“We already have one dog, Timon, who’s two-years-old but we wanted to get another puppy now that we’ve moved to a bigger house with more space. I spotted a Gumtree advert for a Chihuahua and the price seemed great, it was very cheap, but looking back now, this was probably the first sign that something wasn’t right.
“I phoned the seller and had a quick conversation with him before he said to me that he could come to me within the hour as he was apparently in the area already dropping another puppy off. Again, this was another warning sign as I should’ve been able to see the puppy with the mother to see how they interacted together, but I was so taken aback I said yes. It was probably a scripted line he told people all the time as it would’ve been a huge coincidence for him to actually be in the area to drop off another puppy at the same time.
“My three-year-old daughter, Anastasia, was so excited for him arriving with the puppy and we waited by the window for him to arrive. When he arrived, it all felt very rushed and he told us the dog had had injections but as he was walking away from the house, with the cash in his hand, he turned to tell us he’d forgotten the booklet with the documentation. Again, this was yet another red flag but to pull out then, with my daughter so excited, would’ve been so hard but I really wish I had done.
“As he drove off, I’d just spent £350 and my daughter held the puppy in her hand. I was told the puppy was 10 weeks old, but she looked quite unwell."
“We named her Daisy but soon we started to realise things weren’t right. We bought Daisy on March 3rd this year and she died on the 8th as the vet put her to sleep because she was in so much pain. Daisy lost 50g of weight overnight. My daughter saw her being sick and with diarrhoea from the parvovirus and she still mentions it now. And to add to our shock, when we saw the vet, we were told we’d been sold a male dog! I tried calling the person back that we bought from but every time I do, the phone is switched off. When I’m out with Anastasia now, she’ll still mention Daisy and look up at the sky.