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

The criminal involvement is huge now.
There has been a few cases of puppy rescue with car loads transporting them to the UK or other counties over lockdown.
They are taken in by a pound and disappear to a friend of a friend never advertised for adoption.

Having spoken on the phone with a few different breeders recently (health tested dogs), it appears they do not have inflated prices. One breeder of working line Labs is offering a pup for £1200 next year, a St Bernard breeder £1800. Similar breeds on websites such as Gumtree would have prices inflated to £2500/3k just now.

You need to look in the right places, get on the phone and have a chat about prices. Get the feelers out.

All the decent breeders will have you waiting a while on one of their puppies.

WiddlinDiddlin I agree with you. We are constantly on Champdogs and Kennel Club website for news on reputable breeders and any future litters planned, etc. Prices are what they usually are.

DragononFire thank you for giving a breeder's perspective on this. All the breeders I have chatted over the phone to are like yourself and really do put the hours in to raise well socialised puppies before they are bought by families. Many have waiting lists, you can't just phone up and get a puppy next week. Two I know of do home checks before they will hand over their pups. This is understandable.

Hmm, I'm not so sure about the responsible breeders either now. Every single ad I have replied to via champdogs (these are KC Reg puppies only) have been priced at £3,500, with the reason given that they are worried about onward re-selling. That's fine, but there are certainly other ways you could protect against this without being a greeder. Why not say that they are £3,500 upfront, for example, but the £1.2k or so that is an inflationary COVID rise will be paid back after 1 or 2 years if you can prove ongoing ownership. Surely this is quite easy to do if dogs are microchipped. I think there is an element of profiteering even among responsible breeders going on.