articles & information
Why do we place our puppies under contract and sterilise them via hormone preserving procedures before leaving us?
Well, this is a subject we have had a lot of experience in for over 2.5 decades and is a subject that I'm quite passionate about. Ethical breeders who want to protect their puppy's welfare and their future, sell them under contracts. It also provides health guarantees for the buyer, allows us to take pups back for any circumstance where people can no longer keep a dog and much more.
Simply put, contracts help us protect the wellbeing of our puppies and the future of our breeding program. They ensure no pups can partake in any backyard breeding or situation where pups are used as 'money making machines'. The last thing we want is for our bloodlines to end up being like the next "doodle" craze, where puppy farms and backyard breeders take advantage of dogs start trying to replicate our breeding program.
Contracts are not about control – they’re about welfare and care and long term protection of our bloodlines.
We have seen other breeders sell pups to puppy farms who have done terrible things with them - and they had no control over this, as they sold them without a contract.
We’re deeply committed to the dogs we bring into the world and our contracts reflect that passion. We hold our special bloodlines close to our heart - we have invested a lot of time, money, blood, sweat and tears into their development.
Our agreements were created in consultation with a respected legal team, and while we’ve only ever needed to enforce them in a small number of cases, but they’ve been 100% successful when tested.
This has given peace of mind to the many wonderful puppy families who value knowing their pup comes from a breeder who takes their responsibility seriously. We have always complied from our side and expect buyers to do the same.
Over the past 20+ years, we’ve dedicated significant time, sacrifices and resources to our breeding program. This isn’t just a hobby to us – it’s a lifelong passion, and the dogs we breed are truly part of our legacy.
It’s also important to understand that we are not a commercial breeder. Breeding for us is about improving the breed, not producing pups for the sake of it. We believe in QUALITY over QUANTITY.
We spend a lot of time planning our breeding program, aiming to create top quality dogs and selectively improving each generation we develop.
We carefully consider structure, pedigree, temperament, health, behaviour, and overall balance – it’s a complex process, but one we’re proud to uphold.
Sadly, some have tried to mimic our breeding program for commercial profit using our bloodlines. We want no part in a “fad” culture that treats animals like trends. We want our dogs to be valued family members, not breeding commodities.
Should an owner ever be unable to keep their puppy, we are always here to help rehome it or welcome it back, ensuring it gets the best future possible.
We also provide $200 rebates for any sanctioned working title our pups may receive.
At the heart of it all, we want to trust our puppy families. We just ask for honesty, open communication and a commitment to giving dogs their best life.
Desexing
There are many health and behavioural benefits to having a desexed dog. It reduces the risk of cancer, prevents life-threatening conditions like pyometra (in females), and helps avoid behavioural issues, accidental litters, or injuries or even death when dogs escape to seek a mate.
Before pet only pups leave us, they are sterilised either by traditional desexing methods, OR ovary sparing for females or vasectomies for males. New owners make the choice from these options as to what method they prefer.
Our sterilisation policies are clearly outlined on our website and in our puppy sale agreements.
Ovary sparing in females or vasectomies in males, are designed to retain hormones that vets say support natural growth and joint development.
Ovary-sparing is where a female pup's ovaries and uterus remain intact. They will still experience normal heat cycles and bleeding but cannot become pregnant.
Vasectomies are when male dogs retain their testicles and natural hormones. They may still show typical male behaviours, including mounting or mating, but will be unable to impregnate a female.
Pups recover very fast and are usually back to normal the same day, although care must be taken for pups not to over-exert themselves post-surgery.
With pups who have had a vasectomy or ovary sparing, owners can discuss any requirement to fully sterilise their puppy (when they are older) with their vet. Sometimes this is a good option should the 6 monthly bleeding with heat cycles in females or unwanted behaviours in males be a concern.
Even after 25 years of breeding, we've experienced 3 unplanned litters – and we've always been honest about it. Hormones are so powerful! So we understand how easily unplanned litters can happen, and want to prevent this occurring with our pups.
We also provide an honest and informed view about desexing in our Puppy Bible, that gives some good food for thought about the subject.
