Dear Portuguese Water Dog Breeders and Fanciers,

In February of 2012 Mrs. Anat Cunha of Barrington, RI, breeding under the kennel name Karma filed suit against me in the Superior Court of Providence County in Rhode Island.  

In this suit, Mrs. Cunha is seeking my removal as Co-Owner of all dogs that we currently Co-Own.  

My Co-Ownership was a requirement of purchase of Wayfarer CnSand Pure Karma (Cnsand Bass Ackwards x Akire Gotta Lotta Moxie) pursuant to a written contractual agreement between Mrs. Cunha, David Gault (Wayfarer), and myself (CnSand). In addition, as an agreement of purchase of Wayfarer CnSand Pure Karma, Mrs. Cunha agreed to have all offspring produced placed on spay/neuter contracts unless permission was given by both Patty and David Gault (Wayfarer) and myself (CnSand).

Mrs. Cunha is also seeking my removal as Co-Owner of Karma CnSand the Beat Goes On (DownEast Lord of the Rings x Wayfarer Cnsand Pure Karma), a puppy produced from a litter I arranged with my long time friend, Steven Dostie (DownEast). My Co-Ownership of Karma CnSand the Beat Goes On was a requirement of the Stud Dog owner, Steven Dostie (The DownEast Stud Service Agreement required all puppies from this litter to be placed on AKC Limited Registration with spay/neuter requirements, and the ownership and physical possession of one show and/or breeding potential female puppy is allowed as long as the puppy is co-owned by all bitch owners, thus contractually requiring me to remain a co-owner of this bitch). 

Wayfarer CnSand Pure Karma was bred to Floodtide’s Meet Me at Dockside.  Mrs. Cunha did not receive permission from me for any of the resulting puppies to be placed on anything other than a strict Spay/Neuter Contract.   Mrs. Cunha was able to register 9 of the 10 puppies on Full Registration with the AKC.  The AKC agreed to list me as Co-Owner of all of the dogs that were fully registered in this litter.  Mrs. Cunha is also seeking my removal as Co-Owner of all these dogs/bitches (all dogs will be listed by AKC name and AKC registration number at the conclusion of this letter).

Mrs. Cunha bred Karma CnSand the Beat Goes On (a bitch I co-own as mentioned above) without my knowledge, approval, or input during this ongoing litigation. The resulting litter was born 4/28/2013. On June 5, 2013, I was notified by the AKC that Mrs Cunha attempted to register the litter with the AKC.   Per AKC rules and regulations, I was contacted to obtain my approval and signature  as co-owner. I explained that Karma CnSand the Beat Goes On was involved in an ongoing lawsuit and that I would not be signing the litter registration.   I provided the AKC with copies of Mrs Cunha's Court Complaint and my response to the Complaint and Counterclaim.   The AKC responded on July 12, 2013 that they will not make any decisions in regards to the registration of the litter until after the case has been resolved.   Mrs. Cunha placed all of the puppies from the litter at 8 weeks of age.   I do not know where the puppies were placed, nor do I have any first hand knowledge of any contractual promises to or requirements of the new owners that Mrs. Cunha has made. 

I was contacted by the AKC in August 2014 in regards to Mrs. Cunha’s attempt to register the April 30, 2014 litter out of Karma Queen of Kings Can’t Touch This Royal Seal.   Due to the ongoing litigation concerning this litter the AKC will not be making any decisions in regards to registration until the court case has been resolved.  To my knowledge, Mrs. Cunha has placed all of the puppies from this litter.  I do not know where they were placed, nor do I have any first hand knowledge of any contractual promises to or requirements of the new owners that Mrs. Cunha has made. 

Mrs. Cunha has placed an advertisement in the PWDCA publication, The Courier, Stud Dog Issue (September/October 2014).  She has offered at Stud, Karma Kings Spare to the Heir, a dog that I co-own.  The dog is part of the on-going lawsuit (see list of dogs below).  Correspondence from the AKC on November 20th, 2014 says in part the following: “The AKC will withhold registration of litters from the contested dogs until this matter is resolved.”

I Co-Own the following dogs and do NOT agree to their being bred.  Mrs. Cunha has refused to agree to not breed the dogs listed below until after the lawsuit has been settled, thus I feel it is necessary to inform my fellow breeders and fanciers that I do NOT approve of them being bred and I have had no input in breeding decisions for them. In addition, I will NOT agree to sign any litter registrations resulting from them being bred.  

