Cost of puppy

[Durdledore]

Hi there,

We have been actively thinking about getting a dog for over two years now. We would love to get one now as the time feels right. We would like a puppy rather than an adult dog but we can’t afford the huge outlay of what we are finding online - £2000 ish even for a mixed breed.

Can anyone advise? We are looking at local rescues too of course.

Dogs that the man on the street haven't heard of. These dogs are a luxury choice rather than a necessity.

in terms of ongoing costs beyond purchase…

please do not overlook the cost of insurance
Ours started at £12 PM l.
ddog is 7 years with a life expectancy of 12-16 …

we are paying almost £1k per year after shopping around original renewal was £1.3k

our dog isn’t even particularly sickly

jabs and worming is another couple of hundred PA.

@Janedoe82 to be fair, the man on the street isn't always reliable. There was a thread on here last year about a woman with a spaniel who heard a woman telling her kids to stay away from her dog, as it was an XL bully...

Name the breeds. What is your definition of uncommon and rare - how many registered per year?

There is a list of vulnerable British breeds which have very few registrations per year but not long ago had high registration numbers, are people allowed to purchase them now because they are considered rare, which of course will ensure the breed continues, or are people not allowed to buy them because they are expensive or status symbols?

I'm grinning at
still comes with a cretin quality

Some days that describes mine perfectly.

Meh, I paid £400 for our puppy back in 2021 and consider it money well spent. Her mum is a working sheepdog, owned by family friends. Her dad is a working black lab, owned by the next farm over. Both parents are from generations of working dogs that are known in the local farming community - the owners of both mum and dad know who owns their dogs parents and littermates and could probably tell me who owns their parents etc.

She's absolutely perfect, the most chill and easy to train dog you could hope to meet, incredibly healthy and hardy. She was vaccinated and microchipped, reared onto organic raw food (and apples from the farm 😂), and incredibly well socialised before coming home to me, and has been nothing but a pleasure to own and train. Her mum's owners had homes lined up for the puppies well in advance and we were on the "reserve list" - only got her because someone else had a change of circumstances and had to back out.

Yeah I suppose she did come from a "backyard breeder" by MN standards but here in the real world she has been better bred and cared for, and is healthier, than the majority of dogs out there!

That isn't a backyard breederin the sense of the word - you were able to know the parents and relatives, plus the dog fitted to your requirements. The pup was not purchased from gumtree. So compared to many it was a very sensible purchase. I would have preferred if the sire and dam were health tested, especially the labrador but you have a dog you are happy with. If the same people kept breeding the same dam over and over again that is when they head into the backyard breeder situation.

People can purchase what ever they like. But don't come out with nonsense like spending 2k is necessary or normal.

For many good pedigrees it is normal. You may think it is nonsense for many people it is not.

What is nonsense is people buying crossbreed dogs, or "pedigree" dogs for silly money from online websites with no health tests, all that does is encourage puppy farmers.

Your pushing of low cost dogs may be encouraging puppy farmers.

I am not pushing buying low cost dogs. I think profiteering off any dogs is very wrong. There is a massive over supply of dogs in the UK with shelters full to bursting.

For some of us, yes, it is, both necessary and normal.

Mine is not a rare breed, just a very large one and large dogs cost a lot more to buy and feed.

Get a puppy, cause its what ya do.
Get it on the cheap, cause it's all ya can afford.

Get rid of it cause its chewing house and DC!
Just never give the temperament, size or actual suitability a second thought...

£2,000 for a Mongrel (crossbreeds are Mongrels) is absurd.
My friend paid £900 for a purebred KC that has done really well in shows and qualified for Crufts several times for 2025
Good conformation and character, and health checked parents.
Superb dog who was raised very well from day one.

But these never get advertised online as there is a waiting list.

