Price of a pup

[mellongoose]

When will they come back down? Will they ever actually come back down? Who is paying £2500 for a dog that would usually cost £750?

We were all set to get a second dog for our family but will put it off until the prices drop. I hope they do, but I cannot see any sign at the moment.

What are your thoughts on this? Are we likely to see our rescue centres filling up?

But shelters often don’t let you have a dog with dc- even older ones. I did a quick search on several sites earlier and there were less than dogs nationally on all the sites combined they could go to homes with older dc and even fewer with primary age. None of those 10 were suitable for homes with cats. It’s really not often possible to rescue.

10,000! That’s crazy. There must be a point at which nobody will pay that much.

Precisely, this is why I refused to be part of the chain. I'll wait whatever we have to wait to get a dog in our family :)

For a lot of people the change in working conditions mean they can get a puppy.

If you know you will be working at home full time or only going into the office a few times a week for the first 6-12 months of their life or longer then you are around for the settling in part and getting cover for a few days with an older dog is so much easier than a very young puppy. For that reason I think the prices will stay high for some time. Then the risk is that people are used to paying those prices so they stay the same or hardly drop.

Only time will tell if they reduce back down to pre covid rates.

@pupstersdream this was our issue. We had no kids or cats, but the rescue knew we were in our 20s and likely to have babies so no rescue would give us a dog or a pup (not that many had pups. They seemed impossible to find). I understood the logic but then people judged us for buying a pup and not rescuing.

Where I come from, you get a pup from the farmer down the road and you might throw him 50 quid for the food he has been feeding the pup. That's it. I hated buying a pup, but it was the only way to get a dog if you were under 50 with kids or a prospect of kids.

the rescue knew we were in our 20s and likely to have babies

Slightly beside the point but that would have really pissed me off in my 20s. I've known from the age of about 12 that I didn't want children!

the massive price hike is less to do with a massive rise in demand and more connected to a choking-off of the supply

Definitely

Reputable breeders suspended matings, plus arrivals from overseas plummeted.

I think numbers on shelters will rise in the autumn, but I'm still hoping it won't be at the worse end of predictions (because supply restriction did mean fewer dogs in total)

@Borderstotheleftofme this is 100% true. Any one who has researched having a dog properly would know that lockdown was the worst time to get a puppy. No proper socialisation could have been done to the extent it should have been. I agree. In about six to eight months they will start rolling in.

@Paranoidmarvin maybe if you got a pup as soon as lockdown started - but surely must of those were already arranged and those pups could not have been bred as ‘lockdown puppies’

Our pup has only officially been allowed out for a couple of weeks, so lockdown has made little difference. He’s started classes, met lots of other dogs, been shopping, met other animals (horses, sheep etc) lots of time in car and with people of all ages. How is he not being properly socialised?

The "I want it now" culture is to blame. I've been horrified by the price rises too, rescues are already seeing the fallout from it and in a few months time there'll be an even bigger fallout with poorly trained dogs with issues ending up in rescue.

People want dogs NOW though. No one has any patience any more. So tons of back yard breeding and theft is going on, like this in the news today:
www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-gloucestershire-53881242

Rescues are overwhelmed by requests as well. The amount of hate they're getting on their social media by disgruntled people who want dogs NOW but have missed out on the "easy" dogs. The desirable breeds, puppies and "easy" dogs can get anything from 500-1000 applications. For one dog.

It's just mental out there.

If you want a dog, really want a dog, wait until next year. When this madness has calmed down.

We’re looking at the moment and it’s really shocking how many puppies that were bought during lockdown are now being sold on and still at ridiculous prices!

There are loads on Pets4Homes with the majority of adverts claiming how perfect and loved their new puppy is but family circumstances have changed

The reputable*, licensed and registered breeder of KC reg pedigrees my boy came from in December 2019 has had one litter since and her prices have not increased.

*adores her dogs, has consistent, traceable health test results for generations; transparent, traceable documentation for every dog; superb loving, gentle temperaments for generations (she keeps her bitches once retired and breeds her own line and so you can see your puppy’s maternal line going back 4 or 5 generations).

Well, I’d be avoiding Pets4Homes for a start, @turnedouttoes. It’s puppy mill central without Covid driven price hikes.

Oh for sure, we won’t be buying from there, I was just looking to see what prices were like as I know demand is so high at the moment

I saw an awful advert for a young dog for sale that had a luxated patella - advert said cost of treating this would be £900 - so the seller had deducted £900 from the asking price for the dog (which even with the deduction was £2000).

So the poor dog is struggling with a luxated patella while they wait for a buyer to come along. & they are hoping for someone to take on this dog with a condition that they will never now be able to insure because it's pre-existing.

The prices of puppies is ridiculous. Because people are paying it breeders are charging it. There are puppies in rescues I got one a few month back.