To think the cost of a puppy is bizarre?

[PersonaNonGarter]

I am completely baffled by the cost of puppies.

I have been thinking about getting another dog. I’ve always had older rescues but this time I wanted to get a puppy. I googled puppy and OMG, all the sites showed dogs from £550 to £1300!

I am not going to buy one at that price, obviously, but it seems so strange. Who pays this, why, and why isn’t the cost so much lower?

I agree OP.

It all boils down to making money I'm afraid. Breeders bred their animals to make themselves cash, they don't do it for the love of the breed. Yes they may "love" dogs but the cold hard truth is they breed popular puppies to make money and keep the coins coming into their pockets.

As others said, adopt, don't give money to breeders just so they can keep their profits coming in. You may just get a good old Heinz 57 puppy but at least the horrors of inbreeding issues will be diminished.

Yes some shelters may have high criteria but that is because some people have this rose coloured view of what owning a dog is like. As my mum always said, having a dog is like having a toddler for the next 10-15 years.

It’s fair that the rescue centres have to be cautious sending dogs with unknown backgrounds to houses with children. It’s the ‘adopt don’t shop, what about all those poor rescue dogs’ that keeps getting spewed out with no thought that annoys me.

I spent a year trying to find a suitable rescue dog. It’s not as easy as people claim.

Vet fees and food for a puppy do not add up like that!

A few things to factor in:

Cost and maintenance of the bitch during her lifetime
Stud fees or cost of keeping the dog
Being on call 24/7 for the first month, and then prolonged hours after that
Kennelling and heating if the pups are outdoors
And the vets fees aren't necessarily just vaccinations. Might be an emergency caesarian, will probably include scans. I've know puppies born with e.g. hernias.

Knowing someone who breeds as a sideline, it was the sheer time involvement that shocked me. There's no way she's making minimum wage if you add up all the time she spends on it.

People breed for a living or as an extra income and charge what the market will bear. I know I've bought horses for less than some puppies, but again, it's what the market will bear.

I am quite happy with the prices being high since it deters the casual -on a whim - purchaser

There’s a massive difference between responsible breeders who do it for the love of a breed and back yard breeders who do it to make money to spend on holidays and new sofas.

There are puppies born in rescue, we’ve currently got our 4th litter of pupppies here, born to a pregnant stray.

I know first hand the costs of raising a litter of pups, and even though we give the mum the best food we can, start the pups on excellent food, vaccinate and microchip, it’s nothing like the hundreds of £££ per pup that you’ve seen.

Please consider getting a young dog from a rescue - we’ve fostered several from 4 months of age upwards. Just about the age when the novelty of a cute puppy starts to wear off.

Only the wealthy could afford to breed pedigree dogs as a hobby for no financial return. You need at least one person around all the time, suitable premises, the cost of the parent dogs and caring for them.
Buying from a backyard breeder is a risk as even if you ensure its not a puppy farm, they can still have the risk of health problems.
Buying from a good breeder means you can be sure they are working on breeding healthy dogs of good temperament. They will be training and socialising the puppies from day one. If something goes wrong and your dog has problems they will take the dog back or offer support.

I always assumed that the cost was to make sure you were really serious about getting the dog. If they were a tenner a pup then people would get them because they are super cute then dump them when they start chewing the furniture or pee inside a few times, or get big and need more walks and food and become expensive. The cost to breeders makes sense too.

Have you seen the prices on gumtree?

It's not all about breeders' costs, it's about greed on there.

Agree with what others have said Adopt don't Shop!

All the time people are prepared to pay out hundreds and hundreds of pounds for a puppy - Dogs and Puppies will continue to suffer! More often than not they live exist in appalling conditions where they are cruelly treated and abused.

£X multiplied by 4, 6 (or whatever number of pups born to a dog)
= Profit Before Welfare.

twitter.com/puppylovecamp?lang=en

en-gb.facebook.com/puppylovecampaigns/

puppylovecampaigns.org/

I know first hand the costs of raising a litter of pups, and even though we give the mum the best food we can, start the pups on excellent food, vaccinate and microchip, it’s nothing like the hundreds of £££ per pup that you’ve seen

Breeders have to take days off work in order to care for the bitch and her litter, rescue centres have staff to do it.

One of my puppies were free, given away with all of her brothers and sisters and my friend took them all to find them good homes and the other £80 some tramp selling them for a quick buck. Both are complete mix breeds, one (the free one) is very healthy - hasn’t seen a vet in 7 years, the other is riddled with problems (THANK GOD FOR INSURANCE) so far has cost us probably around 7k and she’s only 2. Sometimes buying pedigree is better as long as they are health checked 500-1000 for a living animal isn’t overpriced imo - people sell them for so much mostly because people are naive and think they cost more, they must be better etc. Obviously that’s not the truth, also some people take time off work/don’t work and do it as a ‘job’ etc so you’re paying for them essentially raising the puppy to be better aware of household noises etc etc. Mine are both a joy and would never regret them, but I always wonder whether their brothers and sisters are so well cared for or ended up in rescues

I’ve applied for two rescue dogs recently

Turned down the first time because I’m a full time worker (didn’t care that I’d be willing to arrange a dog walker or similar).

