The owners of Cavalier Corral were very responsive to inquiries and we appreciated their business approach to being a breeder. The breeders and rescues which need lengthy paperwork seems over the top when you are paying close to 2K for a puppy. We put down a deposit and went to pick up our new addition to our family. My observations were that the business was clean and tidy, but they had WAY TOO MANY puppies and breeding dogs to manage effectively. The pole barn facility was overwhelmingly at best, at worse, darn right chaotic. In addition, to breeding, the owners were also performing grooming and boarding services, and offering personalized training.
We sat through a lengthy mini-orientation which overall was helpful, but felt the one was pushing his "NuVet" Supplements a little hard. Since we already had one Cavalier, much was repetition or not how I prefer to train my puppy. I dislike the clicker training, and prefer high reward training. The owner told us to take the puppy to our vet within 30 days, but no urgency needed, but watch for signs of a few diseases/illnesses.
Within 4 days, my new puppy has blood and mucus heavily in her stool. We get an emergency appointment and the vet finds ear mites, giardia, and some other bacterial infection. Since we have an older Cav, we need to treat BOTH. The Vet expense was $265. After the full fecal panel returns after 3 more days, we need to also add Coccidia, which is another $62. We take the puppy and older dog back for a re-check in 2 weeks, so more costs will be involved.
So, the contract states the puppy will be healthy at the time of purchase. Is being sold with Ear Mites, Giardia, Coccidia and another bacterial infection "healthy," I think not. Infecting and/or needing to prevent my older dog from the puppy issues, also, not a welcomed outcome. My personal opinion is breeding alone takes an extraordinary effort to be ethical. Adding grooming, boarding, and training, on top of breeding, adds to this mismanagement of puppies and breeding dogs. And, saying animal health is my top priority, and that happens by buying supplements with an order code to earn another profit. NO, animal health starts with the BASICS then you can add supplements and vitamins to strengthen your dogs. If basic health of puppies is maintained at Cavalier Corral, then expand other pet services, but not while you have sick puppies under your care. And with all this, we still adore our new addition to our family, and are happy to bring her back to a healthy state! read more