Finally this puppy broker has closed his pet shop beginning 2001. Anyway, this page is a warning!        Whenever you find advertisements like the following one in the magazine Stars and Stripes  please be aware that those puppies probably are imported to Germany from Poland or other East European countries bred by puppy mills. Those puppies won't have any recognized pedigrees! If you are interested in well bred and socialized puppies please use one of the links stated.

A married couple from Taufkirchen near Munich wanted to buy a dog, and because they could not agree on the breed, they decided to do what thousands of Bavarian families in a similar situation have done: They drove out to Vilshofen to »Zwinger von Ammerreuth«, a merchant who according to his advertisements had a »huge selection of wonderful puppies for sale«: two dozen breeds from Dobermann to Chihuahua.
The »Zwinger von Ammerreuth« had the ambience of a supermarket, only instead of shelves there were boxes. Puppies were whimpering, young dogs barking their heads off. Bianca, their little daughter, was rooted to the floor. Her parents were impressed. No dog dirt in the sawdust, everything clean and tidy. Loudspeakers were soothing people and animals with music from the local radio. The family gazed in wonderment at dogs of numerous breeds, and decided finally on a Golden Retriever. »Wolke von Ammerreuth« was the name of the creme-coloured ball of fur which, according to the pedigree of the »Bayerischen Rassehunde-Verein« was eleven weeks old, and cost DM 800, only half as much as from a private breeder. In the dog accessories department they bought a collar, line, bowl and feed. Together with the vaccination, they paid the bargain price of DM 1000.
The proud owners christened the loveable little animal »Bärli«, who quickly captured the hearts of everyone in the family. But their joy was not to last long. After two days, »Bärli« got diarrhoea. Thin as water. The vet, Dr. Lorenz Schmid, prescribed electrolytes and vitamins. »Underfed«, was his conclusion. Two days later, »Bärli« refused to eat. An ultrasound examination revealed that the intestine had become inverted. »A clinical picture often found in neglected dogs«, explained the vet to the dog owners. »Bärli« had to undergo an operation with a three-day stay in the clinic. »Unbelievable fearful« was the vet's conclusion regarding the puppy's psyche. »Any other puppy would have waggled its tail, Bärli attacked me out of fear when came after the operation.« After three days the dog was discharged, 48 hours later the family had to bring the puppy back. »Bärli« was sicker than ever. Again, the intestine had inverted; again an operation for DM 900 was necessary.
Too much money for the owners. Out of pity, Dr. Schmid agreed to operate free-of-charge. But when he discovered that part of the intestine would have to be amputated, he advised the family to have »Bärli« put to sleep. With heavy hearts, they agreed. On 30^th August, 1996 - only nine days after purchase, the Retriever died. The autopsy revealed »Klebsiella pneumoniae«, a pathogen found mainly in large dog kennels.
The only reminder in the family home of the short, sad life of the »Wolke von Ammerreuth« was the orphaned dog basket. The wife had only one thought: »to put a stop to the merchant's activities!«
The man, who had made such an enemy of the housewife from Taufkirchen, lives in a villa near Walchsing in Lower Bavaria. Gustav Struck received the visitors in a living room three times the size of a gymnasium. Gustav Struck did not want to be photographed in this ambience. »Otherwise you will write that I earned all this with my dogs.« Although Struck likes to introduce himself as »the dog trader from Hölzlöd 17 ½«, the address of his kennel, he much prefers to talk about his tropical fish business. »I am the biggest in Europe.« Or about his jumbo transport company »Ingo-Trans«. Or preferably about his »Ingo-Mobil« his automobile house in Moscow. Struck tells STERN in detail about his Russian deals.
On his own account, Struck sells 3000 dogs a year. He calls himself Germany's biggest dog trader. »But I am happy if there is any money left over at the end of the year,« he complains - the vet alone costs him DM 300000 each yeaar. »All our dogs are vaccinated and de-wormed, the breeds in danger of HD are all X-rayed.«
HD stands for hip dysplasia, a pathological degeneration of the hip joint, particularly common in larger dogs. Dogs with HD find walking extremely painful. The ailment is hereditary and can only be eased by inserting an artificial joint.
