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Why would anyone except a farmer need 3 dogs?
Must be one of these doggers my Mrs keeps on about wanting to join.
We bought our Dalmatian in 1996 for £500, out working collie was free ( vet told our friends he was going to not last the weekend) and with family gone we thought ok get another Dalmatian agreed a price for a puppy Jan 20 litter born March 20, we agree £1,050 litter born and we are told not enough puppies sorry - ok it happens -same litter two days later on sale at £3k.
Agreed another deal for a Dalmatian in the summer for £1500 and get a what's app message sorry we have been offer £3,500 what is your bid....frankly my response was not polite.
Waiting till things settle down....
I discussed this on pistonheads and was banned for life.
Well that needs more info....I know threads descend on here but banned for life for discussing overpriced dogs!?!
Bert is the best £130 I've ever spent on anything!
Manchester Dogs Home were amazing - "no garden?" "Great you'll have to walk the dog rather than kicking out into the garden for a poo"
The poeple there are full time so get to know the dogs really well. Their description of Bert was exactly how he has been. Can't recommend them highly enough.
They only thing they got wrong is that they thought he was a Malamute/Collie cross - it turns out he is an extremely rare Karelian Bear Dog from Finland (have only found one other in the UK)
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Ours was £600.
She's dead now, what a waste of money!
I can't even joke about it really 😥
Ours was £600.
All that love for £600 - it’s a wonderful deal...!
They're just the best aren't they!
Well that needs more info….I know threads descend on here but banned for life for discussing overpriced dogs!?!
I hate mixed breed dogs being bred for sick amounts of cash and being marketed as designer.
I did say that mixed breed are merely mongrels and refused to back down from the utter fannies who took umbrage. (Payed too much and hated being reminded I reckon)
Anyhoo, after 2 bans it came up again and I got a life time ban.
They hate it being pointed out that they are part of a problem and are facilitating a sick enterprise that is ripping people off and causing serious animal welfare issue.
I think because I bought my lurchers for £150 each (proven workers) they were jealous.
I have a friend in a high place so I'm hopeful of a return lol.
I did say that mixed breed are merely mongrels....
... my lurchers
For some reason I find this very amusing 😆
Ha! Words fail me!
Banned 3 times with the final one being a lifetime ban eh 🤣
Overpriced dogs
Louise?
^ Jason Manford on Absolute Radio yesterday was talking about having a superpower about names (ie, knowing whether people with certain names are good or bad ‘uns). He warned that Louises are best avoided. I laughed.
For some reason I find this very amusing 😆
I get that, my issue is with the cynical marketing of Jackapoodledors
Banned 3 times with the final one being a lifetime ban eh 🤣
Moderators on pistonheads can be a "special" bunch
Pros of knowing the local gamekeeper: I got a Springer Spaniel pup for £200
Cons of knowing the local gamekeeper: He knows where you live when you ride where you shouldn’t 😂
One of my Cockers was £125, one was £250.
The cheapest was the best working dog I ever owned.
I have a Teckel that cost £600 which I thought was madness.
Collie x was £125 Whippet x was £125
Round our way the local drug dealers are selling bulldogs of all types as it's easier money.
I saw folk selling Jack Russels for over a grand ffs, thats a £25 dug.
Our Working Cocker who died last year was £400 in 2007, as a puppy from a local breeder - I was amazed how expensive at the time, but the wife had made her mind up. He was a cracking dog.
Our Working Springer was a £30 donation about 5 years ago, from the local shelter. The owner of the shelter also bred hunting dogs and had sold the dog originally as a pup, but the chap had changed jobs (from estate worker to office) and so asked him if he could rehome him somewhere 'better'. The owner knew where we lived and that we'd land.
The 2 y/o Springer we got last year came from a Charity. Had to have a home visit to check us etc. £400.
Must be one of these doggers my Mrs keeps on about wanting to join.
