PUPPY BUYERS: Onward Acres Farm is our family's private residence... it is not a public farm or kennel. The transfer of the puppy to the buyer takes place at an agreed upon public location. This is for the bio-security, general security and privacy of our family, home & livestock. We provide plenty of honest photos of our beautiful setting here on our website, so that anyone who buys a puppy from us can be assured that their puppy comes from a clean & pleasant place.
OUR PUPPIES DO NOT COME WITH A 'SMOKE & MIRRORS' CONTRACT FULL OF OBNOXIOUS REQUIREMENTS, NOR BOGUS GUARANTEES FROM US. OUR DOGS ARE MANAGED WITH OLD FASHIONED LOGICAL PURPOSE. THEY ARE ARE HARDY, HEALTHY AND HIGH QUALITY.
We can't sell our puppies with " health guarantees". That is simply not possible to guarantee after the new owner has the puppy, period. Dogs can't stay healthy just because some useless paperwork said that they would. (DOGS ARE NOT APPLIANCES!). The only way a dog stays healthy is if the owner purposefully takes good care of them. After studying dog structure & dog health for years, you can trust in the fact that we only utilize high quality and sound breeding dogs.
We have a lot of great training & health maintenance recommendations for folks who purchase one of our healthy gorgeous puppies. However, we're certainly not under the illusion that we can control the sold dog's life.
But once a puppy has left our care into the new owner's care, it is up to them to keep up & maintain the good health. Our dogs have all been raised to be healthy hearty farm dogs.
**We reserve the right to not sell to any person, for any reason, at any time.
Our puppies come with:
First round of puppy vaccines
A health certificate if being transported
Deworming
AKC registration or a pedigree if applicable
RESERVING A PUPPY: IF YOU WANT TO RESERVE A PUPPY, YOU MUST PLACE A DEPOSIT. EACH OF OUR PAGES HAS A DEPOSIT BUTTON TO PLACE A DEPOSIT ON A PUPPY. IF YOU ARE RESERVING 2 PUPPIES, PAY THE DEPOSIT TWICE. (YES, WE DO HAVE PEOPLE OCCASIONALLY WHO WANT 2 PUPPIES AT ONCE :-) ).
REMAINING PUPPY BALANCE: THE REMAINING BALANCE FOR YOUR PUPPY IS DUE AT OR BEFORE PICK UP. THIS CAN BE VIA PAYPAL (the remaining balance for puppies must be sent as 'for friends & family' on Paypal), VENMO OR CASH. NO CHECKS OR MONEY ORDERS. IF YOU ARE SHIPPING IN YOUR PUPPY, THE REMAINING BALANCE IS DUE WELL BEFORE THE TRANSPORTER PICKS UP THE PUPPY.
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HOLLAND LOP BUYERS: Local pick ups in Michigan take place at a public location for the safety and health of our family & livestock. If you need out of state transport, we can usually find a transporter with a suitable route to get rabbits to your state/location to you. You will be responsible for booking &m paying for the transport. No rabbit is held without at least 50% deposit down upon initial agreement for buyer to buy the rabbit (s). Payment is via Paypal or Venmo. Cash also accepted if pick up the rabbits in person. Rabbits are known to be healthy at the time of sale and absolutely NO guarantee is given as to the health of the rabbits after they leave our possession. In addition, absolutely no guarantee is given as to the breeding or show success of any rabbit once it leaves our possession, even if the rabbit is already a proven breeding or show rabbit.
This is what our pro-active joint stance is, what we look for and how we maintain sound dogs & puppies:
We don't "test" our dog joints with professionals. Why? Well, first of all, we believe testing everything is unnecessary. What is a joints "certification"? Answer- it's just an x-ray score from ONE point in time. When a dog is around 2 years of age, it can go to the vet, have it's hips or knees (patella) x-rayed & the xrays are then sent to the 'pros' to score how good, \ fair or bad the joints are on that dog looked on the x-ray that day the images were taken.
It says nothing about the joint genetics that the dog carries and it can't predict how the dog's joints will look in the future.
Years ago, we spent big $$$$ on a beautiful female from O-F-A certified excellent AKC champion parents. We thought that is "what you're supposed to do". Well, at 10 months old, that bitch had grade 3 wrecked patellas (knees). Were we mad at the breeder? NO. But did we learn a lesson? YES. (note- because of the bad patellas, that bitch was never used in our breeding program).
