Why do people pay £100's of pounds for mutts?

[LuckySalem]

I dont understand why people are paying hundreds of pounds for what are essentially mongrels.

Apparenlty my mongrel pup is a Sprollie, I paid £80 for her from rescue but if you look at some places such as this www.pets-classifieds.co.uk/c51d77584.php I should have paid £350 for her

Now I understand things like the labradoodle being bred (when it worked) for people who had allergies but what on earth is with people?!

My mum knew someone who spent £800 on a chihuahua pup years ago, which got eaten by a cat who came in through the catflap they'd left open

I was at the vet's with Pepper last night (she's got mange ), and before us there was a little Shitzu puppy who had been horribly mistreated by an unscrupulous breeder. Its fur was yellow rather than white, from lying in urine for weeks, and its claws were overgrown and curled over. It also had a puncture wound in its eye. The owners just paid up to take the poor mite out of there, and the RSPCA have been informed.

Apparently the breeder had two litters on the go, and was obviously just raking it in without a thought for the animals' welfare.

God, that kind of story makes me mad! Thank god the owners of the shitzu saw her and subsequently bought her. I am not convinced there is such a thing as karma, but in this case I hope there is!

With regards to the OP, I think certain cross breeds, Sprollies for example, are becoming more popular (even though they are 'mongrels') so less clued up people are cashing in. Sad really as many potential owners tend to go on looks rather than the temperament etc.

There's a litter of Colliematians in our local paper. [absolutely knackered emoticon]

DH's labrador bitch would sell for approx £2500 to £3000 if he sold her. She is a fully trained gun dog though and people who go out shooting etc sometimes don't have the time to train them up. He has no intentions of selling her I may add, she is fabulous, the most mild mannered dog. He only paid £300 for her though which is the average if you don't go for a "trendy" dog.

Breeders like that one BitofFun has commented on make my blood boil.

what woud be a good mutt for us to get? DH works from home now and we have always wanted a pooch but now the time has come not sure what to get ! we have 2 dds and 3 cats . would not want anything too big or that moults everywhere as although i do like dogs i am a bit of a mare about fur and fluff everywhere. whatdo you think ?

We paid £4-500 for our springer from a breeder we knew and with a full history. He comes from good working stock and though we don't work him it means he has an excellent temperament and is obedient. He also loves our dd and is great with our other animals. I think he can be traced back about 20 generations. Not that it should matter he is also beatiful. We will be getting a springer puppy again and wil train him up as a gun dog.

Pipsqueak we have a miniature schnauzer pup - not big (DH would've been happier with a dog the size of a donkey!), doesn't shed, easy to train, average exercise, easy to transport. We also have 2 cats and 2 kids.

Obviously needs to be clipped regularly cos he doesn't shed.

thanks amazonian - have not heard of schnauzer - will go look now!

Agree 100% wildfig

My parents paid £300 for an English Setter 22 years ago. He was a gorgeous dog and came from a fantastic breeder. We saw the Mum with all the pups and he came with a full history.

He was incredibly dim, but was so good natured, a real softy even though he was big. Since then we had two CKC, only one is left now and both have been lovely dogs.

The one left has just had an eye removed but is my Dad's loyal companion (Mum died 8 years ago). I do worry about how my Dad will be once the dog dies as at 84 and not in great health he won't be able to get another

I wonder why cross-breeds aren't called their proper names any more. Sprollie sounds a bit silly I think Collie-Springer cross is more descriptive and gives you a better idea of what you might be taking on (we almost put our names down for one at our local rescue, but it had had it's tail docked, and I just couldn't see past that - I could have happily adopted a dog with three legs, but tail docking just seems so cruel to me now). My mother had a mixed up rescue dog and termed him a "London black" when asked. I wouldn't call a cross breed a mutt, but then I wouldn't call them a designer breed either. Some of the crosses may become true new breeds in future though - lots of breeds of dogs came from crosses originally, they just have been around for long enough and bred carefully enough to breed true now.

Our mixed up pup (American Water Spaniel x who knows what) cost $250Cdn, but that was more of a donation to the shelter + to make sure we really wanted him fee.

Our thorough bred Akita with a Champion stud for a father set us back £850 reduced, because he was the last of the litter and the wanted gone of him. He's a good dog, but he is moody and arrogant imo and I wouldn't trust him as far as I could throw him with my children. My 'mutt' that I now is proving to be one of the best dogs I have ever had. He cost the pound fee and even came microchipped, house broken and with a neutering voucher.

we sort of ended up with a pedigree staffie because he was the runt of the litter a friend had and no one would buy him.

