D&A Kennels / Maize Bulldogs / Just Puppies / Anton & Dawn / 177 W End Ave, Brooklyn, NY Sold us dog with cherry eye and then removed it themselves causing us $3500 worth of vet bills 177-6 West End AVenue, Brooklyn, New York177-6 West End AVenue New York

My 3 year old english bulldog just had a 4k operation on his knee.  I have spoken with Anton over 10 times and have gotten nowhere, he just keeps saying I need to speak to Dawn.

And of course she now does not respond to emails or call me back.

So its time to go legal - looks like small claims is the best way, but do you get any joy from it even if you win your case?

Or is it just a big waste of my time and I have to take the financial hit - anyone with advice on the process I would appreciate an email. slacky66 AT hotmail.com

Thanks and look forward to hearing from you.

please contact me if you have fallen victim.......our puppy just passed away because of this animal.....we need all the help we can get to shut him down .... ((REDACTED)))...     PLease help! CLICK here to see why Rip-off Report, as a matter of policy, deleted either a phone number, link or e-mail address from this Report.

Hello, I am so sorry that more people have felt the pain and sadness that Anton's business practices inflicts. I have done my best to try and shut Anton down, however I don't know how successful I have become. I consulted a lawyer who reviewed my documentation and referred me to small claims court. I have filed a small claims suit and I actually have my court date this week. I have also filed complaints with the BBB and NYS dept of consumer fraud. Both complaints are being reviewed. I am fully willing to take any further actions anyone might recommend or require support on. Please let me know and I will post an update once I have the results of the suit. Thank you for all of your support. I wish everyone's pets well; they are very lucky to have owners who care so much.

Julie,

I hope your dog is doing well. We just purchased a bulldog from this animal of a man on 7/5/09 and he is already in the hospital. I won't go into detail because I have already posted my short horror story and I am too distraught from reading everyone else's horror stories. If you can give some insight into how you proceeded with your law suit, it would be helpful. I don't know this guys last name (if that even matters). we need to get this guy and make sure he doesn't harm another animal. I know I'm in a hole for $2700 so far but my only consolation is that I saved this poor puppy.

Let me know if you have any suggestions on what we can do. THere are many people posting their stories who want the same justice.

I just purchased a dog on 7/5/09 from Anton. An english bulldog we named Dukie. He is now in the hospital being treated for an abcess on his right leg which was shaved when we got him. This guy Anton seemed shady when I met him. He told us not to take him to the vet for 14 days cause he was up to date on his shots (which now I don't believe for a second), and if the doctor wanted a stool sample to tell him no it's not necessary. He offered to treat the dog at his vet if he ever contracted cherry eye and his vet would do it for $100 (Oh gee! I wonder who his vet is..could it be him).

I thank god that I was foolish enough to not look into this breeder before purchasing the dog because god only knows what would have happened to him. We fell in love with him the minute we saw him and I feel such a loss that he's not in our home right now. It's only been three days and I feel sick that he is being put through this. It's already costing us $2700 including the price of the dog and he still is not home with us. I am curious to know what steps you are taking to get this guy because you have our support in bringing this animal of a man to justice.

We will spend whatever it takes to make this puppy well again but this man has to be stopped. I have already read one too many stories about him on this website and hope that somehow we can all come together to stop him.

I purchased a 10 week old french bulldog puppy from Anton on 3/29/09, I named him Bronx. Within 24hrs he was extremely ill. I spent the entire week taking him into the vet daily, for IM antibiotics, subcutaneous fluids, etc. I took the time off of work in order to care for him. I literally would syringe feed him every 2-3 hrs (day and night) in order to keep him hydrated. I refused to give the puppy back to Anton for fear of what might happen to him. Unfortunately, after a long week and a tough fight, my puppy passed away. His lab work came back positive for parvovirus. It was exactly 1 week from the purchase date. Anton has repeatedly given false fax numbers and the constant run around. I have yet to receive a refund for the cost of the puppy. I would like to take legal action. I am in the process of consulting an attorney. I was wondering how you went about your lawsuit against D&A Kennels/Just Puppies Ltd.

