It started out like any other happy, puppy purchase story but ended up in tears.

Sue* and her partner Mark* had seen the online adverts and were set on buying a Labrador retriever puppy. They phoned the provided number and were told that they could see the puppies at a Qormi house.

What Sue witnessed at the house strengthened her resolve to take one of the puppies home with her. "We immediately noticed that the puppies were dirty and the conditions they were kept in were, to say the least, not the best. There was a strong smell of urine, the dogs had fleas and the seller's daughter was constantly handling the puppies."

The seller, a woman, also told Sue that the puppies were already being fed dry food because they were hurting the mother. The bitch was not at the house, since according to the seller; her boyfriend had taken her with him on a Gozo hunting weekend.

The woman told her she owned the bitch and that she was the breeder, but Sue later found out that that was a lie.

"I felt sorry for the puppies. I wished I could take them all away with me but we could only take one. In the end we adopted Max when he was five weeks old. I just could not let him stay there anymore."

(The dogs had to be carried everywhere and cared for round the clock. Above,  Sam, pictured in a pushchair.)

Puppies sold through a 'broker'

The puppies were being sold for €170 - a price deemed too low for purebred Labradors.

Further questions arose when the seller provided Sue with the pedigree certificate - issued by one of the local canine associations. The woman had claimed she was the owner but the certificate stated otherwise, as the name on it was different. Sue was told that the bitch was mated with a dog that belonged to her partner's brother. She never saw the mother or the father. At the time it did not cross her mind that the parents could have been siblings.

(Max was a normal dog when he was adopted by his owners. Sadly, he had to be put down at five months.)

'Max quickly became part of our family'

"We took Max home and washed and fed him. He was a happy puppy and we could not have been happier. We had a new pet, a friend for our other dog, an English Cocker Spaniel. For the first few weeks things were great. Then, one day, Sue realised that Max had inexplicably gone blind.

Sue contacted the seller and told her that the puppy was sick. The seller's reply was curt and arrogant. "You chose that particular dog. We did not force you to buy it. The others are just fine. Watch how you speak to me, I am not your trash!"

Sue and Mark were devastated but were determined to keep this puppy whatever happened. "We took him to several vets. None of them could make out what had led to this. Then things got worse."

(Max's owners tried everything when he started losing the ability to walk.)

'We felt helpless'

Max slowly started to lose control of his feet. In the short span of a few days he could no longer walk. His feet kept slipping from under him. It was as if he could no longer feel them. He also started experiencing fits, snapping his teeth hard together and shaking uncontrollably.

"We would be asleep at night and hear him banging his head on the floor. He would hurt himself and we had to buy mattresses to put under him. He would also have 'accidents' wherever he laid and we had to pick him up and clean him constantly. There came a point where Max did no longer recognise us. We felt helpless."

Sue and Mark were not going to give up easily. "We called in a dog therapist and bought all sorts of harnesses and special equipment for him. At times he seemed to be improving but the real story was different. I would have given an arm to save him. We were living a nightmare but I would have kept at it for five more years if I knew that there was a cure somewhere down the line."  

But there is no cure for cerebellar ataxia - an inherited genetic disorder which is sometimes referred to as dog's Parkinson's disease. The condition can lead to blindness, seizures and lack of balance. A tough decision had to be made. At five months, Max had to be put down, for his own good.

(Sam seemed to be making progress while in Germany. Then, things took a turn for the worse.)

A second case

Unbeknownst to Sue, another woman was facing the same dilemma, but Vanessa's* story is somewhat different. She was not the original buyer but decided to adopt a second puppy from Max's litter for fear that the sick dog would be killed. 

Vanessa was contacted by a woman who complained that her three-month old Labrador puppy had gone blind. By that time Vanessa had also got to know Sue and knew what she was going through. Something clicked. This was not a coincidence.

"The woman who phoned me said she went back to the Qormi 'puppy broker,' who refused to refund the money. I pleaded with her to get the puppy back and give it to me. I was scared that they would kill the pup since they would not be able to sell a blind dog."

The woman refused but Vanessa and a friend went to the Qormi house and took the puppy back with them.

(Sam with his foster carer Nadine in Germany.)

Within two weeks the puppy could hardly walk

"I realised in the first week I had him that the puppy was a bit unstable but I thought that the dog, whom I named Sam, was finding it difficult to walk because he was blind. By the second week things took a turn for the worse and he was barely able to walk."