Angelika Hofner* from Munich, bought a German Shepherd puppy from the Zwinger von Ammerreuth in October, 1994. Because the student didn't want to leave the dog alone in the flat during her lectures, she bought a second puppy a month later from the same litter. At six months, both were lame. The vet Dr. Uwe Streitferdt and the university clinic in Munich diagnosed an elbow dysplasia (ED) which had to be operated in order to shorten the radius by a centimetre.
A year later, both dogs went lame on their back legs. X-rays showed extreme HD which had already resulted in severe arthritis. In a medical certificate for the student's legal advisor, Dr. Streitferdt did not mince words: »Both diseases, ED and HD, are hereditary and could have been avoided with responsible breeding hygiene.«
Angelika Hofner's lawyer twice wrote to the Zwinger von Ammerreuth. He received no reply. Now the student has chosen to spend the money on her dogs rather than on lawyer's fees and a controversial case with uncertain outcome: both dogs will get artificial hips costing DM 2500 each.
Angelika Hofner's HD dogs are not the only case. STERN has reports of other HD dogs coming from Struck's production. In order to make quite sure, STERN had a five-month-old Tibetan Mastiff bought there for DM 1500. The animal with the melodic name of »Aras So-Tiang« was sitting apathetically in his wire cage, hardly moving. Aras was x-rayed in the veterinary clinic of the University of Munich. Professor Dr. Roberto Köstlin's diagnosis: »Extreme hip dysplasia on both sides.« Aras is now called Yogi and is living in the care of a veterinary family.
Angelika Hofner's German Shepherds, the Tibetan Mastiff and many other dogs from the Zwinger von Ammerreuth come from Slovakia. In keeping with so many businesses in our economy, Gustav Struck has exported his »dog production« to low-wage countries. For years now, he has had thousands of animals »manufactured« in Slovakia.
Family connections help him. Zdenek Pichlik was Struck's father-in-law and vice president of the Slovakian Dog Club. He has built up a network of breeders for the Bavarian. Struck delivered »surrogate mothers« of rare breeds. Pichlik's breeders, happy about any money they can earn, sell the litters to Ammerreuth.
There, the small puppies, after the separation from their mothers particularly in need of human care, are put into quarantine for three weeks, then to wait in the showrooms for a buyer - sometimes for months.
Of course, the little animals have large pedigrees - in the Slovak language. German purchasers only seldom understand enough to decipher anything more than the birth date. The coat of arms of the Fédération Cynologique Internationale (FCI) lends the pedigree documents a note of respectability.
Margit Simon from Olching tells what can happen to a Pichlik dog. At the beginning of 1990, she bought a three-month old Mastiff, »Ben«, for DM 2000 in the Zwinger von Ammerreuth. According to the pedigree, the breeder was: Alzbeta Pichliková, the wife of the vice president, Pichlik.
»Ben« suffered from chronic diarrhoea. »The poor fellow dirtied my flat for over a year«, remembers Ms. Simon with horror. Three times a day she cooked special meals for her problem dog, went with him from one vet to another. »Over DM 10000 spent in medical fees«. she complains. After 18 months of suffering, Ben was put to sleep.
Zdenek Pichlik is still working for Ammerreuth, however now as a »double ex«. Gustav Struck's ex-father-in-law, as his daughter's marriage to the Bavarian has broken up, and - worse for the business: ex-president of the Slovakian Dog Club. As a result of pressure from the Association for German Dogs (VDH) Zdenek Pichlik and his dog producers were excluded from the Slovakian Dog Club.
The reason: in summer, 1995, Bernhard Meyer, VDH's managing director got hold of the current price list of the Zwinger von Ammerreuth (»only for pet shops and dog parlours which accept our business conditions«). Struck listed 97 breeds at dumping prices. In addition, the remark: »Confidential, not to be passed on to end consumers.« After studying Struck's business conditions, Meyer was aware of the reason.