My girlfriend and I bought a Frenchie from Anton back in November. She was sick when we first took her to the vet and I shelled out over $400 the first visit. After about 6 months the dog's hind legs went lame, and turned out she had a pre-existing neurological condition. Her parents never should have been bred. After replacing her with another sick puppy, I tried to get my money back, not even asking for the over $1000 total vet bills paid for over the course of the whole nightmare. Dawn took the puppy off my hands and promised rufund the next day. I finally got $850 back about 2 weeks later, half of the $1700 paid for the dog. It's been over a month and I still haven't received the rest, not to mention the vet bills I haven't even asked for. I'm ready to talk to a layer if anyone has any suggestions.

I really hate these people for what they did to me, and those poor puppies. Someone please help!


L
Kingston, New York

We went to court and Anton and/or Dawn did not show. However, we still had a trial and it was ruled in our favor. We were awarded the cost of the medical bills plus the cost of the dog PLUS interest.. nearly $5200. Now all we have to do is collect, which will be the fun part. If they do not remit payment within 30 days then their bank accounts, tax returns, and real estate will be seized. New York State law indicates that if they have three or more cases against them where they are not paying plaintiff party is entitled up to three times the awarded amount.. so start filing claims, people!!!!

First, yes you should consult your breeder when something goes wrong as they can know more some breed specific issues than vets on occasion (vets can not know every single thing about every single dog, most practice GENERAL health and medicine is as much about opinion and experience as it is science so a breeder may have more experience with certain issues pertaining to their breed than a vet on occasion). That does not mean don't seek veterinary care, but a breeder should also specialize in their breed. They should be able to tell you what to discuss with your vet or refer you to a vet with more experience. Check out the new york puppy lemon laws. bornfreeusa dot org is usually a good starting place as they give the codes for easy look up and I think it's animal law info which is also good. You can also go to assembly dot state dot ny dot us slash comm slash Consumer slash 20080501o
Are you folks signing some sort of release when you bring the dogs for treatment? Try reporting them to the new york department of agriculture and markets I think it is (get appropriate paperwork first). Did you get a certificate of unfit for sale? Did they make you aware of your remedies and obligations? By telling you not to go to a vet and you following it you may be waiving your lemon law rights in certain circumstances. You would probably be able to get one (unfit for sale) from the original clinic. If you haven't signed over the dog for the treatment period you may want to contact the state veterinary board and inform them of the situation. They may be able to help you as well even if you signed something when you brought the dog. Also, it is always wise to make sure you can afford a lot of veterinary bills when deciding to care for a bulldog. They are prone to many issues which arise by virtue of being what they are and even bulldogs which are reasonably healthy for bulldogs tend to rack up the vet bills (things like cherry eye, entropian, allergies so feed a GREAT food which is holistic and has little to no corn and such also lower protein is better among MANY other things). Your description does not appear to be one of those though and the original post seems to describe questionable issues surrounding the problem. Good luck and please keep posted, would also like to hear from the original poster and if they found any resolution. *just my opinions*

We just purchased a bulldog from him last Saturday with the same instructions, not to take the dog to a vet, any problems we may have should be brought directly to him. I started calling him Tuesday when our puppy had a hacking cough and was dry heaving. Anton instructed us to give the dog Pepto-bismol that it was probably an upset stomach. He said there also might be food or dirt caught in his throat. I did not feel comfortable giving the dog people medicine. The dog progressively got worse and i continued to call Anton up till Friday morning when he said to try Benadryl and if that didnt work he'd overnight us an antibiotic. I became extremely frustrated at this point because he is not a vet and the fact he never even asked to see the dog was an indication how he could care less. Friday evening when i got home from work I noticed the dog hadn't eaten all day, could barely stand and could barely breathe. I rushed the dog into an emergency hospital and $455 later the dog was diagnosed with the pneumonia. We immediately called Anton because they wanted to keep the dog overnight and I didnt know what to do because we did not have the additional $1100 to hospitalize the dog. He advised us to bring him back to him tomorrow and he would have his vet take care of it. We were very reluctant to do so but had no other options as we could not afford to do anything else after spending $455 on the vet on top of the $1700 we paid for the dog less than a week ago. When we brought the dog to him he nebulized him and rushed us out of there, saying we can call every hour if we wanted to and he'd speak with his wife and work something out as far as reinbursement for the vet bill which could have been avoided if he didnt tell us for 4 days it was dust caught in his throat. Well by Sunday evening after numerous calls to Anton, all he knew was that the dog was taken earlier during the day to vet and was on his way to the airport to go to his breeders to get more dogs. He expressed how "wonderful" the dog sounds and is eating and fine. He will not give us any information as to where our dog is and still evades the subject of reinbursement for the bill which he directly said he felt bad for since he misdiagnosed the dog. We are waiting to hear from him today and if we do not have our money for the vet bill as well as our DOG back, we will persue legal action not to mention the fact i will take off of work and walk back and front in front of his "store" with a sign on making sure no one buys a puppy from him again.

