I am a married mother of five from South Louisiana. I purchased a rare and expensive puppy (Dogue de Bordeaux) from Troy and Shantelle King, who represented themselves as seasoned DDB breeders (owners of A-Town Mastiffs/ Ubiquitous Kennels of Anderson, Indiana, www.a-townshouseofmastiffs.com ). I initially contacted Troy and Shantelle King for a pet quality dog which is considerably cheaper than a champion show quality dog ($1000 vs. $2500); however Ms. King explained that she had a champion quality show pup for sale at $2500. She convinced me to purchase the show quality dog by encouraging me to get into breeding DDB’s. She explained that their 2 month old show quality pup was a champion breed, and that I would have no problem breeding this pup at top dollar once it comes of age. Through several telephone and Email conversations they informed me that all their dogs were show quality and the females had been bred to show quality, champion studs. She stated that she stands by all her pups and would be there to help and as source of information for sound breeding and for the lifespan of our Dogue.
After being convinced, I agreed to purchase the show quality dog. I paid $2500 for the dog plus shipping and kennel fees, health inspection and microchip placement. I have since learned that this dog has a severe overbite which is a fault for this breed. I cannot breed this dog because of the fault.
Troy and Shantelle King sold my family a faulty dog; obviously this is dog is neither a champion, nor a show dog. I contacted both Troy and Shantelle King concerning this issue. Their offer was to send me a replacement puppy from their next litter, sometime in the future, but only if I send the pup (now 12 mos. old) back to them to be EUTHANIZED. This is especially disturbing coming from supposed seasoned breeders and especially unacceptable as my husband and I have five children and we all love and cherish this dog dearly.
I caught Mrs. King in several lies and confronted her with the lies. Being unsatisfied with her responses, I decided to end negotiating with her over this issue. I made it clear that I truly love my dog, and that it was unfair and unethical to punish the dog with euthanization (I still can’t believe they actually told me this), and that there was absolutely no way I would send them my dog back. They then offered to send me a $1000 refund, but only after I send them proof that the dog is neutered.
Who do these people think they are? They want to kill my dog because they messed up in the breeding or they want me to have him neutered at my expense and trust that they will send me a partial refund on the dog only after I do so? They wouldn’t even agree to reimburse me for the neutering charges, how tacky! How am I supposed to accept any other dog from their kennel and feel safe doing so?
I requested a refund of $1500 which would cover the difference between the $2500 she charged me for the champion show quality dog she represented, and the $1000 pet quality dog I actually received. This was, in my view, a very logical and fair offer. After several failed attempts at coming to a reasonable agreement with these people, I am preparing to begin legal proceedings against these very unscrupulous and deceptive, novice breeders. Even after having caught them in several lies concerning this issue they still attempt to put the blame off on other people.
I even found the two other owners of pups from that same litter, both of their dogs have the same problem with the overbite. Mrs. Shantelle King had previously been in contact with these disgruntled owners and had been fully informed of the problem long before I contacted her, however when I initially brought the problem to her attention, she acted like she knew nothing of the problem. It wasn’t until I informed her that I had been in contact with these people did she admit to knowing about the problem. She then went on to blame the stud’s owner and previous owner/breeder. After speaking to the original breeder out of Greece, I found out that Shantelle N. King A/K/A Shantelle Wills is a BOLD-FACED LIAR! The original breeder of the Stud dog out Greece informed me that he has never even spoken to or heard of Shantelle or Troy King and thus could not have made the statements that Shantelle King told me he made concerning the stud dog (Mrs. King said the breeder of the stud dog had informed her that the stud dog was at fault for the overbite fault).
The breeder in Greece also confirmed that the stud dog has had several proven litters, many of which produced champion show dogs, none of which had any overbite faults. This breeder is still in business and has been breeding these dogs for over 10 years.
Troy “Cheeseburger” King is an unsuccessful local cage fighter out of Anderson, Indiana.
http://www.myspace.com/400460535
http://www.myspace.com/troycheeseburgerking
http://www.sherdog.com/fighter/Troy-King-10993
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sj43973eGX0
My guess is that Mr. & Mrs. King may have needed additional funding to help jumpstart Troy’s failing fighting career and may have decided to quickly jump into DDB breeding as a means of attaining this funding without thoroughly researching the breed or properly investing the time and patience required to produce champion quality show Dogues in accordance with breed standard. My family should not have to suffer due to their mistakes, I am owed $1500 and I fully intend to use my rights under Indiana State Law to collect what is due to me.
Shantelle also told me I MUST send the AKC registration papers back to her because the registration had to be returned to the AKC due to the dog’s overbite fault, which turned out, once again to be a LIE. I spoke with an AKC representative by phone to inquire about this very issue. The AKC had, in fact, informed me that I would not have to return any type of paperwork/registration on my dog whatsoever.
Please save yourself a bunch of heartache and lies….DO NOT PURCHASE A DOGUE DE BORDEAUX FROM A-TOWN’S HOUSE OF MASTIFFS/UBIQUITOUS KENNELS/ SHANTELLE KING/AKA/SHANTELL WILLS AND/OR TROY "CHEESEBURGER" KING OF ANDERSON, INDIANA.