Wisteria Golden Retrievers English Creme Golden Retrievers Breeders knowingly breed dogs with elbow dysplasia Parks Arkansas

Ms. Barringer did purchase a puppy from us in February of 2013 from our parents Tru & Ego.  She did ask me about the article on Ripoffreport.com and I explained to her, as I do anyone that asks about it the discrepancy of the testing and have also written an article on our website explaining the situation with our retired male Aspen, whom we have not used in about 3 years.  

 Here is the article: http://wisteriagoldens.com/2013/04/penn-hip-vs-ofa-and-what-wisteria-goldens-chooses/

As you can see in the article our veterinarian felt Aspen was clear of ED and OFA was uncooperative in helping deal with the discrepancy between the tests.  After speaking with 3 different vets we chose to use Aspen.  We have personally kept puppies from his lineage without any incidences of Elbow Dysplasia and have received results from others, who have purchased puppies from us for breeding purposes (as well as pets) and they have all received clear elbows.  Until Ms. Barringer, we have not had any elbow dyplasia reported to us from families, except the one incident I wrote about, which again, according to the family's own vet, could not 100% say it was genetic due to the fact the family had two puppies from different breeders and both of them had elbow dysplasia and she felt it could be environmental.  Even knowing this, we still reimbursed them their money for the puppy.

Ms. Barringer has previously owned 4 Golden Retrievers and knows the risk of all the health issues when purchasing a Golden.  As I explained to her that even though we do all the health clearances, there are risks with any live animals due to the reality of genetics and sometimes health issues occur.  I never tell anyone they have “nothing” to worry about when dealing with live animals.  With this knowledge she made an informed decision in moving forward with purchasing Kaleb.

Even after knowing about Kaleb’s condition she wrote an email to me expressing how she knew this situation was not intentional and requesting a future puppy at a discount: 

"I appreciate you being willing to return the money. I had hoped to talk to you about breeding him down the road, but when the slight aggression and limping started, I abandoned the idea. Maybe since I had such high vet bills for him there is a way we could work out me getting a discount on a female I could breed in a few years that we know will pass OFA…

I know this wasn’t intentional and I love him so much that I couldn’t imagine having gotten any one but Orange boy…”

I spoke with Ms. Barringer about the “slight aggression” issue, which was Kaleb going through a normal puppy stage with being possessive of toys.

Ms. Barringer did hear from me when she contacted me.  When Ms. Barringer first called me last summer about this situation, I was in the process of taking care of my mom, who was dying.  While I didn’t connect with her immediately, I did return her phone call and left a voice mail, as well as followed up in an email.  I explained why I was unavailable and told her Kaleb’s limping could possibly be panosteitis.  (http://www.petmd.com/dog/conditions/musculoskeletal/c_multi_panosteitis)

We have had a few cases of panosteitis in our own puppies we have raised, but it has always cleared up and never developed in anything further.  I do not know if Kaleb was initially diagnosed with this condition, as Heidi never returned my phone call or email.  

I also explained to her that since we switched dog foods we no longer have any issues with panosteitis.  From my understanding from Ms. Barringer her vet recommended she switch dogs foods, and he recommended she neuter Kaleb at a young age, while he was limping and before he was diagnosed with ED.  

She connected with me again a few months later while I was in the hospital with a severe case of diverticulitis.  Again, I returned her phone call and left a voice mail, as well as followed up with an email when I returned home and received no response.

After Kaleb was diagnosed, she refused to speak with me directly and only wanted written communication, which was done.

While, we are not disputing the best food, love, care etc. her and her family have provided to Kaleb, we did share with her there is new evidence with spaying & neutering early that is showing “may” contribute to skeletal/joint issues and I have posted that on our website as well: http://wisteriagoldens.com/2013/10/truth-about-spaying-neutering/ and have been notifying our families of this new information for them to be able to talk to their vet about their choices.  Kaleb’s vet recommended he be neutered early due to the limping, which is in conflict with the new research.  We have requested Kaleb’s vet records showing when he was neutered and she has not sent the requested information.

