The price of puppies

[Got99ProblemsBut]

Or dogs in general at the moment?

I can totally see how/why it’s spiked due to lockdown, but it’s still feels incredibly ridiculous. Do you think it will lower again after the pandemic?

I would love to adopt but already have a dog, cats, and children under 10 so there’s never any lovely rescue dogs suitable for us as they tend to need quieter homes Although I still keep an eye out!

I’m just browsing and waiting, thinking that some people might not be able to handle their lockdown dogs and those might need a forever home. Or they’ll hit the awkward 6m-1yr stage that people tend to change their minds at

Just to add I’m not getting a “lockdown puppy/dog” because I have new found free time or anything as I was home 24/7 before all this started, just want a companion for my dog and have a very dog-loving/focused family

YABU - The price of dogs today is appropriate

YANBU - Thousands of pounds for a dog that cost £350 before lockdown is a huge increase

Its profiteering.
Theres a house near my sister where the occupants breed which ever type of dog is most fashionable at the moment.
15years ago it was staffies, then French Bulldogs and now she is on to Daschaunds. We worked out she Is turning over £40k a year, just from puppy sales and I doubt she is declaring that for tax.

@Wolfiefan

People selling at the moment are generally backyard breeders looking to make a quick buck from their pets or commercial breeders AKA puppy farmers. Many decent breeders aren’t breeding as they can’t do necessary specialist tests, homecheck potential owners etc.

This. Totally agree my friend's brother has just "puppied" his beautiful King Charles Cavalier she's had 10 pups at £2000 a "pop" he's rubbing his hands together as they normally only have up to 5 pups and has already booked the same stud for the next round. Shocking.

I hope the price point will make people thing more about adopting. Lots of rescues will rehome to homes with children. Try the retired greyhound trust for example.

Puppies are a lot of hard work as well, while they are cute.

Have your considered a non pedigree rescue? I'm on a few lurcher rescue groups on Facebook and the emphasis seems to be on finding a suitable home rather than attaching a high price tag . Definitely agree that backyard breeding and profiteering seems to be a problem at the moment.

Same for kittens. We are looking for one and told to check out gumtree while we wait on various list from registered charities. Bog standard kittens minimum of £150 wtf right up to £3000 for a pedigree.
Utterly shocking. We’ll keep waiting for a rescue.
It feels like the emperors new clothes.

In regards to kittens I don't think it's such a bad thing the prices have shot up. £150 might seem 'extortionate' for a kitten, but I always worry about those poor souls previously priced at £20-30 and ending up as potential bait fodder 😕. The one blessing of hiked prices kitten/pup is that a lot more will take up pet insurance and personal well-being. Nobody in their right mind is going to fork out 3k for a pup to look towards throwing away their money. The past £50-75 mongrel up to anyone haven't always fared the best sadly.

Yes looked at all the local rescues I certainly don’t need a pedigree greyhounds are lovely! It’s not necessarily that I have children but that I have children and a dog and a cat^. A lot are okay with one and not the other, but I’ll always keep an eye out still

Yeah we was looking before lockdown, the price has jumped really high!

My uncle breeds dogs, cant remember the breed, but you could buy them for around £900 off most breeders, but for his dogs you would be paying upwards of £2200 for one of his pups, he is fully kc registered, and he is into blood lines and stuff, took over 3 years to get the right male for his females!

I've been looking for a puppy and have found that all of the proper breeders aren't breeding during this shit show.
Yesterday, I came across three adverts where people are 'rehoming' their dog and are trying to make their money back from the original purchase by charging £1500-£2000 for rehoming. There was an advert for a 14 week old pug that needed to be rehomed as they dont have the time for a puppy. Going by the pups ages they'd only had it a week!

We considered it, but I’m not paying £3,000 for a little poo machine.

We got our puppy in June, he was £100 more than the estimate the breeder gave me in March 2019 when she put me on her waiting list.

Hopefully kittens and pups being more expensive will make more people think more before getting one, selling a kitten for as little as £30 is criminal. A live, breathing, feeling creature who will live around 15 years should cost a lot more than that.

Hopefully kittens and pups being more expensive will make more people think more before getting one, selling a kitten for as little as £30 is criminal.

I would expect to pay only the costs of ver care for a kitten. I don’t agree with ‘breeding’ cats.

@Foxinthechickencoop I'm surprised ponies are currently so much more expensive. I'd have thought with so many people losing income and so many events cancelled/not happening, that there would be less demand, not more.