Vanessa took the dog to a number of vets but none would actually tell her what was wrong with him. They told her they would need to carry out an MRI but no one offered the procedure in Malta. No one offered to send a blood test for genetic testing abroad - it was as if no one wanted to take responsibility and admit that the dog had cerebellar ataxia. She also found no help or directions to purchase a special wheelchair for Sam.

(Sam in his specialised wheelchair in Germany.)

Off to Germany for specialised treatment

Then Vanessa had a ray of hope when she got an offer for the dog to be taken to be treated in Germany. "It was very hard to let him go. Deep down I knew I would not be seeing him again but this was for the best. At least he would be getting a chance at a better life."

Sam spent two months living with Nadine, a German foster carer who loved the dog as if he were her own. She took him for an MRI, which confirmed that the cause of all the problems was cerebellar ataxia. An MRI scan shows that part of the skull cavity, which should have been filled up by the dog's brain, was empty. Sam's brain was shrinking instead of growing.

Nadine performed specialised exercises for Sam and bought him a specially modified dog wheelchair. At first he seemed to be improving, but things took a turn for the worse later. Vanessa was devastated when Nadine told her the only option left was to put Sam to sleep humanely. The puppy was only six months old when it was euthanized by a vet.

(Max, pictured at two months, before he went blind.)

A mix of inbreeding and irresponsible breeding

Both Vanessa and Sue believe that the condition their beloved pets suffered from was brought about by a mix of inbreeding, greed and ignorance. While cerebellar ataxia can be caused by brain tumours and infections, the most likely cause is genetic inheritance.

They suspect that Sam and Max's parents were siblings. In fact, research on cerebellar ataxia shows that both parents must be carriers of the gene for the condition to be handed down to their offspring. Their offspring will have a 50 per cent chance of being carriers of the condition. In some breeds the condition might come out fairly late but in the case of Labradors it comes out from as early as six weeks to six months.

There is no definitive way of diagnosing the condition but vets should be able to rule out other conditions. When the condition is inherited there is nothing vets can do and most dogs are usually put to sleep before reaching the age of seven or eight. In the case of Labradors, the lifespan is usually much shorter. As far as Sue and Vanessa know, the other four puppies from the litter are healthy, but that does not mean that they are not carriers of the condition.

(Sam's original buyer returned him to the breeder when he went blind.)

DNA testing available

DNA testing is available today and international kennel clubs insist that dogs that are carriers of cerebellar ataxia should not be bred. In many western countries, proper breeders are required by law to carry out genetics tests on their dogs before mating them.

Maltese law does not mention anything of the sort. It does say, however, that "all persons involved in the breeding of animals shall be responsible for the anatomical, physiological and behavioural characteristics of such animals, which are likely to put at risk the health and welfare of either the offspring or the parents".

A spokesperson from a well-known dog charity said genetic testing would not eradicate the problem completely but would at least reduce the number of cases.

The lack of genetic and DNA testing by Maltese breeders has led to serious problems, particularly hip dysplasia in the Labrador breed. In fact, several experts in the field advise prospective owners to buy Labradors from abroad.

 

Inbreeding should be easily avoidable

Sue and Vanessa found out after the incident that the Qormi "puppy broker" was not truly the owner and breeder of the dogs.

The real breeder, when questioned by Animal Welfare Officers, claimed that he owned the Labrador bitch but did not know that she was pregnant. He claimed that he had to go abroad and asked a friend, the Qormi woman, to take care of her and sell the puppies. However, a pedigree certificate was issued, with both the names of the bitch and the male. It later resulted that the male dog belonged to the seller's boyfriend's brother.

It should be fairly easy to avoid inbreeding because pedigree certificates list at least two generations of the dog's bloodline. However, pedigree certificates are not always correct. A spokesman for one of Malta's leading canine clubs told this paper that kennel officials have to rely on the information provided by the breeders, with no way of confirming it. The Malta Independent has already reported on another illegal breeder who was inbreeding beagles, which was leading to mutations of the breed.

 

Tips for puppy buyers

A spokesperson for a well-known animal welfare charity said buyers should be aware of a number of factors when buying pure breed dogs. They should, for a start, ask to see both parents with the puppies. They should also ask for genetic testing results that confirm that the dogs are not prone to any genetic diseases.

Kennel clubs and animal welfare organisations strongly advise against buying puppies if these tests have not been carried out. The price is another indicator. €170 for a pure breed Labrador puppy is too low.

Puppies should never be separated from their parents before they reach the age of eight weeks. It is against the law and it does not make sense.

 

*Names have been changed.