Return & refund policy.

The principle

We would rather have a puppy back than have him unhappy. Every clause below exists to make that easy rather than to make it difficult — but a policy only means something if it is written down before the money changes hands, so here it is.

Deposits

• A $500 deposit reserves a specific puppy and comes off the purchase price.
• If we cancel — the puppy is unwell, a health issue appears, or we decide the match is wrong after all — your deposit is refunded in full, immediately.
• If your circumstances change before pickup, the deposit transfers to any future litter, with no time limit and no fee. We have held transfers for over two years.
• If you simply change your mind and want cash back rather than a transfer, the deposit is non-refundable — it took the puppy off the market and turned other families away. Tell us as early as you can and we will be as reasonable as we can.
• There is never a fee to join the waiting list. A deposit is only ever taken against a named puppy you have seen, after we have spoken.

Refunds

Health-related

Covered in full by the health guarantee — two years for congenital and hereditary defects, fourteen days for communicable illness. You choose a full refund or a replacement puppy from a future litter. You keep the dog either way.

Within 7 days of pickup

If your veterinarian finds a significant health problem at the exam within seven days of collection, you may return the puppy for a full refund including travel costs, or keep the puppy and have us cover the treatment to the value of the purchase price. Your choice, not ours.

Within 30 days

If the placement is not working — temperament mismatch, an allergy nobody anticipated, a change in your household — return the puppy within 30 days for a refund of the purchase price less travel costs and less a $250 re-homing administration fee. We ask for an honest explanation, because it helps us place better next time, but we will not argue with you.

After 30 days

No refund, but the take-back below always applies. In practice we will also help you find the right home and will not charge for it.

Returns

• Within 7 days: we arrange and pay for the return journey.
• 8 to 30 days: we arrange the journey; you cover the cost.
• After 30 days: we arrange the journey; you cover the cost, and we will help if cost is the obstacle.
• A returned dog must come with its records, its microchip details and a current vet certificate where one is available.
• A dog returned for health reasons needs the written diagnosis and supporting imaging or lab work.

The lifetime return policy

This is the clause that matters most and the one most breeders do not offer.

Any dog we have bred can come back to us at any point in its life, for any reason, at no cost. A death in the family, a divorce, an illness, a move abroad, a change in circumstances you could not have predicted, or simply finding you cannot cope. There is no time limit, no fee and no judgement.

What we ask is that you call us before you list him online or take him to a shelter. No Great Dane we have bred should ever end up in rescue, and as long as you pick up the phone, none will.

How to make a request

1. Call us. +1 (619) 781-6400. Start here.
2. Send the documentation — written veterinary diagnosis with imaging or lab work for a health claim; a short honest account for anything else.
3. We respond within 48 hours with next steps, in writing.
4. We agree the outcome together — refund, replacement, return, or help finding the right home.
5. Refunds are processed within 10 business days of agreement, by the method you paid.

Our record so far

Since 2014 we have had three dogs come back to us. One was a bereavement, one a marriage ending, and one a family who were honest enough to admit at four months that they had underestimated the size. All three were rehomed from here to families we chose, and all three are well.

We have paid out on the health guarantee twice. We tell you that rather than claim a perfect record, because a breeder who has never had a claim in sixteen years has either been extraordinarily lucky or is not counting honestly.