Dewey,
In all honesty, If it were me. and I saw that female dog at a home in my town, I would be calling the Humane Society first thing tomorrow. I think there is something suspicious going on at that breeders place and heaven only knows if there are other dogs there in the same condition
The fact that Aaron knows this person who treats a dog as such, and looks the other way says a lot about his character to me. I wonder what he is "getting out of recommending her to others"? I don't believe for one moment that any vet was in agreement with that. Who is in that poor dogs "court" looking out for her?, no one, how sad is that.
If I knew where that breeder lived, I would be calling their local humane society(tomorrow) all the way from Wisconsin, because it is obvious that the dog is underfed. Why doesn't your friend do the right thing - sorry, but that is just my two cents and the picture of that dog just bothers me