A look at warranties

A realistic warranty?

A good business man always tries to keep a tab on what the competition is doing. Therefore, over the last 30 years I made a point to do just that.
The major factors in our business are the original quality of the dog, the trainability of the dog, the dogs overall condition and naturally the quality of training the dog receives.

Since dogs are living creatures and not machines the animals health becomes a significant factor and the basis for all the above.
This is why we have to issue warranties. Now, there are many "warranties" in the dog business in general.

Breeders give hip warranties for high dollar puppies. Usually reads as "guaranteed hips" and is basically a fraud. Since hip dysplasia is based on genetics and the dogs bone structure takes 2 years to fully develop one would have to look into the crystal ball to predict, and "guarantee" the hips of an 8 week old puppy. Especially since as of today the cause for hip dysplasia cannot be determined. Hence it happens quite frequently that parents free of hip dysplasia produce litters in which some offspring will develop bad hips. The only "guarantee" we have is that if one breeds dogs with hip dysplasia, the condition will most likely be past on to most of the offspring. 

Above is just one example that any type of health warranty has to be articulated very carefully to avoid any misleading statements, intended or not.
The same applies to service dogs.

What actually caused me to write about this issue is a claim I read the other day on one of my competitor's web publications. Below is the actual ad with the vendor's name blacked out.

 Vendors Replacement Program

Vendor is so sure that our K-9s are of superior quality that we offer the best guarantee in the K-9 industry. Our operations capacity allows us to provide services no other vendor can provide. Vendor provides a 5 year guarantee on workability, if your dog should become unworkable within the first 5 years, Vendor will replace the dog free of charge. If for any reason the dog develops an illness or disease within the first 5 years that disables the dog, Vendor will also replace the dog, free of charge. If you’re not satisfied with your dog, then neither are we. We take pride in our work and do all that we can to select the right dog the first time.

Now let's look at this in detail - paragraph 2 line 3 "if your dog becomes unworkable within the first 5 years vendor will replace the dog free of charge."

Really?

What if a dog is in the care of an irresponsible handler who leaves the dog in his patrol car without air conditioning and/or heat alarm while outside temperatures reach 100+ degrees, the dog overheats and dies ? (Unfortunately this happens several times every summer across the country). The dog definitely becomes "unworkable" then. 
Will the department really get a free replacement?

What if the dog becomes injured on duty. It breaks a leg and the necessary surgery to fix it is unsuccessful. The leg needs to be amputated rendering the dog unworkable. Free replacement?

Please keep in  mind that all the examples I am giving here are real live occurances that happened in the past.

What if the handler is totally unqualified to handle a K-9. He is lazy, never works the dog, mistreats the animal (in this case a single purpose narcotic detection dog) and the canine, which originally was a well trained narcotic detection dog, shuts down after a couple of years of inferior training and terrible, unchecked handling. It is now unworkable. Does he really get a free replacement?

Keep in mind in any situation similar to this, the handler will certainly not say "I am an idiot and ruined this dog". What he will say is "I don't know what happen, but the dog just quit working". - Free replacement?  

What if the same handler keeps the dog (in this case a dual purpose dog) in a chain-link kennel although he knows his dog is a kennel biter. After about two years of chewing on the chain-link fence, that has been "repaired" dozens of times with everything from chicken wire to hog panels the dogs teeth are gone. In addition, since the "handler" is what he is, he doesn't notice the problem until his dog hesitates to bite during maintenance training. Soon thereafter the canine refuses to bite completely because he is in constant pain caused by serious jaw infection due to rotting teeth. The dog is now unworkable. He really gets a free replacement?

I could go on and on with examples of dogs that become unworkable for all kinds of reasons. 
How many departments suspended their K-9 program because of bad experiences caused by insufficient maintenance training that made the dog a liability and therefor unworkable. How many departments are hesitant to establish a K-9 program either due to past experiences with unworkable dogs or horror stories they heard in the past.

So how realistic is this part of the vendor's replacement warranty? What does the vendor mean by "unworkable"? 

If the vendor's warranty really covers any and all circumstances that could render a service dog unworkable within the first 5 years, it is without doubt the best warranty in the business, because the spectrum of possibilities that can require the vendor having to replace the dog for becoming unworkable is simply enormous.

So, do I believe the claim the vendor makes in his ad?- Not really. I would assume there are restrictions the vendor did not mention.


Paragraph 2, line 4 - "If for any reason, the dog develops an illness or disease within the first 5 years, that disables the dog, vendor will also replace the dog free of charge."

Let's continue to use our "signature handler" as an example. He "forgets" to administer heartworm preventatives and the dog becomes infested. Every semi educated handler knows the degenerative effects of heartworm infestation, especially if it reaches a stage in which the poison needed to kill the heartworm actually harms the dog. Treatment becomes futile. The canine will become unworkable. Free replacement?

There is an array of other illnesses the dog can develop that will possibly render the dog unworkable. The causes are mostly accidental. Spine injuries, neck injuries, torsion, ear problems (severe hematoma requiring multiple surgeries), disease caused by parasites other than heartworm, etc.
All circumstances the vendor can not possibly be held responsible for, and yet the vendor will replace the dog for free?

I do not believe that the claims made in the vendor's ad are purposely misleading, but rather carelessly articulated. A blanket 5 year warranty for the workability of a service dog is in my opinion unrealistic and unheard of in our industry. 

We can issue warranties for previously undetected genetic issues, such as bad hips in an adult dog, we can guarantee the dog to be free of parasites, obvious physical defects, serious behavioral problems, etc. To say "here is a well trained dog in good condition, if for any reason this dogs becomes unworkable within the next 5 years we will give a new one" is economically unsustainable unless this dog sells for an exorbitant amount of money.

Now, having expressed my thoughts on this issue I will give the reader the guarantee that if I am wrong, and this blanket, catch all warranty is really out there, I will apologize and remove this blog.