Our family bought a puppy from the Rafaela/ Seawind litter in May 2007. As an animal lover I was very mislead that Mike Denny actualy cared about his animals, and they were not just a dollar sign. When we picked up our puppy she was extemly underweight. Our vet immediatly noticed the puppy had dry flaky skin. We were given perscription dog food to help put on pounds and and help nutrition. We also started the recommended vitimins from the breeder. We communicated with Mike about the puppys condition. He assured us it would get better. To make a long story short- this dog suffers from very bad health problems. This puppy ended up having intestinal sugery that cost $3700. She was only 4 months old. I contacted Mike to tell him we might have to put the dog down, and all Mike did was yell at me and say it was not his problem! He didnt even blink an eye that this poor dog was suffering so much. Then at 7 months old after several vet visits- our puppy was diagnosed with Ichthyosis. THIS IS GENETICALLY BASED HERITABLE CONDITION. The animal dermatoligist did biopsy's on the puppy to confirm this. She explained to us that it is easily misdiagnosed as "dry skin" in an initial vet visit. Our puppy was born with this condition. IT IS IRRESPONSIBLE TO KEEP BREEDING DOGS, PASSING ALONG THESE GENETIC CONDITIONS. This kennel should be called Goldmine Kennel not silvermine. PLEASE BE AWARE THAT SILVERMINE BREEDS DOGS WITH KNOWN MEDICAL CONDITIONS. Our family has suffered heart break from watching this poor puppy suffer so much! Don't let it happen to your family!

A little less than a year ago my family and I purchased a puppy from Silvermine Kennels. In a March '07 Lady/Gambler litter our little Zoe was born. I had called up in hopes to find a puppy to train to become a 'seizure alert' dog, as I have epilepsy. And that's where it all begins.

Within in a day or two of getting Zoe we noticed she wasn't eating much, but we weren't to worried as it was one of the hottest days of the year out, and she was just getting used to her new home. But within the next day or so, she was progressively getting worse (severe vomiting A little less than a year ago my family and I purchased a puppy from Silvermine Kennels. In a March '07 Lady/Gambler litter our little Zoe was born. I had called up in hopes to find a puppy to train to become a 'seizure alert' dog, as I have epilepsy. And that's where it all begins.

Within in a day or two of getting Zoe we noticed she wasn't eating much, but we weren't to worried as it was one of the hottest days of the year out, and she was just getting used to her new home. But within the next day or so, she was progressively getting worse (severe vomiting and diarrhea), and we took her to Emergency vet (under the advice of our regular vet) near death. Both our vet. and the emergency room staff said that Zoe was underweight and small for her age. After many x-rays, IV's, and antibiotics, they found the culprit of what was making Zoe so ill. It was a worm.

Strongyloides 'Threadworm' infestation. Usually this worm derives from cattle, humid, and cramped places. When we called up Mike Denny to let him know what was going on, he was rude and defensive. He said our vet. was 'not qualified.'. We let him know that our vet told us our pup most likely contracted the 'threadworm from her mother, and to let the breeder know (so that he could check the mother and alert the other owners of the pups). Mike seemed defensive once again and angry with us.

We sent him copies off all of her doctor's labwork, and the total of what we had paid for all of her work (ER: $484.49 Vet: $470.00 Total: $954.49) and Silvermine paid $350.00 out of the emergency vet bill because they 'felt' that's all they were responsible for. Silvermine would not fully pay for her vet bills because we took her in 4 days (and not the 3 as the contract states), even though we took her into emergency near death. And we had kept Silvermine Kennel posted the whole entire time. No agreements could be met. Although Mike Denny did threaten us with court if we pursued or pushed him/them any further...

Just this last Friday (March 7th 2008) we took Zoe into the vet. To our dismay we found out she has a very severe case of hip dysplasia for a dog her age (11 1/2 months old). She is looking to get a $2000.00 surgery on both of her back hips (by a specialist). Silvermine's contract states that within two years, if your dog shows it's dysplastic they will replace the current dog with a new pup (that's not verbatim the contract). But we want to keep Zoe so we called up Mike Denny to see if we couldn't come to some sort of agreement and to let him know one of his dogs has hip dysplasia.

