending on the time of year. Ripoff Report has an exclusive license to this report. It may not be copied without the written permission of Ripoff Report. READ: Foreign websites steal our content

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REBUTTALS & REPLIES:
2Author
5Consumer
0Employee/Owner

#7 Consumer Comment

Margie is the best!

AUTHOR: joanna - ()

POSTED: Wednesday, March 26, 2014

Back in December I was looking for a puggle puppy and contacted Margie from Hugapuggle. I had tons of questions and she answered all my questions and was a pleasure to work with from the beginning! I had searched Hugapuggle before I contacted her and this stupid report came up! I'm glad other people responded in her defense and by reading the original report I thought to my self nothing could make this guy happy. I'm glad I found Margie I now have a very smart and sweet baby boy! The vet was very impressed with how well he was taken care of and all the documents he came with! If your thinking bout getting a puggle I highly recommend Hugapuggle. 

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#6 Author of original report

Response to Hugapuggle Ripoff from

AUTHOR: Puggle Lover - (United States of America)

POSTED: Saturday, January 05, 2013

I appreciate that some people such as yourself may have trouble reading and understanding a long post with detailed information such as my experience with Hugapuggle.

Let me abreviate this in terms you may understand. An ethical business person does what they say there are going to do. Hugapuggle, in my opinion, did not as detailed in my post. See how easy it is to communicate without resulting to crude metaphors.

They took my deposit keeping me from contacting a more responsible breeder for months until they lined up less knowledgeable buyers. They promised a choosing weekend but when I wanted to do the standard Volhard Puppy Aptitude they insisted I had to choose on on a week night at 6:30pm requiring me to take time off work and drive 270 miles to make a decision on a five week old sleepy puppy. Those kind of decisions frequently wind up with dog/owner mis-matches that result in a dog being surrendered to a shelter.

After Hugapuggle backed out of their agreement, I had no problem contacting another responsible breeder who agreed to do the Volhard Puppy Aptitude Test. Legacy Kennels did the testing and delivered my puggle for $600 less than Hugapuggle. I had my new puggle companion in hand by the end of April and now in Jan I couldn't be happier. If Margie been less disingenuous I could have had my new little friend in Feb.


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#5 Author of original report

Response to "Brilliant BS Hugapuggle Rebutal"

AUTHOR: Puggle Lover - (United States of America)

POSTED: Saturday, January 05, 2013

Totally ridiculous? BS? What intelligence is reflected here. The test of an ethical business person is to do what you say you're going to do. The original post of my experience with Hugapuggle gave specific examples of Hugapuggle not doing what they said they were going to do. I am glad that you are happy with your puggle but as the old saying goes, "Even a blind squirrel finds an acorn once in a while".

I don't know what type of research you did in matching your puggle to the needs of your family nor would I presume to call your criteria ridiculous or BS regardless of how low your standards may seem to me. I read the two books recommended by Margie at Hugapuggle cover to cover. The both stress the importance of the Volhard Puppy Appitude Test at seven weeks to match a puppy to the potential owner. Mis-matched puppies and owners is the main cause of dogs being surrendered to animal shelters. When I first talked to Margie at Hugapuggle she seemed to be unfamiliar with the test but was willing to let me do it as part of my selection process. I told her I was willing to wait as long as necessary so that I could have the pick of a litter. As less decerning buyers signed up she made the business decision to backout of her offer as detailed in my original post.

When dogs are tested for their aptitude to be service dogs it's not done at five weeks based on gut feel or making an instant connection watching a sleepy puppy for a few minutes at 6:30pm as I was asked to do. While I am sure a twelve year old girl would be happy with any puggle puppy, I'm not. I'm retired my puggle is my constant companion all day everyday and we go everywhere together. I'm commited to being constant companions for a very long time.

I adopted my puggle from Legacy Kennels located in Lester Prairie, Minnesota in April of 2012. Joanie at Legacy from my first contact was genuinely interested in making a good puppy/owner match not just in pushing puppies out the door as fast as possibly. She was not only willing to do the Volhard Puppy Apptitude Test she brought in a third part to do the testing so the results would not be skewed through familiarity. She had seven puppies 7-9 weeks old and through pictures and her knowledge with the pups we narrowed it down to four to be tested. She even offered to let me Skype the testing.