Is this a case of practicing medicine without a license without guidance or under the supervision of a vet? Are you CERTAIN he did the removal himself and gave you the impression it was done by a vet? I am not a lawyer (or a vet) and am flying by the seat of my pants here. Just a suggestion which may be able to possibly GET you your records, or that he may end up having to admit there ARE no records which can lead to a slightly different avenue. Good idea to look up all the laws and regulations yourself. You can try sending a certified letter requesting the records as well as the contact for the licensed veterinarian providing the service. That the records will be invaluable in providing further treatment to your pet and a need to discover why there was a removal in BOTH eyes as it was not discussed and you and your vet wish to examine what in the diagnosis led to this decision and whether or not a consent was signed. Provide copies of documents proving YOU are the owner of the pet the procedure was performed on.
That you have a need to review these records. That if you do not receive these records within a reasonable time frame (like 10 days) you may have no choice but to get the State medical board involved. Maybe even send it by email with a receipt of being read if possible as well. Your vet may be willing to help you write the letter to help make sure any important reasons for needing or wanting the records are in there. He probably knows the laws and regulations better than any of us ;-). This could be a good starting point for you in getting some sort of actual resolution. There is definantly appears to be a reason to suspect that this surgery was performed on your pet by this breeder or someone else who was there and that it was not done in a clinic and the medical boards do not tend to take that lightly. They can sometimes be more effective than the usual avenues. I would also look up the puppy lemon laws in New York and see if he qualifies as having to follow them and what exactly he needs to do for you in general. I find bornfreeusa dot org a good starting place. They also give a summery and the actual codes for further look up. Did you give him money to give to this vet'? There are several very odd things about this.
And of course, some notes. Bulldogs are prone to several health issues by the very nature of being a bulldog. They are mostly associated with that look we all seem to love so much, but it is that very look which is ACTUALLY the source of most of their issues, not necessarily bad breeding. Because of that, there are several things that are NOT actually qualified as a do not breed' condition (and by several of the organizations which certify health) with this breed as to do so would eliminate bulldogs entirely. Entropian is actually one of these. Dry eye unfortunately runs in bulldogs even without a prior cherry eye surgery (I know a few with dry eye, but no history of cherry eye. It is always SOMETHING or many things actually with a bully :-). Things to look into when considering a cherry eye surgery (also very common in bulldogs among other breeds). Clearly the decision was taken away from the OP here. There are two corrections to this condition. It is a good idea and to do some research and to talk to several vets which prefer both types of correction to get a better idea of the pros and cons and why they prefer the method they do and to make a decision from there. A removal CAN contribute to dry eye. But most vets whom prefer to practice this correction also say they have extremely rarely or haven't ever seen this as a direct result of a removal with it being the only factor and they have done several and have been practicing for a very long time. This procedure usually costs MUCH less in more ways than one. There will not be a need for further cherry eye correction on that eye because the source of the problem has been removed. It is quick and the actual results are more reliable IMO. This is the option I would choose for my pet as the risk of dry eye from the procedure itself can be pretty remote in my experience (your experience apparently being an exception). The other procedure is to pretty much tack the gland back down. Aside from the possibilities in a mistake in the suturing itself, the procedure quite often needs to be performed AGAIN, sometimes several times in the same eye. What if you can not afford this? This procedure is usually much more expensive and if you can not afford to have it done, or done again and again, the cherry eye itself can do damage and irritate the eye if it is rubbing against the eye. So I suggest researching both procedures as much as you can and deciding what you think may actually be best for you and your pet. Most vets whom do not prefer to do the removal will quite often do so if you request it and sign the appropriate waivers :- ). There are drawbacks to each procedure, so it is a decision of which ones are more acceptable to you and what YOU believe is best after getting all the information available to you.
Good luck and please let us know what happens. *just my opinions*