Buying a puppy

[poiuytrewq]

Sadly I’m not buying a puppy, just pondering the question.

I see posts on FB asking about how to find puppies or has anyone got x breed puppies available etc.
The one that’s just prompted this question is a lady asking who specifically says not a rescue as they have young children.
All these posts get jumped on and the only replies are “get a rescue”
Buying a puppy seems a really taboo thing to do or want to do these days.
Don’t get me wrong, it’s great that people are more into helping dogs in need and I completely get the reasoning behind it.
When I got my first dog, we trawled rescue centres for months and months but nothing came up suitable for homing with a baby. As a result we ended up with a puppy and baby and puppy grew up together and spent 13 years as complete best friends so it was the right thing for us, therefore I understand, for example this latest question.
2 current dogs are kind of rescues as in not Paid for puppies, one was a paid for puppy (very good breeder personally known to us)

Is buying a puppy a thing of the past? Surely responsibly done it’s still ok? Not everyone wants an adult dog.

-disclaimer ? please don’t bash me down. Child now adult has moved out so chances are my next dog will come from our local Blue X

 

[bonny]

If nobody buys puppies there won’t be any rescue dogs in the future! I think the demand for puppies is still very strong and the prices being paid presumably will lead to more dogs being bred from.

 

[poiuytrewq]

Do you think puppy prices will drop and things return to normal?
I’d thought after lock down it would but seemingly not, at least not yet

 

[Bellaboo18]

Why do you assume you can only get adult dogs from rehoming centres? Lots of puppies are born in centres, when pregnant dogs come in, also unwanted puppies often get handed over.
I think its worth suggesting to someone looking for a puppy especially as many healthy dogs get pts every day as they dont have a home.
Weve got a problem with overbreeding well that and fashionable breeds that are just cruelly unhealthy.

 

[bonny]

Do you think puppy prices will drop and things return to normal?
I’d thought after lock down it would but seemingly not, at least not yet

Not in The near future, I’ve heard of 3 people just in the last week who have been searching and failing to find a puppy. One of them wants a collie and is even prepared to go abroad for one, but nothing doing.

 

[poiuytrewq]

Why do you assume you can only get adult dogs from rehoming centres? Lots of puppies are born in centres, when pregnant dogs come in, also unwanted puppies often get handed over.
I think its worth suggesting to someone looking for a puppy especially as many healthy dogs get pts every day as they dont have a home.
Weve got a problem with overbreeding well that and fashionable breeds that are just cruelly unhealthy.

Yes I guess, I just never came across any. I imagine they go instantly.
I agree totally about not supporting over breeding and bad back yard type breeders.

 

[Bellaboo18]

Yes I guess, I just never came across any. I imagine they go instantly.
I agree totally about not supporting over breeding and bad back yard type breeders.

Not at all because people go to a rehoming centre expecting to get an older dog. Alot of people want to avoid the 'puppy stage'. The puppies arent advertised for obvious reasons but if you register your interest there's not much competition!
Theres lots of myths around rehoming centres one being older dogs take longer to rehome, not true older people want older dogs. They worry about out living their pets and cant always walk them far.
Puppies are hard to rehome because if you want a puppy you go out and buy one right(?).

 

[SAujla]

The demand for puppies is really high. I was looking for a puppy for 7 months before I found the right breeder, but if I just wanted any puppy I could have got one as soon as I started properly looking. The prices are coming down slightly but I imagine with Christmas coming they might creep up again. I'm guessing that a decent percentage of puppies born in the last 6 months will end up in rescue centres eventually

 

[Moobli]

I’d say demand for pups is at an all time high due to Covid, lockdown and people having time on their hands (and presumably spare money, despite furlough and lots of looming unemployment!). Anyone who has had a litter for sale has said they could have sold the pups ten times over. Once the recession hits, I’m sure that sadly the rescue centres will fill up with unwanted dogs from the homes who should never have got one in the first place and the market for pups will drop, so the prices may go down or at least stabilise.

 

[{97702}]

It’s an interesting question for me because I thought I was a diehard rescuer, having had them for the last 20 years blah de blah de blah.....

I’m am completely, utterly and totally entranced by my puppy, he has been just as easy as any rescue and hasn’t put a paw wrong, I would have another in an instant!!!

