Warning about Heather Bendelow / Amethrickeh kennel

About Heather M. Bendelow, our Amethrickeh Apparition and the British Sheltie clubs

As many of you may already know, we have had serious problems with our Amethrickeh Apparition and his breeder, Heather M. Bendelow. To sum it up, Heather Bendelow refuses to refund part of the purchase price (she agreed to this in the sale contract) of Amethrickeh Apparition. Furthermore, she had a surgery done on the dog's ears which is totally unacceptable and can be clasified as animal cruelty. If you are interested in the full story (please, read it, it is rather shocking), please see our letter linked below. We have sent this letter to the Kennel Club, the English Shetland Sheepdog Club and the Yorkshire Shetland Sheepdog Club. All evidence, including expert testimony, is included (with translation to English).

Letter sent to British Sheltie Clubs (4MB, some scanned documents)

So what did the British Sheltie Clubs do? Absolutely, 100% nothing. They did not revoke Mrs. Bendelow's membership, they did not act upon the complaint in any way. Let's take a look at YSSC reply first.

Yorkshire Shetland Sheepdog Club reply

Let me make several comments:

Given the fact that performing a surgery on a dog without health reasons is forbidden practically everywhere, was YSSC really satisfied with a statement from Mrs. Bendelow's vet, saying "of course I did not do it"? Do they really think he would admit doing that?
It is reasonably safe to assume that the surgery has NOT been done by Mrs. Bendelow's regular vet as there would be too much risk involved.
None of the UK championship judges, including Mr. Malcolm Hart (by the way a very nice man, highly respectable to be sure), actually checked the dog's ears. Why? Because there was NO REASON TO DO SO! Nobody would expect an ear surgery on such an animal. And we believe it is even unthinkable to the more reputable breeders, such as Mr. Hart. No blame lies with any of the judges for not discovering it. However, claiming that it would be discovered is just wrong.
Mr. Hart gave Apparition a CAC, not a CC. We do not blame YSSC for not knowing the difference, just pointing this out.
It is against the law in the Czech Republic to use a dog at stud if you know the dog has a medical condition. Therefore, it was not a "personal decision" as Mrs. Glover-Guest suggests, it was a question of abiding by the law! Amethrickeh Apparition is currently registered in the Czech breeders scheme. However, he has not been used because of his hip score.
It is really a shame that YSSC feels Mrs. Bendelow is a person of any integrity. She succeeded in cheating and damaging SEVERAL UK bredders who are simply afraid to speak up because of the high connections the Bendelow family has in the Kennel Club and elsewhere.
We would like to point out that the YSSC letter did not comment upon ANY evidence presented by us, apparently dismissing everything straight away

The ESSC reply was the best one of the three we have received, although the club was also unable to help us (apparently, their hands are tied).

English Shetland Sheepdog Club reply
Short email correspondence with ESSC after their reply (newest on top)

Surprisingly, the Kennel Club replied as well. Unsurprisingly, they also did not help us in any way. Mrs. Bendelow is a registered championship judge and as such, the KC has no power over her. We find this rather amusing and sad at the same time. Also, they stopped replying to our emails over 2 months ago which speaks for itself.

The Kennel Club reply and following email conversation (newest on top)

Please, tell your friends!

The only way to warn people against dealing with Heather M. Bendelow is by word of mouth (or, in this modern age, by email). The clubs will not revoke her membership, the Kennel Club will let her be a judge. Apparently, nobody believes two sheltie lovers from the Czech Republic. But we will NOT give up!

So, please, spread the word. Send your friends a link to this page. Tell them. And if you have any advice for us, any way you could help, please let us know! The email is [email protected]. If you have been cheated or otherwise wronged by Heather M. Bendelow and wish to speak up, contact us too!

Thanks to everyone who helped and supported us so far. We appreciate it!
Kind regards to all sheltie lovers! Katerina Pankova & Lukas Krincvaj