Guarantees/Standards

"Anybody who doesn't know what soap tastes like never washed a dog." -Franklin P. Jones

Great!

We're glad you made it to this page, because it is an important page for anyone thinking of buying a puppy. It shows you what we do as normal practice when selling one of our puppies.

We'd also like to take this time to thank you for looking for a puppy directly from the people who raised it, rather than from a pet store.  Why?  Read our Pet Store Philosophy. Pet stores are fun places to visit, but before you buy a pet from one, be sure to weigh the advantages of buying directly from the original owners of the pet, like us.

Pricing/Registration

• Prices are subject to change. See our For Sale page, e-mail us, or call us.

• Our puppies are generally APRI, AKC, or UKC registerable. APRI is our registry of choice, and your puppy will come with a registration application for UKC or APRI so you can name him or her yourself. Every now and then, we will register a litter with AKC instead. Registration applications are often available when the puppies are 8 to 10 weeks old, but if they haven't been received yet, we will mail them to you when they arrive.

• For AKC registration at your request: contact us for pricing information if you would like your puppy to be AKC registered when we aren't planning to register the litter that way.  Our pups are often AKC registerable, but we don't register them with AKC unless you ask us to due to the added costs.

• Periodically, a puppy may be born with some type of unusual unsoundness that would be counted against it in a show. If a puppy has a flaw, we will mark its papers for a conditional registration so it can not have registered offspring. Should we have a puppy with a flaw (such as a hernia or overbite), we will require a spay/neuter guarantee from the buyer.

• Click here to learn more about registration options.

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Inquiries

• BEST METHOD:  E-mail.  Unless we're out of town, our e-mail is "usually" checked several times per day. We also like to have inquiries in writing, as that gives us a way to review contact information and your requests if needed.  If you e-mail us, please be sure we also have your phone number.  We have had cases where two parties wanted the same puppy, and we couldn't reach one party in a timely manner because all we had was their e-mail address.

• Please contact us via telephone (between 7 a.m. and 9 p.m. CST if possible).  If you leave a message on our answering machine, please enunciate your phone number clearly and repeat it a second time so we can double-check to be sure we wrote it down correctly.

Buying Procedures

• When you have picked out your puppy and are ready to buy, what do you do next?

• Visit our Buying Procedures page for a list of steps you might follow as you choose, buy, and prepare for your new puppy.

Payment

• A $100 nonrefundable deposit is required to hold a puppy until it is old enough to go to your home, though some people pay fully at the time of their purchase decision. If for some reason, you are unable to finish buying the puppy, and you tell us before he/she is 7 weeks old, we will refund all but the deposit to you.

• No puppy is considered sold until a deposit has been received, although if we are sure you are sincere, we'll hold one for a few days while your mail is in process. This is very important, because the most frequently-occurring issue we run into is waiting for a deposit from one buyer and having a second buyer want the same puppy. Usually, the first buyer is sincere, but sometimes it happens that there is no follow-through.  The fastest way to send a deposit is via PayPal.  You don't have to have a PayPal account...just click the buttons on our Paying page.  We highly recommend using PayPal for deposits so your deposit is immediate and there is no room for uncertainty.

• Payment in full is expected at least two weeks prior to shipping date, or at pick up if the final payment is in cash. Puppies will not be released until payment clears. Cash payment at the time of pickup is just fine, and is what most people do.

• Please note that we want to do what is best for the puppy, and also what is fair for both you and for us.  We have had situations where more than one person wanted the same puppy, and it is very hard to manage this without hurting feelings.  If you are sure you want a puppy, we suggest that you place a deposit on the puppy immediately.  If a second party discovers the puppy and offers to buy, and if they appear to be a good home, we are hard-pressed to turn them down when no deposit has been paid.  Please don't ask us to hold a puppy for you to think about, as we can't turn other good homes down when a puppy is not firmly sold.

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Shipping

• Your puppy can be flown or shipped to you via pet-hauling services.

• Check out our Shipping Page for more information.

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Guarantees

These guarantees apply to puppies that were paid for in full for normal prices. Improperly-handled payments on the part of the buyer and puppies sold at discounted prices do not qualify for this guarantee.