You see, having 'joint certification' is fine, I mean, there isn't anything wrong with doing that. The problem is that it's just smoke & mirrors. It does not guarantee your dog or bloodline can't have problems. "Oooo...look, we have flashy certifications" that makes our bloodline trustworthy!". No, it doesn't always mean that. It is just an x-ray of some dog joints on one dog that at ONE point in time looked good. It doesn't guarantee that the dog's great aunt or great grandpa or uncle or sibling had perfect joints so the whole bloodline is guaranteed flawless, does it?
ANOTHER HUGE POINT:
When did people start thinking that dogs should be like mechanical appliances with "guarantees"? A dog with a warranty? HA!
ALL animals, no matter how unblemished they may be in the beginning, may at one time or another have some kind of imperfection caused by........being alive. THESE DAYS, MANY PEOPLE SEEM TO BELIEVE THAT THERE IS A UTOPIA THAT CAN BE ACHIEVED WHERE A BLOODLINE OF DOGS CAN BE DEVELOPED THAT NEVER HAS ANY JOINT OR ORGAN PROBLEMS. WE BELIEVE THAT SUCH A UTOPIA CAN'T BE ACHIEVED. WHAT WE BELIEVE, WHAT WE PRACTICE, IS TO BREED THE BEST POSSIBLE THAT WE CAN, RATHER THAN THE WORSE. DON'T USE OPENLY PROBLEMATIC DOGS. BUT NO BLOODLINE OR BREED IS FOREVER AND ALWAYS PERFECT. WE HAVE NEVER HAD A KNOWN FORMAL PROBLEM WITH ANY DOG THAT WE HAVE USED FOR BREEDING. ONCE IN A BLUE MOON A DOG THAT WAS DESTINED TO BE BRED, HAVE AN ISSUE THAT MADE US DECIDE TO NOT USE THE DOG FOR BREEDING AFTERALL. WE USE PRUDENCE, AND ARE VERY REALISTIC. NOBODY WANTS PROBLEMATIC DOGS, SO WE ONLY USE THE BEST DOGS THAT WE ARE ABLE TO, AND WE HAVE BEEN CAREFUL TO CHOOSE HIGH QUALITY DOGS FOR FOUNDATION ANIMALS AND OUR OWN BLOODLINE KEEPS BECOMING MORE AND MORE SUPERIOR. BUT WE WOULD NEVER "GUARANTEE" THAT OUR ONE OF OUR DOGS COULD NEVER HAVE AN IMPERFECTION. THERE ARE TOO MANY FACTORS THRU OUT THE LIFE OF A DOG TO GUARANTEE THAT, EVEN WHEN WE DO THAT BEST WE CAN IN OUR EXPERTISE & EXPERIENCE IN SELECTING BREEDING STOCK AND RAISING THE PUPPIES WITH WISDOM. WE ALSO UTILIZE THE SUPERIOR HEALTH SUPPLEMENTS FOR OUR DOGS TO ENSURE THEY REACH BEST POTENTIAL.
In order to breed/cultivate REALISTICALLY UNPROBLEMATIC high quality dogs, we only breed dogs who are functionally sound, visually sound....dogs who remain athletic well into adulthood & hopefully their whole life. Look, we have never used a dog in our breeding program who has joint problems, HOWEVER, and this is REALLY IMPORTANT TO KNOW- no bloodline of dogs is 100% free of any issues. So theoretically, one of our dogs in their old age or due to a surprise injury of some kind might develop a joint issue, and it wouldn't necessarily freak us out and make us feel obligated to send out a mass e-mail to every buyer we've ever sold to recalling all of our puppies as if they are a washing machine or cell phone with a faulty part that could cause it to explode and injure someone. Why? Because these are living breathing animals. IT IS IMPOSSIBLE TO HAVE LIVING ANIMALS WHO NEVER HAVE AN IMPERFECTION THEIR WHOLE LIFE, NO MATTER HOW MUCH TESTING IS PERFORMED. . With age, wear & tear, any dog, no matter how scrupulous their bloodline has been managed, might have the capacity to have a joint or other health issue.
ALL THAT BEING SAID- SOME DOGS HAVE BEEN POORLY BRED AND ARE DISTINCTLY RIDDLED WITH JOINT PROBLEMS. WE DON'T HAVE JUNK LIKE THAT! THOSE PROBLEMATIC DOGS OR BLOODLINES SHOULD DEFINITELY BE AVOIDED.