And where have all those dogs come from? Puppy farmers and people who lost their senses buying pups during covid. Or people who want a dog "now", buy a pup from gumtree, so not put the effort into it, or understand the disposition of the breed, or breeds and just had it over to a rescue. Puppy farmers and unresponsible breeders will not take pups back, so they end up in rescue

I do not breed for profit, if there is some money left over that is a bonus and is always invested back in the breed or put to oneside for possible future vet fees. I breed to improve the breed and its health/lines. I have bred 4 litters in as many decades, I have always had a waiting list, I have no online presence and every new owner I am still in touch with many years later, some have had puppies from second or third litters.

Each pup is sold for a 4 figure sum, they are still numerically small here despite being in the country for many years.

I, and others with the breed, have nurtured it to ensure it is healthy, have good temperaments and can do the job it was bred to do, thankfully there are many people who wish to have the breed who appreciate the effort needed in producing pedigree dogs and are prepared to pay the price I set for my litters, yet you will castigate me for sometimes making a profit.

@Durdledore How will you afford vets fees if struggling to find £2,k?

Vets fees are astronomical these days -
A friebd has a healthy dog who had a freak accident
£12,000

This isn’t unusual should an accident happen.
vet insurance is expensive too

Excellent post @schloss . Thank you.

Your dog is 6 or 7 I believe. Prices have gone up substantially.

You sound like the person I got my pup from ( I specifically wanted a Whippet as I know I can give Whippet what it needs.
Whippets are thankfully hard to find in rescue-
The person I got my girl from ( waiting list) offered a full money back guarantee for a month, reducing slightly after that ,and says she will take back a dog she has bred for ANY reason, at ANY age after the year money back runs out.

We are in daily What’s App chat years later.

She doesn’t make a profit as dog shows are expensive and one litter every few years doesn’t make money.

These tend to be people who are generationally involved in the dog breed “ scene”
Health, temperament and conformation are important.

Conformation as it helps with soundness.

Heart testing is standard.

My girl isn’t a show girl , but is a good worker and therapy dog.

So basically, if you haven't heard of it nobody needs to have it?

I'm not sure what to make of this. It's bizarre....🤔

We searched for a long time for our puppy. Ironically a popular breed meant health testing was rare and there were some questionable examples of what is a working breed. Only the KC show breeders were doing it. So we paid show prices. Our dog at 3 is happy, healthy and a great example of her working breed and can work all day. She’s got the spark she should have. Conversely I know someone who scoffed at what we paid and bought a ‘pet’ ‘nice to have a litter’ pup of the same breed for not much less. Her dog is riddled with allergies and very sensitive to most things.

You get what you pay for except in exceptionally rare circumstances. The crossbreeds of course are a very different argument as are rescues (of which we’ve had until now). But for breeds where health testing is relevant then that costs money. A lot of money in some cases.

He is, but I'm in many breed groups and people are still paying similar amounts today.

Also live in NI. No, dogs aren't a lot cheaper here. You simply bought from someone who wasn't reputable. We opted for a rescue in the end, but when looking for a reputable breeder, prices were very much in the region that others have mentioned here. You've clearly got yours from a puppy farm.

Absolutely was not a puppy farm- it was a family home. I saw the mum and was in the living room of the house with the children playing with the pups.
And my lab was from a well known and very reputable breeder- £700.

I paid 1350 for my poodle cross. I was actually a bit put off by the price as she was quite cheap compared to the many other litters I'd looked at over a few years.

I actually think my breeder should have charged more as she's from fully health tested and hip/elbow scored parents and I know how much time and effort she put into her.

Of course there are MANY breeders charging much more for puppies that are "health tested/checked" ie the puppies have had a quick once over by a vet, but this isn't the same.

Personally I'd never go by price and I also don't think it matters that much whether pure bred or not. Due diligence should be done on each specific litter/breeder before the price comes into play and only then do litters actually become comparable and their price perhaps justifiable.

No that’s not what I am saying. I was responding th what is an exotic/ luxury breed.
As I said people can buy whatever they like but don’t be pretentious and condescending to people who don’t make the same choice and think you don’t need to spend thousands on a flipping dog!