He knows how sick she's been in the past and we asked if we could at least get a partial refund (on the original amount we spent to adopt her), to pay for Zoe's surgery and medical bills. He said that we could send her there to get the surgery and he would send us a new puppy. My husband tried to reason, saying it would just be saving him the cost of shipping and surgery, but Mike wasn't buying (and he was losing his temper). And of course, there's no way we'd send our Zoe back to those people.

The most damaging proof we have against Silvermine Kennel is the medical paperwork on Zoe. Saying that she came to us partially anorexic, that she had a doughy abdomen when entering the emergency room (meaning she had been underfed for quite sometime), and that she's got a worm infestation (strongyloidies 'threadworm') that is caused from things that are not in our environment altogether, and all of the antibiotics, x-rays, etc that she had to have... And now the hip dysplasia. This is Silvermine's wall of shame.

Please be careful when you're researching for a working dog, or family pet. Do not be fooled! You can run into a whole host of problems with unethical breeders such as Mike Denny and his family at Silvermine Kennel. BE AWARE! Stay Away From Silvermine Kennel!and diarrhea), and we took her to Emergency vet (under the advice of our regular vet) near death. Both our vet. and the emergency room staff said that Zoe was underweight and small for her age. After x-rays and IV's, they found the culprit of what was making Zoe so ill. It was a worm (parasite). Strongyloides 'Threadworm' infestation. Usually this worm derives from cattle, and cramped places.

When we called up Mike Denny to let him know what was going on, he was rude and defensive. He said our vet. was 'not qualified.'. We let him know that our vet told us our pup most likely contracted the 'threadworm from her mother, and to let the breeder know (so that he could check the mother and alert the other owners of the pups). Mike seemed defensive once again and angry with us. We sent him copies off all of Zoe's labwork, and the total of what we had paid for all of her work (ER: $484.49 Vet: $470.00 Total: $954.49) and Silvermine paid $350.00 out of the emergency vet bill because they 'felt' that's all they were responsible for. Silvermine would not fully pay for her vet bills because we took her in 4 days (and not the 3 as the contract states), even though we took her into emergency near death.

And we had kept Silvermine Kennel posted the whole entire time. No agreements could be met. Although Mike Denny did threaten us with court if we pursued or pushed him/them any further. Just this last Friday (March 7th 2008) we took Zoe into the vet. To our dismay we found out she has a very severe case of hip dysplasia for a dog her age (11 1/2 months old). She is looking to get a $2000.00 surgery on both of her back hips (by a specialist).

Silvermine's contract states that within two years, if your dog shows it's dysplastic they will replace the current dog with a new pup (that's not verbatim the contract). But we want to keep Zoe so we called up Mike Denny to see if we couldn't come to some sort of agreement and to let him know one of his dogs has hip dysplasia. He knows how sick she's been in the past and we asked if we could at least get a partial refund (on the original amount we spent to adopt her), to pay for Zoe's surgery and medical bills. He said that we could send her there to get the surgery and he would send us a new puppy. My husband tried to reason, saying it would just be saving him the cost of shipping and surgery, but Mike wasn't buying (and he was losing his temper). And of course, there's no way we'd send our Zoe back to those people.

The most damaging proof we have against Silvermine Kennel is the medical paperwork on Zoe. Saying that she came to us partially anorexic, that she had a doughy abdomen when entering the emergency room (meaning she had been underfed for quite sometime), and that she's got a worm infestation (strongyloidies 'threadworm') that is caused from things that are not in our environment altogether, and all of the de-wormer, x-rays, IV's, etc that she had to have... And now the hip dysplasia. This is Silvermine's wall of shame.

Please be careful when you're researching buying your next puppy. Do not be fooled! You can run into a whole host of problems with unethical breeders such as Mike Denny and his family at Silvermine Kennel. BE AWARE! Stay Away From Silvermine Kennel!