We do not “knowingly” breed dogs with elbow dysplasia.  We have complete health clearances on all of our dogs, including Tru & on Ego, which were provided to Ms. Barringer.  We were not aware of any genetic issues with pairing Tru & Ego before Kaleb.  When obtaining health clearances it shows those individual dogs as healthy for breeding, but does not provide what genes will match up when breed together.  Just because one pairings of our dogs has had an issue, does not mean we should never breed any of our dogs again, which is what Ms. Barringer has stated she expects.  Due to this situation, we have retired Tru, as we have bred Ego with different females and have not had any health issues.

OFA (Orthopedia Foundation of America) statistics show an average of 11% rate of ED occurring within the breed.  Considering we have had 2 (including Kaleb) cases within our almost 10 years of breeding we are well below the national average.

I wrote in an email to Ms. Barringer dated 10/23/13:

"As stated in the blog post, we have kept several puppies we have raised to continue in our breeding program and are own our 4th generation of puppies in some cases.  We kept 7 girls this past year and ALL of them passed their health clearances.  We have had several families send us their health results over the years and they have all passed theirs as well.  We have had 1 other case of ED and 1 case of OCD of the shoulder.  Those are the ONLY two health issues we have had in our almost 10 years of breeding.  On the ED the family had two goldens — one from us and one from another breeder and their vet said that while genetics plays an important factor, both of their dogs having it really made her feel it was environmental — they had a high pedestal bed and hardwood floors that the puppies were jumping from and sliding on."

Do we hope to never have any incidences, of course we do, however, the longer you are breeding dogs, the more likely you are going to have some genetic issues because this is the reality of dealing with genetics.  We have reimbursed Ms. Barringer her money for Kabel to help with some of the costs of dealing with this.  While we wish we could 100% guarantee we will never have any health issues at all, the reality is we are dealing with live animals and genetics.  Any reputable breeder is just doing the best we can do to lower the probabilities.  Dogs are prone to genetic issues, just as humans are, and we can only do our best to reduce the probability through health clearances, which we do.  IF any breeder could 100% guarantee no health issues, there would not be a need for a health guarantee.  

We are truly sorry that Kaleb was one that it happened to and Ms. Barringer’s experience with us was not what either of us expected.  We have had many families who have a different experience.  Ms. Barringer’s is the exception to the rule and not the norm.  We have many families that come back again for another puppy, vets recommend us to families (because they see the quality and health of the puppies we raise,) and families who have received a puppy from us refer us to others.

We have many testimonials on our website sharing their experience and their joy of getting one of our puppies.  I received the following note last week from a family that has purchased two puppies from us:

“You may already know this but we want you to know that we so much appreciate what you do.  Some may think that you sell dogs.  That is so far from the full impact of the wonderful thing that you do. Wisteria Goldens doesn’t just sell dogs. What you do impacts lives. The experiences and memories of the puppies (and eventually full grown dogs) that you have provided us is immeasurable. They bring us happiness, excitement, joy, laughter (lots of laughter), concern and most of all caring and love.”

We understand how difficult this situation is for Ms. Barringer and her family, however, as she stated in her email, this was not intentional.  We complete all health tests, as well as have started testing all our dogs for PRA-1 eyes, and ICT-A (Ichthyosis.) We continue to work and improve our breeding program on a continual basis.  We feel that Ms. Barringer’s mission to discredit us publicly and damage our reputation we have taken years to achieve is not only unwarranted, but an act of revenge against us for something that wasn’t intentional and out of our control.

We hate we were put in the position of having to respond Ms. Barringer’s accusations and provide our side of the issue.  This is a heartbreaking situation and we do not believe the Internet is the place to have this type of discussion.  It opens the door to comments that are usually non-productive and puts both parties in a place of having to continue to deal with an already difficult situation.

If anyone would like further information on our breeding program and the protocol we use, please contact us directly.  We will not be responding to further to this discussion. 

Again, Ms. Barringer, we are sorry this situation has occurred.