I would say that could present me with a dilemma next time, but it doesn’t because I have greyhounds and there are endless supplies of the poor things coming out of racing into rehoming kennels so that is where I’ll go next time

 

[Quigleyandme]

To my ever lasting surprise and admiration Done Deal stopped advertising all dogs earlier this year. Since April the prices of pups had been astronomical and about 80% of the ads were for fashionable tea cup sizes, pugs, cavapoos and frenchies. As many of the listers gave no details about the pups other than the sex and price, photos were very poor quality and they often couldn’t spell the breed name anyone could deduce they were puppy mill operators and not reputable breeders.

 

[blackcob]

I think its worth suggesting to someone looking for a puppy especially as many healthy dogs get pts every day as they dont have a home.

I'm not sure it's that easy for a family with young children though? Rescues have often been criticised on here for overly harsh rehoming policies.

The bit that's boggled me this year is that there are so many well-advertised resources now around responsible breeding and buying and people are still rocking up with underage, un-microchipped puppies that were handed over in car parks.

 

[Christmascinnamoncookie]

I'm not sure it's that easy for a family with young children though? Rescues have often been criticised on here for overly harsh rehoming policies.

The bit that's boggled me this year is that there are so many well-advertised resources now around responsible breeding and buying and people are still rocking up with underage, un-microchipped puppies that were handed over in car parks.

Possibly because they’re loathe to pay £2500 for a common breed?

 

[SAujla]

The prices have increased dramatically, I can understand why someone looking for a dog right now would go to a rescue instead of a puppy. The average price for a Lab puppy in 2019 was £938, I paid £1,000 in March but I'm seeing a lot prices for triple that, and the health tests for most aren't even that good if done at all.

 

[GSD Woman]

I have a friend who dislikes the puppy stage so gets young adults from shelters. She doesn't rush and waits until she finds the correct one. She's been successful.
One the other hand I get puppies so that I can have a pretty well known temperament and an idea about trainability.
We're seeing lots of pandemic puppies. Some are making me scream. Such as the merle "Bernerdoodle." Amazing how merle shows up in 2 breeds where merle isn't a color. (sarcasm) And the number of people who don't know that socialization doesn't require other people fawning over their pups and that dog parks suck.
Rant over.

 

[palo1]

I have a friend who dislikes the puppy stage so gets young adults from shelters. She doesn't rush and waits until she finds the correct one. She's been successful.
One the other hand I get puppies so that I can have a pretty well known temperament and an idea about trainability.
We're seeing lots of pandemic puppies. Some are making me scream. Such as the merle "Bernerdoodle." Amazing how merle shows up in 2 breeds where merle isn't a color. (sarcasm) And the number of people who don't know that socialization doesn't require other people fawning over their pups and that dog parks suck.
Rant over.

I loved this rant.

 

[Clodagh]

Possibly because they’re loathe to pay £2500 for a common breed?

Thing is you can still pay £2500 for an underage, unhealthy pup. My niece is a vet nurse and she probably does take things too personally which is hard in her job but she is struggling with the number of poorly pups they are dealing with this year, bought by seemingly sensible people.

Although I also disagree with the FB thing going around saying you can spot a puppy farm pup by the price tag - if it is expensive it is unethical. If I had bred a litter this year why not charge what the market will pay? I didn't, wouldn't have done and won't be btw.

 

[CorvusCorax]

The litter my pup was from was priced the same SA, generations of health tested ancestors, one club level imported parent, one international level. There's no reason anyone should be paying over 1k for a puppy, especially one with absolutely nothing behind it in terms of health, temperament etc and yes, even during lockdown.
I do agree with otherwise intelligent people losing the head over a puppy - I know a couple who are teachers who have a crippled, aggressive GSD they bought 'from a farm in the country, can't remember the guy's name but they were straight backed'. He can't walk at a relatively young age, cannot be around strange dogs, has cost them thousands in vet bills. So they went out and got a puppy from exactly the same circumstances and are surprised that she is displaying the same character traits.

 

[NinjaPony]

Thing is, there is nothing wrong with getting a puppy from a reputable breeder, after doing a lot of homework and background checks. I'm happy to give a fair whack of money-not more than £1k mind you-for a puppy that has been bred for temperament, type and health by a dedicated breeder.

What I find really alarming is the amount of poorly bred, over-priced puppies being bought by clueless owners. It's so depressing and lockdown has definitely made it much much worse.

