These guarantees apply to puppies that were paid for in full for normal prices. Improperly-handled payments on the part of the buyer and puppies sold at discounted prices do not qualify for this guarantee.
ALL DOGS BRED AND SOLD BY CEDAR RIDGE WILL BE HONESTLY REPRESENTED AND EVALUATED AS ACCURATELY AS POSSIBLE AT TIME OF SALE. If there is something wrong with a puppy that we know of, we will not hide it. Our puppies are checked for hernias, tooth/jaw correctness, eye problems, joint problems, and other normal issues that can be observed in a small puppy around 6 to 7 weeks of age. Since our dogs have been selected not just for dispositions, but also for health, we do not expect to find health problems in the puppies. Should one occur, however, we will not hide it! As all breeds of dogs have health situations found within the breed, we know that from time to time we might have a problem found at the health check, and we will disclose that if it happens. If a puppy is determined to have an issue at the time of its health check, you may be offered the opportunity to get your money back, or even to buy the puppy at a lower price (depending upon the nature of the veterinarian's discovery).
ALL DOGS bred and sold by Cedar Ridge are under veterinary supervision. They first typically see the vet between 3 to 5 days of age, when their dew claws are removed as a future injury prevention. Puppies are again checked by a veterinarian between 6 and 8 weeks of age to ensure that they are sound and in apparently good health at that time.
Puppies are given preventative medicines at prescribed intervals to treat and prevent issues such as worms, coccidiosis, skin/ear pests, giardhia, etc. They also receive their first vaccination before leaving us. We give vaccinations here at home, having received instruction through our veterinarians and years of experience with with animal health care. If you would like your puppy to receive his/her vaccination from a veterinarian (instead of from us), we will be happy to take him/her to the veterinarian at your expense. This is probably close to $20 per puppy per vaccination, but we will confirm a cost if you request veterinary administration due to changing costs as time passes.
Our puppies will be dewormed several times, and will have received vaccinations beginning typically at 5 1/2 or 6 weeks of age while in our care, and it will be up to the new owner to continue its health program. Until this series of inoculations has been completed at about 16 weeks of age, the puppy should not be exposed to premises known to be or suspected of being contaminated, or to unhealthy animals (dog parks, interstate rest areas, the floors of veterinary offices, groomers, obedience classes, or any place with a lot of dog traffic, for example). For the Humane Society's list of vaccination recommendations, click here. But, ask your vet for the recommended health care regimen for your geographic location.
Most states allow puppies to leave at 6 or 7 weeks of age. We prefer that our puppies stay with us until they are 8 weeks old, but do allow some to leave a few days early if all goes well with weaning. Our guarantees apply only to puppies that stay with us until at least 7 weeks 4 days of age unless otherwise agreed upon in writing with the puppy's new owners.
Short-term health: Buyers have 3 business days from the time of purchase/exchange of hands to have the puppy inspected by a licensed veterinarian (at buyer's expense). If a puppy is determined to have an unacceptable health problem by the buyer's veterinarian in that time frame that will significantly affect its long-term quality of life (not including illnesses/conditions such as colds, viruses, retained testicles, mange, coccidiosis, worms, etc.), and which is confirmed by the seller's veterinarian, the buyer may return the puppy at the buyer's expense. In the event of a puppy death in this time, a veterinary report from the veterinarian treating/examining the puppy must be submitted to our veterinarian for inspection. A refund or a trade for a different puppy of the same gender and approximate price will be arranged.
No refunds/reimbursements for travel costs or
health care are offered.
No refunds/reimbursements/trades for loss of puppy due to owner negligence or an
accident will be offered.
Long-term health: Our dogs are all healthy and as far as we know are free of genetic health problems. However, if a puppy develops a genetic health problem within one year of its birth that significantly and negatively affects its long-term quality of life (such as hip displasia or epilepsy), diagnosed by the buyer's licensed veterinarian within that first year of age and that is confirmed with the seller's veterinarian, we want to resolve the issue with you. If both veterinarians agree that the condition is genetic, permanent, and significantly affects the quality of life of the dog, we may be able to offer to trade a different puppy of similar price and gender or refund. Buyer would pay travel and veterinary costs.