»As far as is recognisable, all animals are healthy on dispatch. Any sick animal, however, can be returned within 48 hours after arrival«, so section IV, sub-section 2. This means that a small dog taken sick from the transport box by the pet shop owner should not be brought to a vet, but packed back into the box and returned to Lower Bavaria. Dog as a commodity. »Man's best friend«, his companion since the Ice Age, as a piece of merchandise.
Struck doesn't give a »money-back guarantee«, nevertheless it is usually possible to exchange sick dogs - even for private customers. Anyone complaining about buying a sick animal is offered another one in exchange.
Marion von Strachwitz had this experience with her stunted-growth, lame, coughing Golden-Retriever bitch. »I wouldn't exchange a handicapped child«, answered the mother of two children, preferring to bring her dog to a vet rather than back to the kennel.
Gustav Struck has no problem with this. The fewer people who bring back their sick animals, the more money he saves.
Not for nothing has the Federal Veterinary Chamber declared the dog »the animal most in need of protection in 1996«. Vets are not only concerned about the physical health of their patients. Even more worrying is the increase in behavioural problems in the last years. These do not only occur with the so called fighting breeds, such as Bull or American Staffordshire Terrier, but ever more frequently with family dogs.
»Clif Dunajska Luzna« is just such a veterinary problem child. STERN had the five-month-old Leonberger bought for DM 800 from the Zwinger von Ammerreuth at the beginning of May. The reporters noticed Clif particularly, because he was sitting in the farthest corner of the kennel and tried to crawl away from the visitors, instead of greeting them joyfully like a healthy puppy should.
»This is how dogs with severe behavioural disorders react because they can't escape from the kennel«, writes behavioural scientist, Dr. Dorit Feddersen-Petersen in her classic text book: »Dogs and their People«. And: »The sight of such maladjusted dogs must fill every normal person with helpless anger against the person who has mistreated them, and with great sorrow and shame towards the animal.«
STERN brought Clif to Dr. Feddersen-Petersen. The scientist from the Institut für Haustierkunde (Institute for the Science of Domestic Animals) at Kiel University has a wide experience with problem dogs, and is often called to give expert evidence at court.
Dr. Feddersen-Petersen examined Clif. »I am sure that this dog will never show normal social behaviour«, she stated, »he will always be fearful.« With regard to the conditions of the imported dogs in the Zwinger von Ammerreuth, her criticism was scathing. »These three weeks' quarantine are enough to make a dog neurotic for the rest of its life - even if its previous life at its breeders was without reproach. Shutting a puppy away is endlessly cruel. This vital phase of the young puppy's mental and social adjustment determines its future development. In this sensitive period, isolation can hardly, if at all, ever be compensated for by giving the puppy attention at a later stage.«
Gustav Struck has little to say in the face of such accusations. »We do not have any maladjusted dogs«, he bluffs, »that is nonsense.« And his assistant Weinfurtner asks cheerily, »How many vets are maladjusted?«
Walt Weisse often comes across dogs who bite from fear, and with crippled characters »so often found in commercial breeding kennels« (Feddersen-Petersen). The long-time chairman of the »Club for Molosser« knows »a whole number of people who have been taken in by the Zwinger von Ammerreuth«. Weisse runs a dog training school and tries to correct their behavioural disorders as far as is possible.
»All dogs, which we have had here from Ammerreuth, were fearful and aggressive«, he says, »and that is a dangerous mixture.« Particularly with regard to his huge Molosser, which he loves so passionately.
None of Weisse's customers wanted to talk to STERN about their Ammerreuth problem dog. It would appear that many are ashamed to have bought a dog in the »kennel for the poor«. Because, whoever buys a dog there either has no money, or no idea about dogs - or both.
*Name changed by the authors

Many thanks for the English translation to
 

	Joan von Ehren
	Y our
	E nglish
	S chool
	Altonaer Chaussee 89
	22869 Schenefeld
	E-mail: jve_yes@compuserve.com

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