If you ever have questions about our contracts, breeding terms or expectations, we’re always happy to chat.
At the end of the day, we just want our puppies to be cherished, well cared for, and to live their best lives – and we’ll always go above and beyond to make that happen.
What are “Breeder’s Terms”?
In the past, we used to offer a puppy on what are referred to as “breeder’s terms.” This is quite common among breeders. The owners have had to live locally to us.
Owners of a male on breeding terms receive a stud fee when we use him, which is also made in writing. If we authorise another breeder to use one of our stud males, we do not receive any part payment of the stud fee - the stud fee is paid in full to the stud owner.
We do not do "co-ownerships" or "repossess" dogs - and never have done this and it simply wouldn't work.
We used to offer to pay ALL health testing and reproductive expenses for breeding dogs too. A female used to return for us for one litter when she has matured. When the pups reach 8 weeks old, the owner was reimbursed their purchase price in full.
So basically, they get the dog for free, all breeding expenses paid and we get to improve and develop our next generation moving forward. It's a situation that works for everyone and ensures a continued high standard of welfare.
We even used to allow owners of a breeding quality female to raise a litter for us at their home, whereby they receive puppy sale monies, but we no longer allow this going forward. The reasons why are explained further below. Experience guides our decisions in every way.
Not every pup on breeding terms turned out to be what we want to go on with in our breeding program, and that's ok. They simply become beloved family pets who are desexed. We always aim to work with our puppy owners, maintaining fairness, transparency, and a shared love for the breed.
CONTRACT BREACHES & LEGALITY
We are very careful about where our puppies go and make sure to sterilise them before they go to their new homes - and for good reason, due to horrendous past experiences.
Some people believe dog breeder contracts are not worth the paper they are written on, BUT a contract is only worthwhile if the breeder is willing to enforce the contract.
For example: Someone purchased a unsterilised female in 2019, and several years later they let it slip that at the time of purchasing their puppy from us, they had over 40 Labradors. They originally claimed to have six dogs.
By they time we found out, they had gotten rid of all the Labradors, bred from our bloodlines and started breeding what they refer to as Australian Wolfalikes. They now have about 40 of them at their facility, with most originating from backyard breeders from Gumtree. They are commercially breeding on a very large scale as their only form of income.
We have seen damning evidence of what really goes on behind the scenes at this particular facility and it is extremely confronting to say the least. Abuse, dogs in small cages and run down enclosures that look like a junk yard. Pups from many litters getting sick and dying from gastro-intentinal diseases before and shortly after they went to new homes.
Many owners complained about health issues and severe aggression in their pups. Behavioural euthanasia, dog attacks, illegal use of shock collars and more.
We were asked to sign a non-disclosure agreement to prevent us from saying anything - which we declined. Sometimes when you know too much about other people's practices, they want to defame, attack and silence you to prevent the truth from coming out and this has made us their target.
We have seen such a dark side within breeding circles that would sicken anyone who loves animals are cares about their welfare.
Unfortunately, over the years, a few people have also deliberately gone behind our backs and breached their contracts by breeding our puppies outside of their contract terms.
We never had this happen while breeding White Shepherds over the last 25 years, and always worked harmoniously as a team with people who had breeding terms dogs, but somehow, breeding Lykos Wolfalikes has attracted some people who refuse to do the right thing and stick to their contractual obligations. People have seen it as an opportunity to make money and do whatever they want with our pups which we have spent over half our life creating.
We always remain professional with our puppy owners, and have taken any contractual concerns via the proper legal channels for rectification.
This has led to us enforcing our contracts and left breaching parties substantially out of pocket. Sadly, this has resulted in those parties reacting negatively online, creating fake/anonymous accounts, abusing, stalking and trolling our social media pages and spreading untrue, defamatory and hurtful claims.
This kind of behaviour is unfortunate and discouraging, especially when we put a lot of care into what we do and trust owners to do the right thing. It's terrible that such a small, toxic few have ruined it for others and we can no longer trust people with breeding dogs. This is why our breeding program is more 'in house' now and why we now have to use hormone preserving procedures to sterilise pups from breeding before they go to their new homes.
