Not all breeders are the same is an obvious statement; but some breeders attempt to hide the fact that they breed a significant percentage of sick dogs by quickly replacing the sick puppy with another puppy regardless of the ongoing health issues that arise from their poor breeding practices. Some breeders may actually make you to sign a nondisclosure agreement before they agree to replace the sick puppy with a new one. We thought we had fully researched Royalty Akitas before we bought our puppy, but clearly, WE WERE WRONG!
The people that had previous issues with Don Van Dermyden (the owner of Royalty Akitas) either didn’t post their negative experiences anywhere, remained silent not knowing what to do, were mired in their own grief, or received a “replacement” puppy and elected to not speak up. Neither my wife nor I had ever bought a dog before, much less a puppy. Up until then, we thought that rescuing was a better way to go given how so many animals are abandoned due to bad breeding, size concerns, or poor training. Ultimately, we bought a dog from Royalty Akitas (we named Bear) that had insurmountable health issues.
On July 11th, 2017 my wife posted this on the Akita World website:
Today is a sad day for my husband and me. Our puppy will be euthanized this afternoon. He has been suffering from Irritable Bowel Disease, Immune Mediated Polyarthritis, and Pancytopenia along with a history of coughing blood among other health conditions in addition to the terrible side effects to some of the medications he has been taking. The saddest part of this story is that lately I have found out that other dogs bought from the same breeder at Royalty Akitas in Lincoln California have been euthanized for having health and behavioral issues. We are very angry; our puppy suffered for a long time and we suffered with him. In 2014, when I researched this breeder on the internet I did not find any complaints, just a couple of stories of happy puppy owners. We had always rescued dogs but after a very sad experience with our last rescue, I convinced my husband to purchase a puppy in order to have a better chance of getting a healthy puppy. I was terribly wrong; with nearly $12,000.00 spent on veterinarian expenses and a lot of pain and suffering later, we are euthanizing our fur baby at 2 years and 4 months of age.
Note: My wife forgot to mention Bear’s malocclusion of his teeth in her post as one of Bear’s many illnesses.
After this post, many people reached out to us expressing their sympathy while some shared their Royalty Akita “horror stories.” Don Van Dermyden caught wind of my wife’s post and contacted me offering us a new puppy but we were not interested. Why in the world would we even consider running the risk of getting another very sick dog from Royalty Akitas?
In my conversations with Don, he talks a “good game.” He insists that he does not breed sick dogs. But in a follow-up email to Don I wrote “We have talked to other people that have gotten sick dogs from you and a significant number of them have experienced the same problems, i.e. dealing with a very sick dog.” I included copies of Bear’s veterinarian bills (and specialty Veterinarian Bills) along with our dog’s numerous diagnoses and my cell number in case he wanted to call. Don called me later that day insinuating that I was a liar demanding the names and contact information of the people we spoke with concerning their sick dogs. In the call, he showed absolutely no empathy to us concerning our loss, nor did he mention anything regarding the huge costs and multiple diagnoses associated with treating our dog. It was clear to me during the call that he didn’t even bother to open the attachments I sent him.
If you search on the internet, of course you will find some positive comments about Royalty Akitas. I imagine a percentage of his dogs are healthy, but what percentage is the question. Clearly, ours was extremely sick, but we loved our Bear and would have paid anything to keep him alive. However, there came a day when Bear no longer had any quality of life left in him and keeping him on this earth would have been the selfish thing to do. Although only 2 years 4 months old, we decided it best to put our Bear to sleep. Bear’s head rested on my lap as my wife and I spoke to him softly telling him that he was a very good boy repeatedly. He trusted us completely as the veterinarian administered the drug that would all too quickly stop his heart. My wife and I both sobbed as his gentle soul passed to a better place where he can once again run and jump and be a healthy Akita. Very recently, we opened our hearts and home but this time to a horribly mistreated 2 and 1/2 years old male Akita we adopted from a wonderful organization called A Passion for Paws Akita Rescue. We named him Kuma which in Japanese means Bear.
My advice to anyone looking for an Akita puppy is to avoid Royalty Akitas in Lincoln California and find a qualified breeder, or better yet, rescue an Akita. Please don’t make the same costly, heart-breaking mistake we did, DO YOUR HOMEWORK! Check out the websites we list here on this website before you make your decision. Check out the Akita World and ask questions. There ARE reputable breeders out there!
https://www.facebook.com/akitaworld/
http://www.apassionforpaws.org/
