B.C. dog owner awarded damages after learning pet older than requested

A dog owner sought damages after learning her adopted pet was older than she had requested. (Credit: Marta Urbańska/iStock via Getty Images Plus.)

A B.C. animal rescue has been ordered to pay a pet owner nearly $1,000 after a tribunal found it adopted her a dog that was older than she requested – and also unneutered, despite paperwork saying otherwise.

In a decision published online last week, the Civil Resolution Tribunal outlined the dispute between Stephanie Gin, the owner of a puppy named Timmy, and the agency she adopted him from, the Black Dog Rescue Society.

Gin adopted Timmy in November 2022 after reaching out to the agency one month earlier and expressing interest in a dog that was small and less than a year old. According to the decision, the agency had responded the same day and put forward Timmy, describing him as being neutered, microchipped and fully vaccinated.

Gin paid a $1,000 adoption fee, but asked for a $175 price reduction after she received Timmy’s adoption papers and noted he was older than one year. According to the decision, Black Dog refused.

While Black Dog has since admitted that Timmy was in fact over a year old at the time of adoption, the puppy’s actual age is still unknown. The dog was a rescue from Mexico and the two U.S. customs forms signed for his export, by a vet from Mr. Dog Veterinaria in June, noted him as being both six months and nine months old.

A “document of proof” from the same Mexican veterinarian was offered by the agency when Gin, concerned about Timmy’s aggressive behaviour after adoption, questioned whether the dog was actually neutered.

Unconvinced by the document, Gin had taken Timmy to a local vet where he was neutered and given a teeth cleaning and a new electric collar. Gin forwarded an invoice to Black Dog for reimbursement, which it refused.

Tribunal member Peter Rennie found the dog was not neutered, after placing “little weight” on the records of Mr. Dog, and noting the unlikeliness of a new vet carrying out the surgery if it had already been performed before.

Gin was entitled to $660 in damages to cover the neutering fee, and $150 for the additional costs she had paid to adopt a puppy under a year old.

Compensation Gin sought for “physical and emotional distress” brought on by the aggressive behaviour of her new companion were dismissed due to a term within Black Dog’s adoption form that stated the agency was not responsible for any damage caused by an adopted dog.

Black Dog was ordered to pay Gin a total of $985, including $175 in CRT fees, within 30 days.