Hi Everyone,
My girlfriend and I are new dog owners and we love our dog. We recently bought a pure breed dog (12 weeks old) and paid a pretty penny for it. After taking him to the vet for his series of shots he needs we were told by that vet that he has "undescended testicles" and that this is genetic. The vet informed us that this will be an expensive surgery due to the fact that the will have to go into the abdomen to remove them. I was wondering what I should expect from the breeder in a form of reimbursement. Would this be something where they would pay for the total cost of the surgery or half or is this something that we will have to take care of ourselves. I appreciate any help and advice anyone can offer.

[Kingsbridge Cav]

Does this pup come with full registration? A full registration is sort of a license to breed. It is an agreement with the breeder that you intend to breed with the dog you are purchasing. Many breeders offer dogs with a "pet only" registration and it will be specified on the paperwork that you received with your pup.
If you purchased with a pet only registration or no registration at all, this dog was not intended to be used for breeding.
Breeders often offer pet only registrations for dogs with genetic disorders that may be passed on to future litters and thus weakening the gene pool. If you do not have a full registration, you may not have any recourse but to pay for the neutering yourself. If you have full registration, a reputable breeder will stand behind the pup and offer some kind of compensation. In my experience, the compensation is replacement cost of the pup and then you would need to surrender the pup to the breeder.
You may want to research undescended testicles to better understand what you are dealing with. It is not always necessary to have a dog with this condition neutered, but there are some risks. Your pup is at greater risk of testicular cancer among other things, but he may have a very active, normal life without the surgery. He may be able to reproduce and will act like a normal male when near a female in season. There is still risk of pregnancy and thus the genetics being passed to yet another generation. This scenerio is not advisable.
I would advise you to contact the breeder and see if they will offer any compensation. In the least, the breeder needs to know what genetics are being passed along by their breeding pair of dogs.
Good luck!

Did the breeder give you a guarantee against genetic defects? If not, you may be out of luck. A reputable breeder will work with you, but they usually also give you some sort of written health guarantee. Contact the breeder and see what he/she has to say.

And I'd suggest getting a second opinion from another vet. How expensive the surgery is depends on where the testicles are. If they're in the inguinal canals, rather than the abdomen, they're easier to get at. At 12 weeks, there's also the possibility that the pup "pulled them up" when the vet examined him, and they aren't really undescended at all. And if the testes are indeed in the inguinal canals, it may be possible to manually manipulate them back down, over the course of a few weeks. I did this with one of my own males, and once they were down, the neuter surgery went off without a hitch.