1. 1.Wayfarer Cnsand Pure Karma (9/2/2007)  WS23375907
   

2. 2.Karma Cnsand the Beat Goes On (4/15/2010)  WS33644508
   

3. 3.Karma Queen of Kings Can’t Touch this Royal Seal (4/28/11) WS37358201
   

4. 4.Karma Kings of the Sea (4/28/11) WS37358204
   

5. 5.Karma Kings Spare to the Heir (4/28/11) WS37358205
   

6. 6.Karma Princess of Coral Destined to be Queen (4/28/11) WS37358206
   

7. 7.Karma Queen Princess of the Sea (4/28/11) WS37358207
   

8. 8. Karma Prince Squid Born to be King (4/28/11) WS37358208
   

  

Thank you for your attention to this very important matter. Please feel free to share this information with any breeder/fanciers that may not have received it. 

Sincerely, 

Kris Cofiell

CnSand PWDs

PWDCA member since 1993

AKC Breeder of Merit

I am co-breeder with Mrs. Cunha on the following Litters:

April 15, 2010  DownEast Lord of the Rings X Wayfarer CnSand Pure Karma 5 males 3 females

April 28, 2011  Floodtide’s Meet Me at Dockside X Wayfarer CnSand Pure Karma 5 males 5 females

April 28, 2013 Saltydawg Twice Baked X Karma CnSand the Beat Goes On  4 males 3 females

Please note that I was unaware of the 2013 breeding until it was listed on breeder referral.  Resulting puppies are not registered with the AKC.

April 30, 2014 Robel Charlemagne At Aquatass X Karma Queen of Kings Can’t Touch This Royal Seal 4 Males 8 females

Please note that I was unaware of this 2014 breeding until it was divulged after the breeding took place during litigation.   Resulting Puppies are not registered with the AKC.

Mrs. Cunha also attempted to breed Karma CnSand the Beat Goes On a second time in the Spring of 2014.  She utilized Hi Seas Dr. Romeo McDuff.  The breeding did not result in puppies.  

Please note that I was unaware of this 2014 breeding until it was divulged after the breeding took place during litigation.

Mrs. Cunha had a prior listing of an “Upcoming Litter” on her website for Spring 2015.  I do not know who the dam or sire is. It appears that the expected litter was never conceived as Mrs. Cunha now has puppies listed as expected Fall 2015.   Please note if the litter involves any of the above listed dogs note the statement in bold italics above the listed names.  

November 2015 Katajakonnun Sing When You Win X Karma Princess of Coral Destined to Be Queen  Please note that I was unaware of this 2015 breeding until it was divulged on FaceBook.  At this time puppies are NOT registered with the AKC.  

November/December 2015

Adele (Baker x Eight) x Phelps (Charlie x Seal) Phelps is co-owned by Roberta Ragge.   Please note that neither “Adele” nor “Phelps” is registered with the AKC.  Thus all offspring are not AKC registered. 

September 2016 Katajakonnun Sing When You Win X Karma Queen of Kings Can’t Touch this Royal Seal.  Puppies will not be able to be registered with the AKC at this time (if ever). 

Mrs. Cunha has offered Karma Kings Spare to the Heir at Stud (please see the add below, Courier September/October 2014).  He was bred to a bitch owned by Cheryl Hoofnagle of Blue Run Portuguese Water Dogs. 7  Puppies were born June 2015 (breeding took place in late April 2015, well after the publication below).  Please note that I was unaware of the breeding until after it took place and it was listed on the breeder’s website (http://bluerunpwds.blogspot.com).  Ms. Hoofnagle has since removed the sire’s name and information from her website.  The dam is Blue Run’s Ignite the Night.  The puppies WILL NOT be registrable with the AKC (if ever) until AFTER litigation has concluded. 

PLEASE NOTE THAT ANAT CUNHA NOW GOES BY THE NAME ANAT HAYON.  She has also moved to North Providence, RI.

Please note that the case filed by Ms. Hayon in the Court of Rhode Island as well as my counter suit were dismissed without prejudice  in 2019 because both cases had sat dormant.  Since the dismissal of the case in RI I have filed suit against Ms. Hayon in the State of CT.