Pretty much the same experience was had by ourselves when dealing with animal refuge. We were turned down for a dog and a cat so we went straight to the pet store and bought a kitten. 22yrs & thousands of £££ in vet bills for her specialist drugs she had a fantastic life. We decided to get a dog. Again no joy with dogs home so we put it off for a while. Coincidence had it a workmate had a load of pups and one didnt have an owner yet. Schnoodles were not something i had even heard of. £400 later we had Oscar. 12mths later we felt Oscar needed a buddy and we ended up getting him from what i think back now was a puppy farmer. He cost us £650 and we now have a Schnoodle and a Schnauzer called Ollie. We love them both like our own children and they make the family.
The trouble i see that is driving up the price of the market is the dogs homes making it so difficult to rehome. It is forcing normal people to have to purchase from tom dick and harry. Yes mistakes can happen. Dogs will be re homed with unsuitable families etc. But i think the balance is completly wrong at the moment and it is creating breeders due to the prices who wouldnt normally get involved. They reckon there are also some pretty bad/naughty people getting involved in the puppy farming these days.
Its all so distasteful.
So hands up, we have recently brought a puppy into the family. We waited until after lock down / summer to ensure that we can properly socialise her, but have still paid over the odds vs what an equivalent puppy would have cost this time lat year (though we have a friend who occasionally breeds and her last litter were similarly priced over 12 months ago - these are pedigree show cockers). We did now as I am working at home for the next few months and can spare some time to help through the more demanding puppy phase. We looked at re-homes but 2 kids under 12 ruled us out of all places I looked (plus most of the available animals were larger breeds).
Finding the right puppy was a very involved task. After a while it became very obvious which areas of the country the puppy farms seem to be located in, plus I took to asking for a postcode and doing a Google streetview check of the area before taking a conversation further. We ended up paying what was mid market rates, but ended up with a healthy puppy from a good breeder, all heath checks, KC Reg etc. We were shocked by how little detail most sellers had on the pups ,also heard similar stories of gazumping.
Glad to say Margo is settling in fine and keeping us all on our toes.
Big feet to grow into anyway.
Not sure what folks have against cockadoodles etc. It's basically combining favourable attributes of different breeds to make a super-dog.
Pretty much how specific breeds got there in the first place. Selective breeding innit.
There's an awful lot of doodle variations, mainly because they have such good attributes, usually don't shed, good temperament etc.
I have never bought a dog. Genuine questions....
What is the difference between a breeder and a puppy farm? Surely both let dogs hump then sell the offspring to make money. Do the two terms just reflect differing welfare levels?
How can scoping the postcode on streetview tell the difference?
Is somebody living in a 'rough area' a puppy farmer; and somebody living in a 'nice area' a breeder or just a successful puppy farmer?
^^^ Basically it is:
Puppy farm = Iceland Turkey Twizzlers
Breeder = Waitrose corn fed hand-reared free to roam poussin
2 grand. Madness. You could get a golden eagle for that (I have checked 😃) That'd put one over on the Jones' 😂We got our Cockerpoo on Saturday for the princely sum of £2200.
You'd need a big extendable lead for a Golden Eagle.
Wouldn't make any difference around here, no-one's ever ****ing heard of leads anyway
😂
At one point we had five dogs in the house (to be fair 1 was a foster and 4/5 were greyhounds, who tend towards the "living furniture" style of dog).
Folk having difficulty with "regular" rescue rules might have a chat with their local retired racer rehoming charities, as the "parameters" are a bit different.
That's how we ended up getting our first GH (we both worked, though were able to come back at lunch, and that ruled us out for a lot of the regular rescue places).
Don't get me wrong, there will still be needs the dog has to have met, but ... different ones.
I got a rescue 2 weeks ago, took some time to find one, but worth it over paying someone who is just in it for the money for a pup.
