There
is more than one side to every story, but I'm going to tell my side of
this story. There are abundant details that I will recount if requested,
but here is the story of Peyton. River's last litter, the one he sired
just 7 weeks before he tragically got killed by a car, was with Brian
Riggio and Lynn Riggio,'s GCh Elkhorn Jack's Misdemeanor , "Misty." I
had her at my house for a few weeks while we bred her. She was a sweet
girl, very attached to her Dad, but once he left, she eventually
attached herself to me. She had 8 puppies from that breeding, 7 girls
and 1 lone boy.
We forced ourselves to go evaluate the litter, as River had just passed away that week. We went through all the puppies along with Michelle Millette, Coppers T Gage and Shawna Wullenwaber. It was hard to evaluate them in front of the great Michelle (she has been breeding dogs for her whole life with her parents, who bred some beautiful Brittanys and even wrote a book about the breed). I learned many things from Michelle that day. Michelle was to get the boy. She took him happily home that day and we took home Lilly, the pick bitch. Brian and Lynn kept Brooke. The rest were settled nicely into other show/pet homes. Michelle's boy was eventually named Peyton.
We didn't get to see many photos of him or hear much about him, but looked forward to seeing him in the ring someday and seeing what he produced in his future breedings in Michelle's kennel. When the pup was about 4-5 months old, on August 21, she posted on Misty's page that Peyton was attacked by her older dogs. They tried to kill him. She later messaged Lynn saying that he had bit her in the incident and this wasn't the first time she had been bitten by him. She later mentioned that he responded to being corrected by attacking her. This is horrible that anyone would ever get bitten by a Brittany. If you have ever been around them, you must know that there had to be a reason. I didn't learn of any of this until Nationals, the week before Thanksgiving. I talked to Michelle while I was there. She told me her side of the story. Told me that she didn't really like how he was turning out and was going to try some obedience and get his temperment in shape if possible and then re-home him. I got right on the phone with Brian, encouraged him to offer to take the dog back. First Option Back is what he was claiming. In the dog show world, among reputable breeders, we always ask to be the first ones to be offered a dog back if it isn't working for you. We never want our dogs to turn up in a shelter. We are a safe place and will re-home the dog ourselves. She agreed to this pretty easily, but then another fight occurred and she got bitten again. She demanded her purchase price back for the dog and a release of liability and sounded very ready to put the dog down immediately. Oh, but then he was put on quarantine. Negotiations occurred and it was agreed upon for Brian to buy the dog back and sign this release (against all normal contract stipulations), he would go up with his son in law tomorrow. The quarantine ended yesterday. Peyton was put down yesterday by Michelle Millette. He was eight months old. He only ever knew the life of a kennel and this person who he knew as "his" person. My heart is grieved. I am so so sorry Peyton, you deserved more. We tried so hard to save you and try to give you a second chance at being happy and not scared for your life.
We forced ourselves to go evaluate the litter, as River had just passed away that week. We went through all the puppies along with Michelle Millette, Coppers T Gage and Shawna Wullenwaber. It was hard to evaluate them in front of the great Michelle (she has been breeding dogs for her whole life with her parents, who bred some beautiful Brittanys and even wrote a book about the breed). I learned many things from Michelle that day. Michelle was to get the boy. She took him happily home that day and we took home Lilly, the pick bitch. Brian and Lynn kept Brooke. The rest were settled nicely into other show/pet homes. Michelle's boy was eventually named Peyton.
We didn't get to see many photos of him or hear much about him, but looked forward to seeing him in the ring someday and seeing what he produced in his future breedings in Michelle's kennel. When the pup was about 4-5 months old, on August 21, she posted on Misty's page that Peyton was attacked by her older dogs. They tried to kill him. She later messaged Lynn saying that he had bit her in the incident and this wasn't the first time she had been bitten by him. She later mentioned that he responded to being corrected by attacking her. This is horrible that anyone would ever get bitten by a Brittany. If you have ever been around them, you must know that there had to be a reason. I didn't learn of any of this until Nationals, the week before Thanksgiving. I talked to Michelle while I was there. She told me her side of the story. Told me that she didn't really like how he was turning out and was going to try some obedience and get his temperment in shape if possible and then re-home him. I got right on the phone with Brian, encouraged him to offer to take the dog back. First Option Back is what he was claiming. In the dog show world, among reputable breeders, we always ask to be the first ones to be offered a dog back if it isn't working for you. We never want our dogs to turn up in a shelter. We are a safe place and will re-home the dog ourselves. She agreed to this pretty easily, but then another fight occurred and she got bitten again. She demanded her purchase price back for the dog and a release of liability and sounded very ready to put the dog down immediately. Oh, but then he was put on quarantine. Negotiations occurred and it was agreed upon for Brian to buy the dog back and sign this release (against all normal contract stipulations), he would go up with his son in law tomorrow. The quarantine ended yesterday. Peyton was put down yesterday by Michelle Millette. He was eight months old. He only ever knew the life of a kennel and this person who he knew as "his" person. My heart is grieved. I am so so sorry Peyton, you deserved more. We tried so hard to save you and try to give you a second chance at being happy and not scared for your life.