Blue Alopecia, very rare but which can occur in blue/silver and lilac-colored dogs, is not considered a condition that would necessitate a refund or exchange. If you seek and buy a blue/silver or lilac/khaki-colored dog, you should educate yourself about blue alopecia. We have not had it in our dogs, but can't guarantee its absence because inheritance is not fully known by scientists.
Any medicating or care of any kind that the buyer provides the puppy will be at the buyer's expense. The buyer may choose to provide medical care or to euthanize a critically ill dog. Cedar Ridge Beagles will not reimburse for medical care.
Refunds/exchanges are only given for puppies determined to have an unsoundness/unhealthiness that will significantly affect its quality of life that was not preventable due to it being genetic, and agreed upon by both buyer's and seller's veterinarians. Buyer would pay travel and veterinary costs. Injuries received or preventable illnesses occurring in puppies after leaving Cedar Ridge do not apply to this guarantee.
Reduced-Price or Free Puppies: Puppies offered for sale at a reduced price due to a defect or those given away for free due to a defect are rare. In the event that we have this occur, those puppies are offered "as is," without guarantees related to the cause of its reduced price or free state. If you purchase a reduced-price puppy that develops an issue during its first year, contact us. We will not replace a puppy with another puppy if the original puppy was free, but may offer a credit of equivalent value for a puppy that was sold at a reduced price.
Color: We try to predict puppy color accurately, but with some colors (especially lemon, tan, and red), it is difficult to be 100% correct while puppies are young. We do not guarantee that the color we predict will be correct at the puppy's maturity, and do not offer refunds if the color is not correct.
Size: We try to predict puppy size accurately, but it is difficult to be 100% correct while puppies are young. We do not guarantee that the size we predict will be correct at the puppy's maturity, and do not offer refunds if the size is not correct. Final size can be affected by gender and nutrition as well as genetics.
Breeding Quality: It is our intention to try to sell puppies to non-breeding homes. Our puppies may or may not be show quality and/or breeding quality. High quality is difficult to predict at the young ages our puppies leave us most of the time (8 weeks of age). Therefore, we do not guarantee that puppies will be successful in the show ring. We also do not guarantee that our puppies will produce show-quality offspring (i.e. we don't guarantee that a puppy from us would be considered breeding quality for show puppies). We have no way of ensuring anything about the quality/health of offspring of our puppies if you raise our puppy and later breed it.
Returned/Unwanted Puppies: From time to time, a life situation requires a new puppy's family to not be able to keep their new puppy. In this situation, we want to be notified so we can help find the puppy another good home.
If you determine that you can not keep your puppy after receiving him/her, we will try to help you find a new home for your puppy. We can not guarantee that you will recoup your money, as the puppy's advancing age generally causes a reduction in the price people are willing to pay. We also can not represent the puppy's health care and human socialization beyond the date the puppy left us, and therefore can not claim the puppy belongs to us in order to increase potential buyers' confidence.
If you want to return the puppy to us, shipping/transportation are at your expense. The puppy must visit our veterinarian at your expense before re-entering our property due to our desire to eliminate outside introduction of contagious diseases. This is because of our lack of control over what your puppy has been exposed to since initially leaving us. If our veterinarian approves the puppy's health, and if we have a place to quarantine him/her, we will keep the puppy while trying to find a new home for him/her for a limited time.
If the puppy sells within 3 weeks, we will forward the money to you, minus expenses such as vaccinations/health care costs incurred during that time the puppy was boarded with us. If after 3 weeks we have not found a new home, we may have to offer the puppy "free to a good home" because we have limited places to keep puppies other than the newborns or recently-weaned puppies.
Legal Notes: All puppies/dogs purchased from Cedar Ridge Beagles will be considered sold in Taylor County, Iowa, regardless of the location of the buyer. Therefore, the transaction location is Taylor County, Iowa.
Under Iowa Law (and almost all states' laws), a domesticated animal professional is not liable for damages suffered by, an injury or illness to, or the death of a participant resulting from the inherent risks of domesticated animal activities, pursuant to Iowa Code Chapter 673 or similar code. You are assuming the inherent risks of participating in this domesticated animal activity when you interact with, buy or own any animal purchased in the state of Iowa.