She's a Bosnian natively, but was brought to the UK after being dumped. She's a crossbreed Sprollie (sorry @Brads) this is assumed though based on colouring as we aren't really sure, she has springer colouring and collie shape and colours too.
She's already 7 months, so not a tiny puppy, but I'm fine with that. She takes to training well but forgets it all as soon as she she's a bird, cat, squirrel, human or pile of tasty poop.
She doesn't seem to have any mental issues, she has plenty of energy but also loves a nap. I'm hopeful if life returns to normal I'll do 2 days a week in the office and she will go to a local day care place. I know this may not be perfect but she won't be home alone all day and I can be flexible in work as we all went to full WFH and have been like that since this all started so it can work.
<span style="font-size: 0.8rem;">We had the same experience with rehoming places, kids, not home 24/7 pre-lockdown meant that we were told NO on multiple occasions.</span>
So we bought a Goldendoodle (Golden retriever x standard poodle) from a responsible breeder for just over a grand two years ago.
To be honest she's been the absolute BEST and made lockdown bearable.
Not that there are many available but should you find one available from a significantly less responsible breeder, you would be looking at 3.5k.
I suspect rescue places will either need to be slightly less fussy or will be facing a crisis in 6-12 months, as there will be a ton of dogs being abandoned as people will start to head back to work and dogs that are used to people being around 24/7 will get bored and destructive or people will be out of work and not afford the bills/food.
I get that, my issue is with the cynical marketing of Jackapoodledors
Dude, good lurchers are fetching stupid money these days as well.
Pedigree dog prices are madness. "Fancy mongrel" dog prices are even more so.
We have two longdogs, grey/whippet and grey/saluki. Both around £125, both rescues, from a local shelter. Lazy sods, both of them, check the sofa before sitting down as they might be buried under cushions type lazy. Wouldn't be without them.
Swings and roundabouts - high prices are causing some unscrupulous people to get involved at the same time it puts idiots off buying them on a whim.
We were rejected time and time again for any of the above reasons despite having an extremely loved and happy dog for so long.
Also, you can’t be that fussy about breeds at rescue centres, unless you want a staffy. Wall to wall staffies at all the centres.
a) Staffies are brilliant dogs, our long since departed lad was a proper character.
b) We have two kids under 12 - no problem with the right dog at a rescue that are capable of figuring that out.
Ledbury area, these guys asked sensible questions and are a proper no-profit place, helped us with our two:
hwanimalrescue.org
Do the two terms just reflect differing welfare levels?
Yes. And if there is a current surge in prices, that will fuel the practice even more.
Some good advice here.
How can scoping the postcode on streetview tell the difference?
Is somebody living in a ‘rough area’ a puppy farmer; and somebody living in a ‘nice area’ a breeder or just a successful puppy farmer?
Not necessarily. They sometimes use a nicer house in a good area to show off the puppies to buyers, claiming that is their home.
What is the difference between a breeder and a puppy farm? Surely both let dogs hump then sell the offspring to make money. Do the two terms just reflect differing welfare levels?
In my (albeit very limited) experience, a puppy farm is churning out puppies as quickly as possible with little thought of the welfare of either the parent dogs (there just for the breeding and not a pet, kept in poor conditions, multiple litters) or the puppies that they have, the animal is there purely for commercial gain. We quickly found that popular breed dogs, often priced at lower than the average rate (ie tempting the buyer) would often come up in the same areas of the country. A quick internet search of 'location' and puppy farm' would bring up one (or often more) in that particular area. It would also be common to see several litters of different breeds in very similar looking pictures. Sometimes a google image search would pick up images that had been reused.
In our experience, a 'proper' breeder was using a family pet for the puppies (and that was not just churning out litters), we were able to view the puppies with the (genuine) mother in the home environment, get full details of the sire, had full health / hereditary conditions checks for both parents and honest and open communications throughout the process. Yes they are there to make some money, but at the same time the welfare of their own cherished family pet was paramount. Breeders are often council / KC registered as well.
