To not realise how much money is in selling puppies?

[Purplebiscuitwithsprinkles]

We've been on the look out for a puppy. We've decided to go for a rescue dog. Got chatting to a neighbour and they told us a neighbour around the corner is selling puppies at £1500 each x6. As far as we know all is above board and they are registered etc.

We were tempted to go for it as the dogs are on our list but something was niggling away at me so decided to stick with our original plan and go for a rescue dog. This is booked for a visit to a rescue centre tomorrow.

I suppose my AIBU is should people not be allowed to breed puppies and those wanting to get one should just get rescue/abandoned dogs instead? There's so many dogs in shelters but they seem to be so many being bred still.

I don't know the full ins and outs but £9,000 tax free is a lot of money from what I understand the neighbours have bred puppies before and made £10,000 so £19,000 in the space of two years with no tax to pay? Should breeders have to pay a tax and only be allowed to breed so many dogs a year?

Apologies if I have this completely wrong and they do have to pay a tax etc.

It's self employment, part time or full time. You're still being really rude assuming people don't pay tax on other sources of income

How?

What breed of dogs was this? I dont agree with backyard breeders but 7 can be an average age for some dogs

It's more a life-style bound up with interest in improving a breed, showing dogs, agility etc.

Don’t get a “Goldador” without the parents having hip checks. You don’t want a dog with hip dysplasia, trust me, it’s heartbreaking.

You really need to know Labradors are from a good line - big dogs need proper health genetic tests.

You know some breeds are £3,000 each right?

OMG. Poor, poor dog.

There's also plenty KC breeders who do the same. They're all bastards.

I do. However, I also know that to produce a puppy that will cost 3k you will have to do a whole shed-load of work with attendant expenses. Health tests for mother, stud fee (3k I presume),money for possible caesarian etc, vaccinations and so forth - I listed them all upthread and so have several other people. Not mentioning that you will need to be with such a litter practically 24/7 as mum is quite likely to sit on pups, push them into a corner, so they die of cold etc.

A woman I knew basically bred to make an income, which I found appalling. Just because it has a uterus, doesn’t mean it should be bred.

If a breeder is charging over a grand a puppy, I’d want low/zero hip/elbow scores, plus clear recommended tests for the breed (not health checks!)

Totally agree. A whole lot more expense for a good breeder than just those, which are incidental to having a particular litter.

@notbelieved no I am not rude to assume...there are plenty of people who don't declare their full income who are self-employed...I personally know of a hairdresser who doesn't declare all their earnings as they do wedding/prom hair on the side for cash but works in the salon during the day.

There are plenty of people in all fields that do jobs on the side for cash and don't declare it. And if you use things like eBay or Vinted as a previous poster mentioned, I guarantee not everyone declares their earnings from that.

When we looked at quotes for our driveway to be done years ago, a lot of builders wanted some money transferred and the rest cash which I point blank refused because I knew the cash part wouldn't be declared.

Some wanted money paying into a personal account and not a business account because they were having 'problems' with their business account. We eventually found a reputable company (supply the workers with proper safety boots, suncream, don't want to come into the house every 5 minutes to go upstairs, and we're happy with a kettle with cups and boxes of tea bags, biscuits, milk, juice etc) that allowed us to pay a deposit into their business named account and then when the work was complete to pay the rest into the same business named account.

I don't willingly get involved with people who don't play by the rules, I try to support friends businesses as much as possible and shop local.

I believe eventually it will catch up with people who do the cash in hand, don't declare income etc. One of the builders we contacted was in the local paper for accepting cash jobs and not declaring it. He was a bragger of the lifestyle of flashy cars, holidays, big wedding etc the big I am. They really went to town on him to show that it doesn't pay to not declare and do things properly.

Rescues aren’t always what they are cracked up to be unfortunately. We rescued a 18month old dog from a big local rescue. Checks all done and she settled in beautifully. 2months later she flipped out of nowhere, started attacking all my doors, walls and would try and lunge at any cars to grab onto. It ended in her biting my partner and a hair raising drive back to the rescue with her. Completely heart breaking for us as we really loved her but we didn’t know the trigger as it was nothing consistent or obvious and we couldn’t safely have her back.
The problem with rescue dogs is they can have such awful pasts that are completely unknown to the rescues and new owners. We will have to go with a puppy now which isn’t what we wanted but we can’t go through that again :(

@OrwellianTimes Not getting a Goldador we're getting a Labrador thank you for the advice though.

Oh no so sorry to hear this. I hope things work out for you with the new dog.

So any breeder should not be rewarded for their expertise and hard work? 🙄

Who has said that?

5 pages of it!

@Grammarnut 6 pups £3000 each = £18,000 minus £3000 for costs

So you own the sire, or got a cheap stud? Or possibly proved the dog? Otherwise the stud fee is usually the price of a pup.

I think some of your hesitations about getting a dog could be allayed by buying a puppy in a really country area. I have had three, but all (apart from the first in 1992) were bred by friends from their own dogs, or on recommendations from shooting acquaintances. We don't shoot or have land but there are always some puppies in a litter that have an interest in sport. We have one that loves retrieving, whether a stick from the river or a fallen bird, and while she has never been trained to the gun, she puts up game birds, kills rats and squirrels very efficiently. The local NT rangers adore her, because she does part of their job. And she came to us as an eight week old puppy, our third labrador. Trained the same as her predecessors. She is bored indoors, so spends most of the day when not walking, watching/guarding the house and the butterflies. Terrified of the dishwasher though.

@Grammarnut studs my own dog.

There are posters on this thread from whom I would consider buying a dog, and a lot more I wouldn't trust to own guinea pigs.

Both parents should be health tested

KC registered…I know people think it’s not relevant but you need to know the coefficient if there is too close a bloodline (if FTCH etc…popular stud)

stud fees

full vet health check on mum and scan

whelping set up, heat lamps, vet bedding, runs

puppies vaccinated, wormed chipped and KC registration

10 weeks of full on care from all the kit top notch food, enrichment and a puppy pack that has at least 100£ worth of stuff in it

other support puppies might need, extra night feeds/formula etc

If its a one off it’s expensive

Its absolutely disgusting and takes a certain type of person to think of it in the first place.
Cats have a specially designed box whereby they are obliged to do their thing. Gross.