Hi evryone, I have a question about puppy raisers. About 4 month ago I had a GSD puppy imported out of Germany. Because of space limitations I had asked a friend to keep the puppy for me for a while. Well the friendship had not worked out and I want to get my puppy back from her. I am the legal owner and all the paperwork is in my name. I also have been taking care of all the vet bills. I am intecipating problems with getting the puppy back, so I need some advice how to go about it and what legal problems if any there are. Thanks in advance Christine <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/confused.gif" alt="" />

do you have a contract

if you do you should be able to go court for it

yes I have a contract from the breeder in Germany and the pink papers are in my name also. There was no contract between my friend and me, she has absolutly nothing in writing from me for the puppy. By the way all the paperwork from the breeder is written in German.

does the pup have any type of perminant id, tatoo micro chip anything that can point her back to the breeder

if you do than making your case should be easy.

if not it may be more difficult and costly

the puppy has been microchiped by me and has a tatoo from the breeder in his ear. I am just worried, when I go to her house she wont surrender the pup to me. Do I go to local law inforcement and ask them for help?

yep call the cops
it is your dog can be identified as such

I would suggest first going to her house, making sure she is home, the puppy is there - and ask her for your puppy back. DO NOT call her to speak to her in advance, she could take the puppy somewhere and say "what puppy I don't have any puppy" or the puppy met with some accident. Go to her home in person, right away (today), don't give her a chance to get rid of the puppy or hide it. Ask her nicely for the puppy, try to be professional if not friendly. Do not make her angry, try to be up-front and polite, just ask for your puppy back, thank her for taking such great care of it for you, but now you want it back. If she refuses to comply, then stand right there, tell her you are calling the police, and do so if she doesn't then hand the puppy over. Do not leave her property (the puppy might disappear if you do), call the police, have your proof of ownership in hand and wait for the police to arrive. Have her address available to give to the police, park your car behind her car so she can't leave until the police get there. Don't give her a reason to press charges against you - don't try to get inside her house, don't try to take the pup by force or over the fence, don't touch her person in any way or make any threats (except you are calling the police) Good luck!

Thank's everyone for all the helpfull hints .Thank you Molly for your very detailed advice and suggestions. I will get right on it and do what you suggested. I most likely won't have anybody else raise a puppy for me again. To bad if you can't trust people no more. The puppy supposed to be a Schutzhund prospect and has so far not been raised as such. It was part of our verbal agreement. Now that I want to sell the pup, she is giving me a hard time. Please forgive my bad spelling. I am German and have after 14 years living in the Unted states still a hard time finding the right words in english and spelling them the right way. Thank's again Christine

Please keep us informed!

Christine I would do what Molly said but I would have a cop with me. Call your local polce agency or constable and ask for a "civil stand-by" (if they do not know what that means just tell them you are needing to get your property and you are worried that the other person may start problems). This is done all the time in less than amicable divorces. You may have to pay the officer a fee for the service depending if he is doing it as an extra job or not.

The officer will usually not interfere if the person does not want to give the dog back, but their presence helps a lot in the persuasion department. If she does not give the dog back you will need to press charges. The police might tell you it is a civil matter(since you gave her custody of the dog in the first place) in which case you will need to take her to court.

Good luck