My pup true to her test results is intellingent and easy to train. She is well socialized and has never barked at another dog or person on our daily long walks. She has already learned to sit, down and heel. She will fetch her ball as long as I am willing to throw it and bring it back and drops it at my feet. She was quickly house trained and crate trained. While money was really not an issue for me, Legacy charges $700 for the AKC Pug and AKC Beagle mix and $300 to fly her in the passenger cabin of a commercial jet accompanied by a human companion that delivered her curbside.

If you're happy with the Hugapuggle, "Pig-in-a-poke puggle" by all means buy another puggle from Hugapuggle who in my opinion is only interested in pushing puppies out the door as fast as possible. On my visit to Hugapuggle, even after I told Margie I wanted to have the pick of a litter, she tried to push me into buying a puggle puppy that was blind in one eye and almost blind in the other for half price. Due to the interest in this subject expressed by you and others I am going to do further posts on additional consumer sites such as Yelp and the various Puggle Blogs.

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#4 Consumer Comment

fantastic dog breeders

AUTHOR: ed koke - (United States of America)

POSTED: Thursday, December 27, 2012

im stunned to read such a crazy complaint. my daugther got harlow from margie almost 2 years ago,  i then got my tess from margie 5 months ago, then my wifes best freind from san diego got harper from margie 4 months ago and on the 31st of this month i am picking up guido from margie for my brother, thats 4 pups in less than 2 years, we wouldnt have even gone back to margie for the second pup if she was at all what this guy claims,  shes a pleasure to work with, very honest and has a super great breed, wheather the dog turns out good or bad cant be based on this 7 week aptitude testing., a good dog is made by the time and training you give them, i spend a lot of time every day with harlow and tes, they adore you and want to be with you all the time. therefore they want to learn and please you, which they do very fast , you only get out what you put in. perfect matched dogs are taught not born.

i also believe margie was smart enough to see a problem and refund this persons money

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#3 Consumer Comment

Apptitude is showing at 5 weeks old in pups

AUTHOR: Sarah - (United States of America)

POSTED: Tuesday, November 20, 2012

I disagree with this post.  I also breed Pugs and have found that personalities are showing at 5 week so age, in fact, as a breeder, I can see personalities and attitude determination almost from birth.. The pups that are the aggressor feeders, will be more outgoing.

People coming to see pups normally "connect" with the pup even at the age of 5 weeks, and with such pups in high demand, and this breeder wanting to give you first or second choice, there was no way she could "hold up" the selection process for a few more weeks.. When a buyer pushed a breeder into such a situation, then it makes it very hard to get all pups placed by the time they are 8 weeks old.

It is necessary to get pups in their new homes around 8 weeks, so that they bond with their new family. I once got bullied by a buyer to hold off on selection and due to that I had a pup that I could not find placement for until she was 12 weeks, and then at half the selling price.

If you felt this breeder had such a good reputation, (and I have been to this breeder's facilities and I can say she is top notch, and taught me a lot, which she did not have to do as I am a competitor) then you should have trusted her opinion.  A breeder can really help pick out the right pup with the personality as they have spent so much time with the pups...

Learn to trust the experts you are so willing to put the money out for such a good breeding program.

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#2 Consumer Comment

I call BS

AUTHOR: m_g - (United States of America)

POSTED: Saturday, August 04, 2012

I find this complaint to be totally ridiculous. My family actually ended up getting second choice of Sadies March 28th litter (when the above complainer was refunded). Working with Margie and Hugapuggle was great from start to finish, she was very communicative and kept us up to date on the whole process as it happened. As a first time dog owner ourselves, my husband and I also did a lot of research, we have a 12 year old daughter and wanted to make sure that the addition would be just right for our family and we were not disappointed. Waffles is now 4 months old and we can not imagine our family without him, if you want to see a picture of our adorable hugapuggle take a look at the website and look for Mackenzie and Waffles, they have become the best of friends and we are now considering getting a second puggle from Hugapuggle to complete the family.

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#1 Consumer Comment

Ripoff?

AUTHOR: patti - (United States of America)

POSTED: Saturday, April 07, 2012

They refunded your money.  Exactly how were you ripped off?  They obviously identified you as a pain in the butt buyer and decided to give you your money back to avoid future grief.

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