1. The parties and the puppy
This agreement is between Homestead Golden Retrievers, referred to here as the breeder, and the buyer named at the end of this document. It concerns the single puppy identified in the summary above.
It replaces anything said in conversation or written by email before signing. If it is not written here, it does not form part of the agreement.
2. The deposit
A deposit of 30 per cent of the listed price holds the named puppy for the buyer. It is credited toward the total rather than charged on top of it, and it is not a fee for the right to visit or to be considered.
The deposit is not returned if the buyer simply changes their mind. A held puppy is a puppy the breeder has turned other homes away from, and by the time a buyer withdraws those homes have found a dog elsewhere.
The deposit is refunded in full if the breeder cannot supply the puppy, if the puppy becomes unwell before handover, or if the litter does not produce the puppy that was reserved. It is also refunded in full if the breeder concludes the placement is not right, and the breeder explains why.
3. Going home at 8 weeks
No puppy leaves the breeder before 8 weeks of age. This is not negotiable and no request, occasion or payment changes it.
Between six and 8 weeks a puppy learns bite inhibition and dog-to-dog manners from its mother and its littermates. Nothing a person does afterwards replaces that, and a puppy taken early is measurably harder to live with as an adult.
The buyer collects or receives the puppy within fourteen days of it reaching go-home age, unless both parties agree otherwise in writing.
4. What the breeder provides
Before the puppy leaves, the breeder provides all of the following:
- An examination by a veterinarian, in the week before collection, finding the puppy healthy for its age at the time of that examination.
- The vaccinations appropriate to the puppy's age, and worming repeated on the schedule its age calls for.
- A microchip, registered to the buyer at handover rather than to the breeder with a promise to transfer it later.
- A written record of the date of birth, the vaccinations, the wormings and the microchip number.
- Enough of the food the puppy is already eating to last a fortnight, and a blanket that smells of the litter.
5. What the breeder does not claim
The breeder makes no claim of registry paperwork, hip, elbow, eye or cardiac scoring, genetic panel testing, or any other formal certification, for this puppy or for its parents.
Nothing in this agreement, and nothing on the breeder's website, should be read as such a claim. A buyer who requires formal screening should obtain the puppy from a breeder who runs those programmes.
6. The health guarantee
The breeder guarantees this puppy for 1 year from its date of birth against a serious hereditary condition that materially affects its quality of life and is diagnosed by a licensed veterinarian.
To claim, the buyer sends the breeder the diagnosing veterinarian's written report within thirty days of the diagnosis. The breeder may seek a second opinion from a veterinarian of the breeder's choosing, at the breeder's own cost.
Where a claim is upheld, the breeder replaces the puppy from a future litter or refunds the purchase price, at the buyer's choice. The buyer is not required to return a dog they have lived with in order to claim.
The guarantee does not cover injury, accident, infectious illness, parasites, conditions caused or worsened by the puppy's care, diet, exercise or environment, or anything arising after the guarantee period ends. Veterinary bills are the buyer's own.
7. The first seventy two hours
The buyer has the puppy examined by their own veterinarian within seventy two hours of collection.
If that examination finds an existing health problem, the buyer tells the breeder at once and the puppy may be returned for a full refund. The shorter this window is, the more it protects the buyer, because it settles quickly whether a problem came from the breeder or arrived afterwards.
8. What the buyer agrees to
For the life of the dog, the buyer agrees that:
- The puppy lives in the home as a family dog. It is not kennelled outdoors full time, chained, or left alone for long stretches of the working day.
- The puppy stays on the diet it arrives on for at least two weeks, and any change after that is made gradually.
- The puppy is kept current on the veterinary care its age calls for.
- The puppy is not bred from without the breeder's written agreement.
9. The dog comes back here
The puppy is not sold on, given away, rehomed, surrendered to a shelter or passed to a rescue.
If the buyer can no longer keep the dog, at any age and for any reason, the buyer contacts the breeder first and the breeder takes the dog back. This clause has no expiry date and it applies for the whole life of the dog.
10. Money, and what this website does not do
No money is taken through the breeder's website. No page on it charges anyone anything, and no page on it displays an account, a handle or any other payment instruction.
The payment method recorded in the summary above is the method the buyer states they intend to use. It is recorded for the breeder's reference and printed on this document, and it does nothing else.
The balance is due before the puppy travels or is collected. The figure is the one published on the puppy's page and it does not move.
11. The rest
This agreement is the whole agreement between the two parties. If any single clause is found unenforceable, the rest of it still stands.
Both parties keep an identical copy, generated once at the moment of signing and not editable afterwards.