I totally agree. We had decided to get a Siberian Husky at the beginning of the year and looked into cost. They were well below a thousand pounds and then lockdown happened and we felt it was the wrong time.

Ds is 18 in March and has Aspergers and anxiety. He has loved this breed since he was a toddler but we had cats that lived forever! All he wants is a dog.

A few weeks back we decided to get one this side of Christmas and had a good look around. The prices were very different and the one that the dc loves is 2k.

We have been to see ( safely ) and have put down a deposit and are paying the rest when we pick him. He is stunning to be fair and a pure breed. I checked the advert again yesterday and besides “our dog”, the rest of the large litter are yet to be sold. I believe they are priced too high.

They will have 7 puppies left if unsold

We have a cross breed, paid £300 for him about 4 years ago. They have recently become a much more popular cross and are now going for £1.5k and more

We have been to see ( safely ) and have put down a deposit and are paying the rest when we pick him. He is stunning to be fair and a pure breed. I checked the advert again yesterday and besides “our dog”, the rest of the large litter are yet to be sold. I believe they are priced too high.

To be honest I'd have been wary about a pedigree husky costing only a few hundred pounds even before the virus. Huskies have never been cheap. A whole litter of puppies without any potential owners is also a large red flag. Most good breeders have waiting lists. I'd be worried that the whole litter bar yours is currently unsold, especially with the demand for puppies at the moment.

They are far far to expensive for most of the time byb with any mongrels.

Thee proper breeder I know is selling their kc blood tested, inbreeding checked, hip/elbow scored, dna tested, line checked for £1,500 ish which is around the right price.

But John down the street is selling his gsd pedigree no papers mutts for the same price “well loved raised in the family home” that family home is a place where the kids haven’t lived for years (not allowed to live there) but the photos stay up, the bins overflow with alcohol bottles but he puts on a good show and borrows a few local kids for a couple of pounds each to play with the pups when he has possibly buyers come around.

I duno a friend had a opps litter of husky’s 8 years ago couldn’t even sell them for £300 she ended up giving away the last three. Didn’t learn her lesson though as she had another litter a few years later don’t know what happened to those.

Agreed they are ludicrously expensive. But it is what the market will bear. Sadly the puppy farmers must be rubbing their hands in glee.

@OneForMeToo I did mean well bred huskies from reputable breeders who health test and pick studs with the best traits etc. Doesn't sound like your friend is one of those either.

I think I got my puppy at the right time! A year before Covid and the massive price hikes. I had to save a while to buy him at just under £1K but I’m priced out of the market now when they are £2-3K plus. The other problem is the number of dog thefts that have been happening locally where people are hoping to cash in on how expensive dogs have become.

I got my youngest cat nearly two years ago and I don’t see a massive rise in prices in cats from when I was looking. We are out of kitten season now but mid season there are a lot of moggies available for next to nothing and kittens in rescues due to the ease at which unneutered cats breed. My neighbour ended up with a stray giving birth to 4 kittens in her garden this year and they were rescued ( rescue charges £80 but that includes neuter voucher, health check etc). I think lockdown has driven the puppy market but not so much cats as they have never needed 24/7 attention. If you want a kitten just wait for spring/summer and (unfortunately) there will be loads.

It's horrible, we've been planning to breed from our lab bitch next year as she's turning out to be a right star in the field. She's meant to be DH's but she's mine! So he would like a lab for himself and my collie is very much in her twilight years, sadly.
The current demand is putting me off breeding her as I don't want her puppies to go to knee jerk homes, I want them to have been planned purchases and aware of how much work a puppy is for the first 18 months.

As said earlier in the thread, decent breeders have held their prices but I expect that they get their purchasers via word of mouth.

Have a look at Phoenix Rescue, they are a small rescue and their dogs go to foster homes while awaiting forever homes, so they know if a dog is good with children, cats and other dogs.
They also rescue Romanian dogs.

@Wolfiefan

People selling at the moment are generally backyard breeders looking to make a quick buck from their pets or commercial breeders AKA puppy farmers. Many decent breeders aren’t breeding as they can’t do necessary specialist tests, homecheck potential owners etc.

This

I know a lot of breeders through our first pedigree pup and we've been on the look out for a second since the start of the year. Not a single person is breeding at the moment, because they can't do it well.

Everyone I know who's gotten a puppy in 2020 has gotten it from a puppy farm, even when they've been sure it isn't, it has always turned out to be. Some even died before they were delivered to their new homes.