A few years ago, we asked a puppy owner who had a female on breeding terms, why certain people would behave like this, as we just could not understand. They replied: money. They then said the money that they could make from breeding their dog would pay for their 'bathroom renovation'. Stupidly, I had never considered that point, but it then made sense. I will never allow people to view breeding their dog as a money-making exercise in an unregistered breeding program.
Interestingly, after their own dog failed as coming up to my breeding standards and had to be desexed, they turned against us and teamed up with other breaching parties. This is the kind of drama we have been subjected to over the years while breeding Lykos Wolfalikes and why we have had to change the way we do things from that point forward.
We’re strongly against backyard breeding, unethical breeding, inbreeding, puppy farming, cruel living conditions, and people putting profit before the welfare. People have - and do - lie about their intentions when purchasing pups - and this is a lesson we have had to learn the hard way.
When necessary, we have had to enforce our agreements to protect the integrity of our breeding program and the wellbeing of dogs. Not to be vindictive, but to protect the dogs and breed.
We breed to develop OUR special bloodlines and the breed - not to have our dogs contribute to puppy farming or backyard breeding.
Legal action can be a very expensive and arduous process that no-one wants to get involved in. We have worked very hard over the years to develop a line of outstanding quality dogs with wonderful achievements and we won't sacrifice that for people who do not value their companions as they should.
One Court Case we experienced...
One case we are permitted to publish, was set as a binding precedent under the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal (VCAT) whereby it was considered enough of a high profile case that it is listed on Australasian Legal Information Institute website. In this case, the buyer took out a whole generation of our bloodlines we worked so hard for, by breaching the contract.
Case Summary:
The Deputy President presiding over the matter went into detail about the case. The Deputy President stated that the Respondent (buyer) agreed to buy the puppy on terms which would enable the breeder (us) to have one litter of pups, which the Deputy President stated was not as part of some ambitious money making enterprise, but for the genuine purpose of developing the breed.
In what the Deputy President called an "appalling and blatant breach of her obligations" under the contract, the Respondent unilaterally desexed the dog, a female called 'Torvi', sold under breeding terms in 2018.
Deputy President stated that the Applicant (us) substantially succeeded in the proceeding, and ordered that the respondent pay us $2,500 in accordance with the breaching penalty outlined in the contract. He also stated that the Respondent was fortunate that we did not claim further amounts in liquidated damages.
Case Details:
The buyer made many excuses to avoid taking the dog for hip & elbow x-rays to assess the dog's breeding suitability.
The buyer also made excuses such as the dog had not come into season for several years, which was highly unlikely. We paid for a reproductive specialist to examine and do tests on the dog, which was found to be completely normal. Shortly before mating was arranged, the buyer went and desexed the dog behind our back, further breaching the agreement.
Deputy President acknowledged that in breaching the contract, the buyer caused heads of loss and damage to us. This included (1) financial loss, (2) loss of reputation due to the persons involved and what they posted on social media, (3) loss of bloodline caused by the Respondent taking out a generation, and more.
Deputy President stated that the Respondent (buyer) went to entirely "superfluous issues in which she attempted to justify her conduct".
In what the Deputy President called an "appalling and blatant breach of her obligations" under the contract, the Respondent unilaterally desexed the dog, a female sold under breeding terms. Deputy President stated that the Applicant (us) substantially succeeded in the proceeding, and resolved that the respondent pay us $2,500. Deputy President stated that the Respondent was fortunate that the Applicant did not claim further amounts from her in liquidated damages.
We are thankful to the Deputy President of VCAT who presided over this matter, who saw it for exactly what it was. A deliberate breach by tainted parties who wished to harm our breeding program, reputation and legacy.
We are not large scale breeders, so someone taking out a whole generation by breaching their contract, significantly affects our breeding program and our goals of breed development and improvement.
Court cases and litigation are a nightmare to go through, but it is unfortunately necessary for us to protect all that we have worked so hard for over so many years.
Comments from puppy owners about our Contracts after the drama we went through...
