... Or is the price of puppies absolutely insane??

[Tootletum]

I've been looking to get a dog for about a year, and now that I know I'll be at home for good, had started looking at prices for a spaniel or a viszla. The average asking price for a non KC registered purebred seems to be £2500, and even the lady advertising some accidental mongrel whippets wanted over £1000!!! Who is paying these insane prices???

Crazy people. Overheard some ladies in the park near me discussing paying 3 grand for a puppy. It will push people to backyard breeders/puppy farms.

Outrageously expensive. I bought our gorgeous girl for 300 pounds on gumtree. Not KC reg, but pure bred from a nice family home local to us.

Absolutely ridiculous, particular for those mongrels being touted as an actual breed I.e cockapoo, labradoodle etc. Far better to consider a rescue dog if that’s suitable for your circumstances.

Ddog as a pup came from Dogs Trust and was £40.

Our working Spaniels were around £900 each which had been the going rate for a while. Over £2,000 is just ridiculous!

What is insane here is not the price, it is the fact people are still buying puppies, where there are countless abandoned dogs in shelters, desperate for a loving home, including fancy breeds of all ages.

Crazy. A few weeks ago, there were only 4 litters of my preferred breed on Pets4home. Today, there are 8 pages but prices are still about £1.5K above pre-lockdown. Crazy. I hope they come down, even KC registered hip scored dogs were u dear a grand pre-lockdown.

Agree it’s insane to buy a puppy, rather than adopt. Go to your local rehoming centre and speak to them and there may be a dog that would be a good match for you.

Ddog was born in Dogs Trust so they got to know the mother and she was a really laid back dog and ddog was the same

People are paying the prices! We want another of our preferred breed, DDog is 5 and intention is to get another one but not at 4 times the cost of what she was 5 years ago, we did meet someone very recently who has paid a ridiculous amount for our preferred breed.

I knew someone would pipe up with a criticism of doodles

Whether you think they are a breed or not doesn’t matter in the slightest. People want them.

I would advise against gumtree though.

@Lookingbackatme as my kids are still very small, people keep telling me not to risk a rescue. Certainly would otherwise. Not actually fussed about getting some posh purebred, but also not willing to pay that much for a family pet...

And I also knew people would push rescue dogs.

The myth is: Lovely family rock up to a rescue centre, see a dog pining for lack of love, have a nice chat, a home visit and dog is home next week.

The reality is the lovely family won’t be considered if

they have children under 12 (14 in some cases)
Work (even from home, or part time with an arrangement for the dog when they are working)
Don’t have a secure garden
Don’t have another dog
Don’t have experience with owning a dog

It is utterly bonkers. Many rescue dogs also just aren’t suitable e.g. for families with cats - they always get pushed on here but I would not have a greyhound near my cats - and a lot of rescues are bull breeds which again I wouldn’t be comfortable with.

So people buy puppies. And they are entitled to do that and entitled to have whatever puppy they want, even if MN deem it a ‘mongrel.’

YANBU

It's supply and demand. I think with lots of people WFH the demand has shot through the roof.

My dog cost £900 ish just under 4 years ago and I thought that was high

It’s unlikely a rescue would consider you with young children, tootle

I picked my Shiba up a few weeks ago, prices for them haven’t really changed, but there aren’t a huge number of breeders in the UK and not a huge number of dogs which reduces BYB.

Buying from a rescue is good, but if you have a child, job, not enough experience etc you can’t buy a rescue dog.

Regardless of what you think of poodle crosses, they are not mongrels. They are cross-breeds between a poodle and whatever (spaniel/Labrador/golden retriever etc), whereas the definition of a mongrel is of unknown parentage (3 or more types).
My Cockapoo cost £700 nine years ago and I thought that was steep. Lovely dogs though they are, I wouldn't pay what some shysters are charging nowadays. Crazy.

eatyourcake
What is insane here is not the price, it is the fact people are still buying puppies, where there are countless abandoned dogs in shelters, desperate for a loving home, including fancy breeds of all ages.

This. It can't be said often enough.

Try adopting one of those dogs, go on Tell me your circumstances and let me find you a dog.

We lost our golden retriever in may, we’ve thought about a pup and am on a golden retriever page and the owner of the page is selling pups for £2650 ridiculous amount of money. We’ve already got a dog booked from a litter for much less which we did pre dog passing away so price is set.
Much much lower than above price. Our older dog was a guide dog pup who didn’t make it, I paid a donation for him to keep him and I’d turn the clock back and get another of him but as that’s not the reality and rescue won’t look at us due to being having kids under 10 and I work albeit is always someone at home but def something I’ll do once kids are older and I’m retired

Well, I shall just have to wait for the prices to adjust again. Bit worrying really, must make dog theft an even bigger problem if that's what they can sell for.

Also, paying big money is no guaranty that it isn't a puppy farm pup. Even if you see the pup in a "nice family home" doesn't mean it hasn't been transported there for the day for a viewing.

Glad some people on here recognise that a rescue dog seems to be an impossible dream if you have a child. We would love a dog but no way we can afford the crazy prices for puppies and we have a 2 year old so apparently no rescue dog can be re-homed with us. 🤷‍♀️

It's insane.

We really really want a dog. I'd love to rehome one but we can't as they won't consider us due to having a five year old.

But I also can't afford £1500 for a puppy, nor do we want a puppy.

I've had four dogs before, I'm comfortable with them and really want to rehome, they just won't let us