ALL DOGS BRED AND SOLD BY CEDAR RIDGE WILL BE HONESTLY REPRESENTED AND EVALUATED AS ACCURATELY AS POSSIBLE AT TIME OF SALE. If there is something wrong with a puppy that we know of, we will not hide it.  Our puppies are checked for hernias, tooth/jaw correctness, eye problems, joint problems, and other normal issues that can be observed in a small puppy around 6 to 7 weeks of age.  Since our dogs have been selected not just for dispositions, but also for health, we do not expect to find health problems in the puppies.  Should one occur, however, we will not hide it! As all breeds of dogs have health situations found within the breed, we know that from time to time we might have a problem found at the health check, and we will disclose that if it happens.

ALL DOGS bred and sold by Cedar Ridge are under veterinary supervision. They first see the vet between 3 to 5 days of age. All puppies are again checked by a veterinarian between 6 and 8 weeks of age to ensure that they are sound and in apparently good health at that time.  

Puppies are given preventative medicines at prescribed intervals to treat and prevent issues such as worms, coccidiosis, skin/ear pests, giardhia, etc. They also receive their first vaccination before leaving us.

Short-term health: Buyers have 72 hours from the time of purchase/exchange of hands to have the puppy inspected by a licensed veterinarian (at buyer's expense).  If a puppy is determined to have an unacceptable health problem by the buyer's veterinarian in that time frame that will significantly affect its long-term quality of life (not including illnesses/conditions such as colds, viruses, retained testicles, mange, coccidiosis, worms, etc.), and which is confirmed by the seller's veterinarian, the buyer may return the puppy at the buyer's expense. In the event of a puppy death in this time, a veterinary report from the veterinarian treating/examining the puppy must be submitted to our veterinarian for inspection.  A refund or a trade for a different puppy of the same gender and approximate price will be arranged.

No refunds/reimbursements for travel costs or health care are offered.

Long-term health: Our dogs are all healthy and as far as we know are free of genetic health problems. However, if a puppy develops a genetic health problem within one year of its birth that significantly and negatively affects its long-term quality of life (such as hip displasia or epilepsy), diagnosed by the buyer's licensed veterinarian within that first year of age and that is confirmed with the seller's veterinarian, we want to resolve the issue with you. If both veterinarians agree that the condition was genetic, we may be able to offer to trade a different puppy of similar price and gender. Buyer would pay travel and veterinary costs.

Any medicating or care of any kind that the buyer provides the puppy will be at the buyer's expense. The buyer may choose to provide medical care or to euthanize a critically ill puppy. Cedar Ridge Beagles will not reimburse for medical care.

Refunds/exchanges are only given for puppies determined to have an unsoundness/unhealthiness that will significantly affect its quality of life that was not preventable, and agreed upon by both buyer's and seller's veterinarians. Buyer would pay travel and veterinary costs.  Injuries received or preventable illnesses occurring in puppies after leaving Cedar Ridge do not apply to this guarantee.

Puppies offered for sale at a reduced price or those given away for free due to a defect are rare. In the event that we have this occur, those puppies are offered "as is," without guarantees. We will not replace a puppy with another puppy if the original puppy was free, for example.

Our puppies will be dewormed several times, and will have received vaccinations at about six or seven weeks of age while in our care, and it will be up to the new owner to continue its health program. Until this series of inoculations has been completed at about 16 weeks of age, the puppy should not be exposed to premises known to be or suspected of being contaminated, or to unhealthy animals. For the Humane Society's list of vaccination recommendations, click here. But, ask your vet for the recommended health care regimen for your geographic location.

Color:  We try to predict puppy color accurately, but with some colors (especially lemon, tan, and red), it is difficult to be 100% correct while puppies are young. We do not guarantee that the color we predict will be correct at the puppy's maturity, and offer no refunds if the color is not correct.

Size:  We try to predict puppy size accurately, but it is difficult to be 100% correct while puppies are young. We do not guarantee that the size we predict will be correct at the puppy's maturity, and offer no refunds if the size is not correct. Final size can be affected by gender and nutrition as well as genetics.

Legal Notes: All puppies/dogs purchased from Cedar Ridge Beagles will be considered sold in Taylor County, Iowa, regardless of the location of the buyer. Therefore, the transaction location is Taylor County, Iowa.

Under Iowa Law (and almost all states' laws), a domesticated animal professional is not liable for damages suffered by, an injury or illness to, or the death of a participant resulting from the inherent risks of domesticated animal activities, pursuant to Iowa Code Chapter 673. You are assuming the inherent risks of participating in this domesticated animal activity when you interact with, buy or own any animal purchased in the state of Iowa.

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