Dog trains man

Wednesday, June 27, 2012

Victims of a Hovawart Puppy Mill

This is Bamira. A young female Hovawart puppy from Poland. The future of Bamira looks pale. Will she churn out the next generations of profit for a puppy mill?

On the picture she is on her way to the notorious Danish Hovawart puppy mill known as "Hof-joy", "" or just "".

Bamira was led to believe she would leave Poland and her family to join a loving Hovawart family in Denmark. But instead, she finds herself in the worst place possible a Hovawart in Denmark can be. A place where many Hovawarts have suffered before her and from where their misery is exported all over the world.

The Danish contact - let's call her "Jen" - that was involved in getting Bamira from Polen to Denmark was mislead. Now that she knows the truth behind Bamira's new "home", she tries everything in her power to get Bamira back. But Bamira has no rights. The law is not on her side, and sees her as a product with a buyer agreement. The outcome is not yet clear.

Together with the Hovawart male, the puppy mill acquired last year - also under false pretenses -, it is again an indication this puppy mill is making steps to come back in business. Business went bad, as many puppies died in the first weeks after arriving at their families and resulted in a lot of bad publicity. But even then, they have been selling. Also after they lost their membership of the Danish Kennel Club and the Danish Hovawart Club, as was confirmed by two people that bought Hovawarts with them during that period. They would like to stay anonymous so I will call them "Jenna" and "Jen", who we already introduced.

Jenna is from the US and did all she could to verify the "breeder". She asked a lot of questions concerning her upcoming dog and the parents. She also checked references. Jenna wanted to show her Hovawart and maybe breed so she needed FCI papers. But when the puppy arrived at the airport there were no papers. All her queries went unanswered, and she never received the papers.

What Jenna didn't know was that the "breeder" was ousted by the Kennel Club the year before, so FCI papers was a promise they couldn't deliver. Luckily, Jenna's Hovawart is besides an allergy problem healthy. Of course he is loved, and he is a part of the family now, although the future turned out differently then expected.

Jen from Denmark has a similar story. Unfortunately her Hovawart has mental issues, and she is getting help from good people from the Danish Hovawart Club to re-socialize him and build his confidence. And even worse is that Jen also was tricked in getting Bamira to Denmark by the owners of the puppy mill. You can understand how guilt feelings plague her, when Jen found out the place is actually a puppy mill.

Both Jen and Jenna want their stories told as a warning for future puppy buyers to avoid this "breeder". It also shows how buying a puppy overseas without actually meeting up face to face and getting access to local information is almost impossible. Phone, mail, internet and Facebook is their first and best weapon. The same goes for a breeder like Bamira's. Selling overseas is like giving up your pup, if you do not have a network in that country.Or do not chose to use it.

There are a lot of victims in this story. Bamira. Jenna and Jen. All for the profit of few.


Update January 16, 2013:
I had to rectify the original story where I wrote that the Polish breeder and the Polish contact were involved in trying to get Bamira out of the puppy mill. This is not the case. They have not taken any action whatsoever. The only person who is trying to get Bamira out, is "Jen", supported in her efforts of many Hovawart friends. Thanks to my Polish readers for bringing this to my attention.




  1. So very sad, and so very wrong. It's great of you to speak of this, get the stories out, and hopefully raise awareness of these horrible businesses. Dogs and their owners suffer consequences while they make their money and run.

  2. We ditto Kim's comment and three cheers for raising awareness.
    Best wishes Molly

  3. Thats so bad. I'd never heard of hovies before I met Kenzo and Viva, and while I know (also from your blog) that they're getting more popular, I wouldn't have thought there'd be enough fanciers to churn them out in puppy mills. How can the authorities let them get away with this? Even if they're not concerned with the dogs, this must constitute fraud and be a criminal offence. I hope they get their act together and nip this in the bud.

    1. The numbers are not that high of what you would expect from puppy mill operations like we all have seen in the news. It is on a much smaller scale. But the practices are the same. Breed w/o taking health and well-being into account for a profit. When they made the news the first time - now 10 years ago - the police paid them a couple of visits. Unfortunately they could only fine them. And since such a fine is lower than the price of a puppy.... No, the Danish Animal Welfare Act is not equipped for this. A couple filed an official consumer complaint after problems with their puppies, but again, this "only" forces them to refund the amount paid for the puppy, and doesn't stop them.


Blogger Template Created by pipdig