World Poker Tour (WPT) review: Dog with congenital issues 5

Per comment from the actual breeder listed on November 9th above, this is the email she sent me, noting that there is no mention of a replacement, which according to other breeders I have talked with should have been free. This is her response when I initially informed her of Toby's condition:
I am sorry to hear about Toby. I am quite taken aback by the tone in your email. Do you think I intentionally sold you a puppy knowing that it might have juvenile renal disease? No, I did not! I do not know of any Great Pyrenees breeders that tests their breeding stock for Renal Dysplasia. You were provided information on the testing we perform on our breeding stock before you purchased Toby. You have been to our home and witnessed first hand the environment and conditions our dogs are reared in. If I am not mistaken, you approved of our program. I sent you weekly updates and didn't hide the fact that Toby wasn't as large as his littermates. BTW he wasn't half the size of his sisters and by the time he left he was very close to their size. I asked the breeders I purchased puppies from if there were any known problems with their lines and the response I got time after time was "no".

I recall you had radiographs taken of Toby in June 2012, you told me those came back good. Did you show those radiographs to your new vet?

Now that this has been brought to my attention, I will not use Toby's parents in our breeding program until more testing has been run. If you want to return Toby, I will take him back and give you a puppy out of different lines.

I have done some research on this condition and found this condition "can be inherited OR acquired" (ie Mary H. Whiteley, PhD, DOGenes Inc.). Here are a few things that come to mind that Toby could have come in contact with which also causes kidney failure-lymes, leptospirosis and antifreeze. I have also found that the only way to confirm and definitively diagnose renal dysplasia is to take tissue biopsies from both of the dog’s kidneys and submit them to a veterinary pathology laboratory (which you already know).

If you are looking for someone to blame, by all means blame me. It was something I was unaware of and will now address. It can happen in any breeding program!

Correction: There was a mention of replacement of my dog--but she wanted me to surrender my sick dog back to her that has been part of my family for two years, which she knew I wouldn't do because he was part of my family and I knew he would not receive quality care from her. Her dogs are not family but are all kept in kennels when I visited. She only kept her loved German Shepherds in her house.

The tone in my email is appropriate for what I was experiencing emotionally over the entire two 1/2 years Toby was alive and with me and it was in no way disrespectful--I only contacted her because as a breeder she needed to know so she would have her dogs tested...and as far as testing goes, I had already spent thousands, so of course Lyme Disease and all other conditions had been ruled out; there was no compassion or concern for me or my dog. As in her response, there were radiographs taken of Toby as a small puppy because I have had Great Pyrenees for over 20 years and I knew something was not quite right--this disease did not manifest until later so it did not show up when he was a puppy. This was my initial email to her, verbatim:

Hello Gloria and Brian,
I've been waiting a few weeks to write this correspondence because I've been experiencing many highs and lows--especially anger, and I didn't want to write when I was really angry.

Let me explain:

After all of Toby's training, I decided to get him a thorough exam (with blood work) before l began taking him around to nursing homes in the area. He didn't seem to be feeling well. Toby has juvenile renal dysplasia--basically chronic renal failure. This is a congenital condition, meaning he was born with it and one of his parents carries the gene. Dogs normally don't start showing symptoms until around 15 months old (for Toby it was around 2 years old). By this time, it is too late, and an animal with juvenile renal dysplasia who begins showing these symptoms has already lost 75% kidney function. If you research this on the internet, you will see that Great Pyrenees is one of the breeds susceptible to this congenital issue. The only other remote possibility, as far as diagnoses go is that he has an autoimmune disorder, which is another congenital problem often seen with overbred dogs. I told Dr Austin (his veterinarian) that Toby was almost 1/2 the size of his littermates and he commented that this alone is often a sign of a congenital problem.

After hundreds of dollars in medical bills, he is seeing a very good veterinarian who is a great scientist. He moved to WV from CA and both he and his wife are veterinarians. Toby is receiving great care from them. He underwent an ultrasound and it distinctly shows small kidneys that just didn't grow.The only way to know with certainty is to biopsy his kidneys, which I won't because it won't help Toby's treatment; however, a responsible breeder would, knowing that this condition has appeared in a lineage. Instead, Toby gets lots of love from me, along with a homecooked diet. Fortunately, he got to come to a good home where he gets this special treatment. Lifespan is difficult to say. Dr. Austin said it could be from 3 months to a couple years. We are closely monitoring his BUN and creatine levels but have been unsuccessful so far at controlling them. We keep making minor changes to his diet and supplements to see if this will help.

Being the breeder, you needed to know this information. Here is a dog that has had thousands of dollars in training and medical care that will probably not see his destiny fulfilled. He is a beautiful creature that has become a local celebrity and he will be taken far too soon. I should not have to mention the emotional toll it is having on me. I had almost 13 years with Abby and 2 years for Toby? Yet, his sister, Libby, who is a Pyr mix who isn't from a breeder, is as healthy as can be. Doesn't seem fair, does it?

Please do the right thing, whatever that is for a breeder.

My initial email to this breeder regarding his condition was respectful but shows the emotional toll on me. Thousands had been spent to rule out other conditions...beginning as a puppy which she acknowledges in her email because she knew I had x-rays taken when he was very young. This is my initial email to the breeder who showed no compassion or concern for either me or my dog:
Hello Gloria and Brian,
I've been waiting a few weeks to write this correspondence because I've been experiencing many highs and lows--especially anger, and I didn't want to write when I was really angry.

Let me explain:

After all of Toby's training, I decided to get him a thorough exam (with blood work) before l began taking him around to nursing homes in the area. He didn't seem to be feeling well. Toby has juvenile renal dysplasia--basically chronic renal failure. This is a congenital condition, meaning he was born with it and one of his parents carries the gene. Dogs normally don't start showing symptoms until around 15 months old (for Toby it was around 2 years old). By this time, it is too late, and an animal with juvenile renal dysplasia who begins showing these symptoms has already lost 75% kidney function. If you research this on the internet, you will see that Great Pyrenees is one of the breeds susceptible to this congenital issue. The only other remote possibility, as far as diagnoses go is that he has an autoimmune disorder, which is another congenital problem often seen with overbred dogs. I told Dr Austin (his veterinarian) that Toby was almost 1/2 the size of his littermates and he commented that this alone is often a sign of a congenital problem.

After hundreds of dollars in medical bills, he is seeing a very good veterinarian who is a great scientist. He moved to WV from CA and both he and his wife are veterinarians. Toby is receiving great care from them. He underwent an ultrasound and it distinctly shows small kidneys that just didn't grow.The only way to know with certainty is to biopsy his kidneys, which I won't because it won't help Toby's treatment; however, a responsible breeder would, knowing that this condition has appeared in a lineage. Instead, Toby gets lots of love from me, along with a homecooked diet. Fortunately, he got to come to a good home where he gets this special treatment. Lifespan is difficult to say. Dr. Austin said it could be from 3 months to a couple years. We are closely monitoring his BUN and creatine levels but have been unsuccessful so far at controlling them. We keep making minor changes to his diet and supplements to see if this will help.

Being the breeder, you needed to know this information. Here is a dog that has had thousands of dollars in training and medical care that will probably not see his destiny fulfilled. He is a beautiful creature that has become a local celebrity and he will be taken far too soon. I should not have to mention the emotional toll it is having on me. I had almost 13 years with Abby and 2 years for Toby? Yet, his sister, Libby, who is a Pyr mix who isn't from a breeder, is as healthy as can be. Doesn't seem fair, does it?

Please do the right thing, whatever that is for a breeder.