I was looking locally for a havanese breeder, truly knew nothing to look for except a nice health guarantee and cute puppies; in hide sight I should have been looking for much more. I checked off and accepted in the Royal Flush questionnaire that these puppies would not be coming with papers, and that I would give a $200.00 non-refundable deposit to reserve a puppy. AFTER I sent my deposit, I emailed every other day or so, asking how my puppy was doing, when her first shots would be so I would be able to plan her 2nd shots, asked her advice about bringing her on vacation, etc. I also then researched what puppies should be coming with, etc. which according to the Havanese Club of America at Havanese.org is: 1. Copies of the current CERF Certificate for BOTH parents. (copies of the exam may be altered), copies of BAER, OFA -Hips and Patella’s; 2. A blank copy of the contract (if the breeder uses one) so that you will be aware of what is expected of you as a buyer and of the breeder. I did not receive any of these. Further, this site explains that an average price to pay for a Havanese puppy is $1400-2000, but that "it is not recommended that you pay that much for any puppy who’s parents have not been completely health tested, age appropriate, and the information posted to www.offa.org." This puppy was $1800, did not come with any registration papers and no documentation of history. Her parents did NOT have any numbers given to them for documentation on offa.org, nor were they even TESTED to be cleared of certain ailments. These tests include CERF, BAER, hip dysplasia and patellar luxation tests.

After doing this research, I decided to ask Holly directly why her puppies did not come with papers, if there was documentation of the parent's health tests, and if they had been tested correctly. She explained to me that companion puppies do not come with papers (LIE: my COMPANION golden retriever comes with limited AKC registration, with documentation of his history and pedigree and health of his bloodlines) and that she used to do registration but that people changed the information about their puppies. She also explained that she has not had the tests done on the parents of this puppy because she's "never had a deaf dog" and that she doesn't have OFFA numbers issued because she hasn't sent in the test results to get a number. (LIE: How could she even have the test results if she's never had her dogs take the tests?!) Meanwhile while answering these questions over the phone after I had decided to call her (not just email as we had been corresponding) she had the most terrible unprofessional defensive attitude I have ever experienced. I cannot believe this woman is still in business after treating her customer in this way, for MERELY ASKING QUESTIONS. Good breeders LOVE for their prospective puppy parents to ask questions, to ensure they are going to great homes! Naive me wasn't even sure after this rude conversation if I was going to completely end my business with her, because I was so in love with my little dog that I had seen pictures of for weeks until that point. However, once I called my vet and asked if this sounded fishy, she told me she would NOT BUY A PUPPY FROM ROYAL FLUSH because of lack of documentation and the price of the puppy. Further she explained that reputable Havanese breeders are members of the Havanese Club of America, (Holly is NOT, she said they "do nothing for her"???) they should show all documentation of pedigrees and history, have the parents completely health tested, and should not over-breed with many litters a year. Royal Flush does not have these documentations, and they always have puppies.

Overall, I cannot believe I was sucked into this terrible experience... although with such an adorable puppy I don't blame myself. I couldn't go through with the purchase because I did not feel comfortable with Holly's unprofessionalism, nor was I even aware of what kind of a dog I was getting without the documentation. I'm sorry but for $1800, I should be getting a LOT more than just a cute puppy. When considering buying from this breeder, I hope you research the COUNTLESS complaints against her, don't let your heart get fooled by the cute puppy pictures, and ALWAYS ASK ALL THE QUESTIONS BEFORE GIVING ANY DEPOSIT!!!

I am disgusted by this experience and KNOW that if I had typed "Royal Flush Havanese complaints" into google BEFORE depositing money, I would have saved myself a lot of trouble, and saved myself $200. DON'T GET A PUPPY FROM HER!