There are a plethora of dog DNA tests available on Amazon. Far more than there are for cats. Cats get a bad deal so often. These tests will check for pedigree and genetic inherited health issues. By “pedigree” I mean they can screen for different dog breeds and confirm whether or not you have bought the dog breed claimed by the seller or a mixed-breed dog or indeed a dog of another breed.
I think that’s incredibly useful. I’ve created a contract which incorporates the right of the purchaser to do a DNA test and the further right to return the cat or dog should the tests show that they’ve not bought what they thought they had bought due to the misrepresentations of the seller. Written contracts are far better than oral ones. Buyers should insist on their contract being used. One problem: owners become too attached to their new cat or dog which prevents them seeking compensation 😒.
RELATED: When buying a purebred cat NEVER BE SCAMMED if you do this.
During the core days of the Covid-19 pandemic when there were many lockdowns to prevent the spread of the disease, there was a surge in dog purchases resulting in a reactionary surge in scammers, selling dogs purportedly purebred but not. That’s where the DNA test comes in to play.
And people are using them. The tests cost between £65 and £130 on Amazon.co.uk. I would expect something very similar to be available in America on Amazon.com at a similar price.
Owners across the UK have questioned whether they’ve bought the wrong breed. On occasions people have abandoned their dogs when they’ve realised that their designer dogs were nothing of the sort but random bred dogs instead.
According to Action Fraud, 4,751 people were victims of pet fraud between March and November 2020 with the loss of £2 million. The high cost of the fraud is due to the fact that the value of so-called purebred dogs shot up to between £3,000 and £4000 for some breeds.
For example, a Surrey couple paid £2,000 for Tiggy according to a report by The Times newspaper. Tiggy is a very sweet looking dog, there is no doubt about it. Tiggy was advertised as being a pedigree cocker spaniel. The owners did a DNA test which indicated that she is most likely to be half spaniel and half Jack Russell terrier. They have kept her and not even approached the seller because they love her so much.
Another example is the case of Ada who was adopted by Louise Thomson as a border collie-Springer spaniel cross. Ada had a distinct howl which alerted Louise to the possibility that her dog was not the breed as stated by the seller. She bought a DNA test online and found that Ada is a quarter husky.
And thirdly, Charlotte Fallowfield was told she was buying a “miniature cockapoo” who she named Waffle. She was told that the adult weight of a miniature cockapoo is 8 kilograms. Waffle weighs 23 kg! He is described as a “Sproodle”.
One man who suffered the same problem has commenced a claim in the Small Claims Court for almost £2,000 against the breeder. He was sold a cavachon instead of a cavapoo.
It seems that dogs are particularly susceptible to being misrepresented because there are so many different breeds and crossbreeds which have become purebred. Even the names are highly confusing. This opens the door to scams.
The Covid-19 pandemic opened the door to amateur breeders trying to make a fast buck. You can see the enticement. Selling dogs at £4,000 each you can make a lot of money quite quickly.
I suspect that often there was no written contract. That’s why I drafted a contract to protect buyers. If the buyers had used my contract, modified for dogs they would not have been scammed. The seller would have backed out of the transaction.
I would strongly urge people to use this written contract or something similar because it will test the seller’s integrity. If they are hiding something once they read the contract they will have to back out because they will be exposed.
If you don’t have a written contract, you still have an enforcement agreement but being verbal it is harder to know what the term the agreed terms and conditions were. Verbal contracts are supported by the Consumer Rights Act 2015 which supplanted the Sale of Goods Act 1979. This Act brings certain protections to the buyer when they are buying from a private seller under which the mantra Caveat emptor applies. That means ‘buyer beware’.
However, a seller cannot misrepresent what they are selling even when they are a private seller. A buyer has an action in misrepresentation. But as I have said, it is far better to specify your own terms and there is no reason why a buyer cannot insist upon their contract being used in the transaction. This prevents misbehaviour by the seller.