How can scoping the postcode on streetview tell the difference?
Is somebody living in a ‘rough area’ a puppy farmer; and somebody living in a ‘nice area’ a breeder or just a successful puppy farmer?
I appreciate that this is subjective, but in exactly the same way as buying a second hand bike or car (not from a shop), you are more inclined to trust someone based on where they live and the state of the property they live in. If on a search the place looks like it could be a puppy farm in an area known for them, then there is more of a risk that it is. We viewed a dog on a fixed traveller site which rightly or wrongly would put many off (lovely owner, not a breeder, well cared for family pet, didn't buy as was a bit early in the search for us), conversely we avoided a handful of places based not just on what the property looked like, but a also a lack of detail in adverts, lack of full details on the parent dogs etc. There's always a risk of still being duped, but for us it was about doing as much research as we could to give ourselves the best chance of getting the right dog and minimising the chances of funding animal cruelty.
Not necessarily. They sometimes use a nicer house in a good area to show off the puppies to buyers, claiming that is their home.
Edit: As above, the location check was something we did alongside other checks, not as the single marker of good/bad.
The link that you shared is a really good one, a lot of that we did do as part of our search.
Dude, good lurchers are fetching stupid money these days as well.
Good Hare dogs have always been worth a sum and a half.
No one buys a handsome lurcher, they buy a proven worker or its offspring.
Meet Beti.
We picked her up on Saturday and has fitted right in (very happy sleeping / farting on the sofa). She is an absolute beauty and really mellow. 3 years old but looks like a puppy due to the large ears.
https://www.hungaryheartsdogrescue.co.uk
No one buys a handsome lurcher, they buy a proven worker or its offspring.
Yes but people also buy good family dogs, I grew up around proper working Springer Spaniels, I also know that cockerpoos make great family pets. There are now so many of them that I'd have thought that statistically I'd have met a bad one by now but I haven't.
Not necessarily. They sometimes use a nicer house in a good area to show off the puppies to buyers, claiming that is their home.
We looked at one breeder, who sent through videos of puppies , claiming to be raised by a loving family etc. You could clearly see that the kids were not used to handling them , nor the adult , who though you could only see his legs , was clearly showing body language that he didn’t want to be there and had zero interest in the puppies. Miss Marple ( the wife) did a bit of research on the seller from the address we were given to visit the puppy , and found out he was a “breeder” , with 16 dogs registered to him. We didn’t take that one any further.
@docrobster
Lurcher and Northumberland? That's got you a follow on Instagram. £72? You've been done, ours cost us a 6-pack and some treats for the remaining dog. She's even more scruffy though, still think we got a raw deal.
Clearly you have not had the same experience I (and many others) have had. Children under 12 in the house? No rescue. Not at home all day every day? No rescue. Have another pet? No rescue. Don’t have a fully enclosed large garden with secure fencing? No rescue. Not owned a dog before? No rescue.
We tick every one of those boxes barring the second pet, two weeks past on Friday we came home with a 2 1/2 year old greyhound from his foster home. We applied back in July or so and got a text at 11pm a few days before we picked him up to say a suitable match had been found. Went for a home visit and everyone got to meet each other, he's been amazing so far (when he's not being a total buttface). Small garden has been challenging when he takes a shit fit and wants to chase/be chased but other than that we've had no issues.
As stripeysocks says check out your local greyhound rescue, we got Mikey from Scottish Greyhound Sanctuary but they work out a kennel in Yorkshire, may well be the same one in Sheffield as Greyhound Trust (haven't asked but they are sponsored by Gain which isn't common and that's the food he came with).
Oh and he cost the princely sum of £150, I think if I ever had to claim that back it would be re-sent as a donation.
I lost my best mate 18 months ago I'll never get over it.
If someone built a time machine and said they could take me back to enjoy my Miniature Schnauzer all over again and the price was £100,000 I wouldn't even blink.