Got him free and he's def not a runt now 8 odd years later at 25kg.

Never bothered getting papers for him though as not using him for breeding/showing.

Can you imagine how mental/much exercise a Colliematian would need??!

Agree Riven our dog was a spaniel X daschund and was a mongrel but nowadays what would he be- Spachshund? Daschaniel??

We have a designer mutt. A Maltalier - Maltese Terrier x Cavalier King Charles Spaniel.

She was CHF 500 (about £300) and worth every penny.

I think that a lot of people who sell mutts here ask for a couple of hundred to cover part of their costs and in the hope that the people who buy them will think a bit about it.

If you give them away then the chance is higher that someone will get a dog on impulse and 4 weeks later chuck the dog out.

Hilarious website here

How about a Cavottish or a Cheagle? Actually I think that whole website is a piss take. A Chimation? Chihuahua x Dalmation - how did that work then?

If you look on the rescue dogs websites (e.g. Battersea) 90% of the dogs are bull terrier breeds. I think the trend is that irresponsible owners get them, can't train them properly, have them as 'weapon' or attitude dogs, and then when they get too much to handle or too expensive to feed they get dumped in the rescue centre.

We'd really like a dog and don't think it's necessarily incompatible with children, but we'd want to be a bit careful as our baby's, well, a baby. So I'd like a gentler breed or one where a responsible breeder can give some guidance (not 'assurance') as to its personality. If we really want the 'right' dog, then I think we would be prepared to pay up to £500 for it, but of course if we just wanted a companion and had no baby factors we'd take anything from rescue.

wynken blinken - can yo u tell me where you got your labradoodle from - having done some more research i m really keen on getting one but would love to find a good breeder and would like to know a bit about nthe background of the dog so this sounds ideal thanks

My SIL is expecting a litter of goldendoodles (golden retriever x standard poodle)any day now.

Mum and dad are hip and eye tested and both good examples of their breeds.She's oop North if that's any good to you pipsqueak?

When we decided we wanted a dog we wanted a particular breed. Went to several rescue centres leaving the details of what we looking for.
Phoned them all regularly, no luck.
Waited patiently for a year.
Nothing.
So paid many £££s for the dog of our dreams.
What's wrong with that??

Goober my problem isn't paying the money. If its a good breeder then the dog is worth the money. Its when people advertise their "mistaken mating" as a designer breed and demand £100's for it.

Why not? As much as any purebred dog, the mum needs alot of looking after during pregnancy and the owners will need to recoup that cost. And I guess some people don't care about having a purebred and will go out and buy a dog regardless of history back to Roman Times

Because people don't "recoup" the costs! They go overboard due to these designer breeds and if its an accidental mating that wasn't planned. Then they are risking bringing up an unhealthy puppy who's parents haven't been health checked or anything.

I'm just fed up or seeing these animals on preloved etc when there are lots of dogs being PTS in pounds cos the supply outweighs the demand.

I thought about getting a dog from what are known around here as "backyard breeders" because there were so few puppies in the shelter. But then I thought that all responsible (non pedigree breeder, and actually I have my doubts about many of them - I'm not at all sure breeding to show standards is a good thing) owners spay their dogs, so they were by default not terribly responsible, and then that made me wonder about how they had cared for their pups and the mother dog too. Of course without buyers the pups will end up in shelters, but at least the financial incentive to breed will be removed.

"I'm just fed up or seeing these animals on preloved etc when there are lots of dogs being PTS in pounds cos the supply outweighs the demand."

LS, thats sadly so bloody true!

Pipsqueak - have a word with Labradoodle Trust. The lady in charge, Barbara, is very knowledgable and full of common sense as well as very approachable. Even if you don't decide to rescue, though I hope you do, she will be able to give you sound advice.

If ALL breeders had to be registered I, LS, Bella and others like us would see far less dogs dying needlessly in pounds. At present the law says that you must only register as a breeder if you have 5 or more litters a year born to dogs in your household. When this is the case the law also states that no bitch can be bred within 12 months of her last litter.

If your dog/s have less than 5 litters a year however there is nothing but the controversial (and imho lily-livered) Animal Welfare Act to adhere to, so often, as we saw on CBs thread re returning her dog to the breeder/recovering her money, the breeder will cruelly and irresponsibly breed from an overtired,struggling bitch within a few short months of having her last litter.

Hmmm... time to campaign to the government for a change in the law methinks.