| I don't think anyone ever said the kennel was unclean or that they abused their dogs. That has never been the issue as I understand it.
That "huge" Rott you encountered when walking their grounds...just how big was he? Do you have any idea what size the breed standard calls for in a Rottie? Do you know how tall a Rottweiler is supposed to be, how much it is supposed to weigh? If this dog was huge, he was probably well out of standard. Breeding dogs out of standard shows a blatant disregard for all other breeding practices that go into producing a good, healthy dog.
The vast majority of complaints that people have about this kennel is the high incidence of genetic diseases that their dogs suffer from. Did you miss this statement in reading the newspaper article, "The Pennsylvania SPCA lists Kimbertal as one of the state's top three sources of dog complaints. The agency compiles its data by asking vets statewide to identify their clients' most serious complaints." Hip dysplasia is a big one, costing the owners thousands of dollars to fix and causing the dog a lot of pain. This disease is inherited, if the parents of a pup test free of it, chances are very, very good the pup won't suffer from it. This disease can be diagnosed on x-rays at the age of two years or after, before that the x-rays are unreliable. To get a clean bill of health, the x-rays have to be sent to the Orthopedic Foundation for Animals (OFA) to be read and a rating given. This kennel apparently does "preliminary x-rays" at 18 months, I'm sure read by their own on-staff vet. I doubt any of them ever go to the OFA. Ask to see the OFA certificates on the parents of any pup you may be considering buying there.
Their advertising budget is huge, their PR great, but I suggest you read more than just the posts about this kennel on this board...I suggest you educate yourself extensively on the breed, research what to look for in a good breeder and then go back and take a look. If you buy a dog from there, be prepared to shell out a lot more than the purchase price in vet bills down the road.
It makes no sense whatsoever that all the totally unrelated people who've had problems with dogs from there would just decide, out of the blue, to get together and tell lies to defame the kennel. Where there's this much smoke, there's certainly a big fire!!
[This message has been edited by CarolineS (edited March 08, 2000).]  |