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I dont understand why people are paying hundreds of pounds for what are essentially mongrels.

Apparenlty my mongrel pup is a Sprollie, I paid £80 for her from rescue but if you look at some places such as this http://www.pets-classifieds.co.uk/c51d77584.php I should have paid £350 for her

Now I understand things like the labradoodle being bred (when it worked) for people who had allergies but what on earth is with people?!

I don't understand why anyone with kids would want a dog, any dog. You could not pay me to have one.

Stinky, slobbery creatures.

The dogs are just as bad

Ah, but we wouldn't even pay you to have one Jasper! <<ner ner emoticon>>

I love being surrounded by dogs but can't understand for the life of me why anyone would want to teach or be a childminder!

One mans's meat and all that!

LS one of my fellow rescue pals has a rescued Sprollie, from an Irish pound. He's the brightest, most super little lad, wiping the floor with the 'better bred' competition in agility. He cost the lady the price of a rescue fee and lots of love and its been repaid in zillions.

My only (paranoid) theory, in answer to your question, is that dogs are not anywhere near as often 'free to a good home' now, especially pups, and that some of those who pay silly money for a mutt from a newspaper ad might not be willing/able to pay even more for a pedigree but also might not be deemed suitable to take on a dog by rescue. I sincerely hope I'm wrong though.

Hell, Being a would be childminder would not be my idea of fun but at least I would get paid and with any luck they would not chew the carpets or bite my kids

Cancel that. The probably would bite my kids

whoops, bit mixed up there

We paid a fair bit for our mutt, she is a labradoodle with a little bit of bearded collie, from an accidental litter that occurred as her Dad can open doors. So basically she is a complete mutt.

We could have afforded to pay for a pedigree and we did consider a rescue dog but decided with 3 cats, 2 children and being first time owners that we needed a dog where we 100% knew its history and had seen parents and grandparents.

I researched the breeder and found a lot of positive stuff on forums where people were very happy with their dogs and had commented on the high level of support they had received from her. As a result I was happy to part with £450 and haven't regretted it. She'll hopefully be with us for many years and I felt strongly that getting the right dog was vital and didn't really consider cost as an issue. She is the right dog for our family and although she is a monkey some of the time like any pup her age, she has a lovely temperament and has been a fantastic addition to our family and is worth every penny.

Message withdrawn

our woofa was £1k

Wynken - you could have got a good dog from rescue for 1/2 that amount and prob got a lot more with it. Ie: Vaccd, chipped, neutered!

I just don't get it. I remember when if a dog was a mixed breed people just wanted rid of it.
If it was an accidental litter then why on earth were they charging you £450!! I bet it wasn't health checked etc which I'd expect when paying that amount.

I just don't get it
Jasper - I'd prefer animals over kids (except my DD obviously) anyday! Don't talk back! lol

£1k?!

yep

great swiss mountian dog

ah see but thats a purebred and probably had alsorts done (ie: health check etc) plus I heard they're quite hard to get hold of.

You can pay £1k for a pug, you know.

On a £/kg basis, GSMD's are terrific value

indeed he was great value

btw he ate some ham db left on side in kitchen the other day

no food or dishclothes are safe from him

<sighs>

Bless

db didnt say bless

Dya know what our dog is like that! lol. She also has a liking for wet nappies! lol

woofa 16mths has eaten in his time

organic raw pork
vension sausages
babys puree tea
500g cheese
pizza
whole frozen garlic bread
many dishcloths
ham

sure he licked/chewed a pooey nappy as

lucky - what breed do you have?

She's a collie X springer (designer breed apparently) lol!!

I have a German Sheprador.

Cost me £50 from Battersea.

She was 18 mths, abused, with an unknown history.

Top notch dog in every single respect.

obv woofa is a pedigree

What I find really distasteful about the whole designer dogs thing is the way they're marketed and priced as if you can pick and choose canine characteristics in the same way you'd spec up a car. 'Oh, we paid £900 because our pugadoodle is guaranteed not to shed/slobber/need much walking/bark after 9pm' etc, etc. No one tells the poor dog, and then when it DOES shed like a lab instead of a poodle, or need constant stimulation like a collie and not a bloodhound, it's straight off to rescue because it hasn't matched its sales pitch. Even sadder is the fact that a lot of 'designer' dogs are bred in appalling conditions that give them a bad start temperamentally.

I'd either shell out for a pedigree puppy from a breeder I trust (in which case the money would buy peace of mind and back-up, as well as a healthy pup - we've had more than the cost back in boarding fees and advice alone), or pick up a friendly rescue dog, and give them a decent donation to help rescue others. But to pay a middling amount for some poor cut-and-shut puppy-farmed dog is plain wrong, and it frightens me how many otherwise sensible people honestly think you can mix a dog like a cocktail.

(Sorry, bee in bonnet)

I've paid £1400 for one dog and £750 for another, the last was cheap at £450.

I'd love a chiauaha (sp?), they're often over 1k.

She was health checked and vaccinated and we saw the hip and eye stuff for both parents, met them and her grandmother. They weren't sure which of two dogs was the father so DNA tested the pups to be sure.

We could have paid a lot less at a rescue and I very seriously considered this but wanted a dog where I could see both parents and knew its history which is what I got.

We went along to have a quick look at a litter of little puppies but were a bit early and our dog was outside still. She was 16 weeks and her litter mates had all gone. The breeder was holding onto her for a few weeks for a family whilst they went away, they came back and decided they didn't want a dog . DH, my elderly had many dogs neighbour and I all fell for her watching her potter around and that ended 9 years of diithering over us getting a dog.