£800 for a puppy?!

[yellowbrickroad]

I'm looking at getting a puppy. Initially I wanted a Bealge, but had no idea that they cost around £800 from a breeder! Waaaayyyy too much for me (despite how cute they are).
I've tried looking on local ads but there still seems to be a cost of around £200 attached to getting a puppy. I was under the impression I could find someone local who's dog just had puppies and I could take one home for a tenner (pretty sure that's what my mum did with our jack russell!)
I haven't had a dog before (apart from when I was a kid) and have a young family & not lots of space, so would like a small dog, but have no clue how to go about finding one that doesn't involve me paying hundreds of pounds. Can anyone help?

sure that will be a tasty snack for kings dog

Tulip, that is exactly why National rehoming centres (RSPCA etc) will not let dogs go to homes with pre-schoolers - often not with under 8's.

For a Viszla, please see the weimaraner thread as same rules apply imho.

I am an experienced dog person and was considering a (wirehaired) Viszla, but decided against in the end.

I have also waited until my youngest DC is almost 5.

We got both our dogs as pups from the Dog's Trust.

The fee was £75 and £90
You have to keep looking for a pup there though as they tend to go quickly

Argee Ohdear but a reputable breeder would have also prepared any potential owner for what life might be like with a young dog.

Chihuahuas! £1000 per kg! It's true - I've googled them and some are selling for £1200!

King - make your dog spit that back up!

Tulip, you need to lay the law down with your children IMHO, if they are not listening to you then I can forsee a situation where the dog won't either... Do you have any work your dog can do to be a working dog (IYSWIM!) (I also agree that the breeder has a responsibility to make sure owners know exactly what they are lretting themselves in for!)

Bella, my dog will pick his teeth with that

def more money then sense

i thought £1000 was bad enough - but least we get fleshforourpound value for our money

That is an expensive tooth pick

Yes I agree, if it continues there will be a problem and I don't want to create a nervous dog just because my children are awful.We are talking to the breeder tonight to see what he suggests. We did look into the breed and everything we read said good working and family dogs, nothing aboutthem being such extreme dogs, what have I missed?
With regards to what work it could do, my dh hunts with a bird of pray and ferrets so we were hoping it could point for him.It is also booked into gundog school starting 12th may.
Oh he is 9 wks at the moment.

Thanks so much for all your comments they are really helpful, I think my freinds are fed up with hearing about it.

pmsl at the price per kg.

can I make a kg-related confession? when A was a pup we had some pedigree chum dry food with ambiguous feeding guidelines - you couldn't tell if the weight was meant to be predicted adult weight or current weight. we trawled the web for an answer and emailed pedigree to ask. in the meantime we fed him assuming it was current weight - but after a couple of days decided it was a ridiculously small amount and it must be adult weight. about 8 weeks later we got a reply from pedigree confirming that yes, the weight was predicted adult weight. dh emailed back saying "thanks but our pup died of starvation a few weeks ago"

Lol, I can bore the best of them with my doggy chatter

I should imagine that working life you describe would work well for him, does your dh have any experience of training a working dog? There is nothing to say that a working dog canot be a family dog too. I know all the working dogs around us come into the house in the evenings for "family" time (although they do go out at night I dont think there are any hard rules about that!). Being honest I would say a working life is better than a life with young children who do not respect the dog. I do not want to upset you by talking about your children, I am sure they are very well behaved, please don't thinkI am being nasty or judgy about them!

TBH he doesn't sound like he is being extreme, just being a puppy. I don't think people realise just how much having a puppy is like having another child, only with sharp teeth and even less concept of what you are asking for than a 1 year old!

Thankyou, right best leave work now, its amazing that mn can even be squeezed in here (dont worry though puppy not at home alone, he is with inlaws)thankyou you and kingcanute I may call upon your wise words again if that is ok.You speak alot of sense.

oh and dds want me to tell you that it's A's first birthday today. they sang happy birthday to him and gave him a bone. (well a fake bone because the only time he had a real bone he chewed it into rather worrying splinters)

Are we working out the dogs worth as an adult or as a puppy. Daphne currently weighs 2.7kg (very short hair as the doggy salon butchered the cut last week, she normally weighs another couple of grams heavier.

That works out about £100 per kilo.

Don't think she will get much bigger really

She is 7 months and rarely chews anything. We had problems with 4 yo ds to begin with but he has learned to leave her alone. (posted on mn and got similar advice)

[swipes some hobnobs and leaves chocolate fondue for dipping]

[daphne snuggles up with Swiss mountain dig and starts speaking French with him]

Tulip you are welcome, if you think I can help feel free to ask. I feel I have to say, I am not an expert, I have some experience and I am always willing to bore you senseless share it.

My current dog works out at around £20 per kg, however, in the end he should be around £7 per kg.

My previous dog would have been something insane, she weighed over 50kg (and no, I am not getting confused with lbs )

do you weigh before or after the dog has rolled in something very unpleasant, resulting in a bath tomorrow?

Depends, if you have a rat Chihuahua you should weigh it soaking wet, otherwise it may not tip the scales

• yes, I did think you were being incredibly restrained. I put it down to your being too busy scoffing the hobnobs though

MmmLindt - we are talking adult weight here. Sadly the devaluation of sterling has made Daphne relatively more expensive, though she is still head and shoulders above a Chihuahua (quite literally I imagine)...

Impressed by my rescue dog - 28 kgs of loveliness for £50 - that's under £2 a kilo folks

swiss mountain returns snuggles with daphne but cant speak the lingo

My cat is heavier than your dog MMeLindt!

Will forever picture you as Les Dawson with boobs now, Marmaduke!

I nearly wrote 'brushing hn crumbs from bosom' but that just sounded too matronly!

Marmaduke, I did a Bad Thing and went to see that bloody Moonacre film. They got you soooooo wrong