Turned down for one at a different rescue for not having a resident dog. I think she was an ex breeding dog who needed to be thought to be a house dog or something.

If I was desperate for a dog now it seems buying would be my only option. I don’t think it’s particularly easy to rescue a dog. Obviously they need to ensure the dog will have a good life but it seems to be nearly impossible to adopt if you work full time or have kids under 8.

Market forces. Breeding dogs properly is quite a commitment and obviously breeders, as in any other business, wants to maximise their returns. We all know a Chanel handbag costs about £40 to make, but that doesn’t stop them selling it for a couple of thousand. It’s a business.

I paid £600 for a GSD puppy last year. I don't see that as expensive, in fact quite cheap in the grand scheme. Assuming a 10 year life span that's £60 per year, £5 per month.

I am happy with the breeder and the quality of the puppy, so is my vet. I would and will go back to them when I'm ready for another in a few years, they were very knowledgeable about the breed and are producing healthy dogs in a responsible way. I fully understand they are making a profit, most businesses selling a product do.

I don't hold with idiots deciding to cross any two random breeds for a laugh with no knowledge or forethought or people having one litter from a family dog to make money without the appropriate health checks. Hopefully the new regulations that came in in October will help reduce some of the problems. I also don't have any respect for the Kennel Club and believe they encourage poor health standards and put looks above all else. I fully support local authority registration for breeders and would be happy to pay a premium if it improves the health of puppies and gets rid of the idiots. It all depends on people doing their research before giving their money to puppy farms or paying over the odds for the latest trend.

I bought because shelters see my full time working hours as a problem despite the fact that a family member who is retired and lives round the corner looks after the dog while I am out. This is not seen as a suitable arrangement.

To be honest the reason we don’t have a dog is because we’re working full time, hazeydays even getting a dog-walker to come in, it wouldn’t seem right to leave a dog alone most of the day. We do have cats (all former feral kittens) they don’t give a shit if we’re home or not as long as food appears when they want it to appear. We’ll probably get a rescue dog in a few years once DH retires and I go part-time, cats permitting of course.

They are expensive because of vets bills, and not just for the puppies, the scans and medical treatment for the mother too, then there is the add on for the breed and wether they are pedigree and if they are they will come with papers to prove it, some mothers will be champion show dogs, which makes the puppies more expensive, plus a lot of breeders will pay for a stud. They can't just give them away.
Personally I don't like to buy as it encourages puppy mills, but reputable breeders do need to make their money back.
If you want a puppy, talk to your local rescue and ask them if they have any puppies coming up to rehome, or if they will let you know when there are.

Also to add that depending on the breed of dog some mothers need more intervention than others, some breeds Candice birth naturally, but there are some breeds that can't and have to have a c-section.

We decided to get a puppy to add to our family she was 850. I have two other dogs which are rescue dogs we got them before we had children (9/10 years ago). I chose to pay for a puppy so it could be trained from the start and also because we have young children and other dogs and this now causes massive issues for rescue centres

It's been a while since I bought a puppy from a breeder but it is reassuring to know they are going for sensible prices, means people will make sure they definitely want one before spending a not unreasonable, but high enough, price. :)

I'm sure there are plenty of responsible breeders out there but there are also thousands who breed dogs purely for the quick money and have no clue what they are doing.
I grew up on a "sink" estate and practically every family there breeds dogs to supplement their income. Tax free.
Used to be staffies and when they fell out of fashion it became pugs and "designer" noodledoodle things. Anything that sells really.
2 breeding bitches can give 20 pups a year, even at £500 each that's 10k.
I personally know one woman who shares her home with 8 pug bitches and 2 labradoodles. the poor things all live in the conservatory and the garden is a shit tip.
She makes a fortune from them.

It's called supply and demand.

If every puppy were healthy, if every pregnancy resulted in 10 puppies all born without vetinary aid, people breeding responsibly would be making a decent profit.

The vicar in my village recently bred his dog. They kept one of the pups and just about broke even so they actually did very well. They were absolutely exhausted by the endless sleepless nights, smell and clearing up and won’t be doing it in a hurry.

Did you even know breeders actually have to pay circa a grand just to rent the male to sire the babies for starters? Pregnancies even then aren’t guaranteed. Therefore a successful litter of 8 puppies will have an immediate on cost of £125. Vets bills can run into the thousands.

So no, there isn’t a lot of money to be made from responsible breeding unless you are lucky and charge over 1k a pup. Hence the abundance of puppy farming, where bitches are bred continuously until they’re euthanised.

Paying that for a well bred puppy from good lines is one thing - sadly many people have jumped on the bandwagon & breed for the money. No clue on genetic testing or anything else, they simply have a dog & can breed. Selfish gits.

Decent breeders do it right. And the costs add up. If you're looking at breeders who can give you info on generations of their dogs, who have done all the testing etc then the cost is justifiable. They give their pups the best starts. If you're looking at some idiot breeding in their utility room because they happen to own a sought after breed...says it all

Responsible breeders have their dogs checked out by a vet before breeding, which for larger breeds means hip and elbow-scoring - at a cost of over £200 per animal because it has to be done under anaesthetic. It might prove that the animal is unsuited for breeding by identifying possible congenital defects.

Don’t buy a puppy. Shelters are full of them.