 

[misst]

I got a puppy this year in late January. I did look at rescue but nothing came up that "called" me. I wanted a terrier, youngish (under 5) preferably female. Other than that I was very easy going. Breed rescue for JRT had beauties but had to be only dogs - I already had another terrier. Others were no kids - granddaughter visits a lot and stays over.
In the end we looked at registered breeders and bought a KC registered JRT - for £900 chipped, both vacs, 16 weeks old (breeder kept until after xmas as not keen for them to be presents). Mum and dad seen, granny seen, health checked. Brilliant little girlie lovely temprement and exactly what we wanted.
I have had 2 rescues in the past and it is a shame as we would have happily taken another but the hoops were too many to jump through.
I have no regrets and think I got a bargin. Rescue is great when it has what you want and you can fit their criteria.

 

[Moobli]

Although I also disagree with the FB thing going around saying you can spot a puppy farm pup by the price tag - if it is expensive it is unethical. If I had bred a litter this year why not charge what the market will pay? I didn't, wouldn't have done and won't be btw.

Such a tricky one. I definitely get what you’re saying, and sadly I’ve heard of pups bought for a reasonable price and sold on for double or even triple the price. Supply and demand at the end of the day. Not sure my conscience could live with it though.

 

[blackcob]

https://twitter.com/x/status/1316705422162755586

If the 'I need a puppy NOW' and £££ greeder mentality means there's no middle ground between the £2500 (and as rightly pointed out, that's for any puppy, not necessarily a healthy one) or else it's the imported parvo puppy out of the back of a van, add in rescues not unclenching on their policies, and now everyone's going back to work and dumping the poor buggers, I think the whole lot is an irredeemable mess. Rant. ?

My niece is a vet nurse and she probably does take things too personally which is hard in her job but she is struggling with the number of poorly pups they are dealing with this year, bought by seemingly sensible people.

I thought I was proper hardnosed, I'm not clinical and barely even spend any time in practice these days and I've still been upset by a few recent ones. In addition, I don't know if anyone saw the excellently written letter by a Vets4Pets practice that was doing the rounds on social media last week but that's where all the client-facing staff are at the minute; compassion fatigue is always a lurking thing but the number of emotionally charged clients lashing out when they end up in these sad situations is just off the scale at the moment.

FWIW I've had a rehome, a rescue and a puppy from a breeder, each was the right dog at the time (although the odds were against us for the first one, LOL) and I'd be as happy to justify my reasons for choosing the puppy as I would for saying the next one will probably be a rescue again. There's only been 9 of the puppy's breed born this year, so by rights they ought to be about a million squid each. ?

 

[{97702}]

Makes me realise little Colin certainly was good value for money, and a trip to gorgeous Scotland as an additional bonus! ?

 

[splashgirl45]

i have found it very difficult to get a rescue dog...all i have wanted is a dog who can live with my existing dog and a small to medium size, wasnt bothered about age but didnt want a puppy or a dog from abroad. hardly any of the english rescue smaller dogs can live with another dog. i completed forms for about 5 rescues and was never successful. perhaps its because i answered the questions honestly and said dog would be left at home(with other dog) for 2 hours a day (when i still had a horse) and now i dont have a horse but i live on my own so whatever dogs i have need to be able to be left if i have docs appt etc. perhaps its my age (74), but i am likely to be at least as fit as a younger person as i walk 1 to 2 hours daily with my dogs, so the rescues lost out as i got a puppy....i could have had any number of,staffies,or bull breeds or large bouncy dogs but didnt want to have something that would pull me over..

 

[Indy]

I've always had puppies but when my two collies died I needed another dog. Bandit was 7 month old when i rehomed him and thought he's still a puppy it'll all be lovely....puppies. Turned out I'D missed the nice, lovely puppy stage and ended up with a problem puppy/delinquent dog. Had him 2 years now and he's the most complex, sensitive, intelligent dog in the world. I like to browse Pets4 Homes every now and then and there were Kelpie pups on there for FOUR GRAND. As much as I would love a puppy I could justify that sort of money.

 

[Clodagh]

I like to browse Pets4 Homes every now and then and there were Kelpie pups on there for FOUR GRAND. As much as I would love a puppy I could justify that sort of money.

Omg. Bearing in mind they bred the kelpie as BCs were lacking stamina in Oz why would anyone want one?
I had a kelpie and adored her but she was hard work.

 

[Indy]

Me! I didn't want a collie because I felt all I would do is compare it to my two and that wouldn't be fair so a Kelpie seemed a compromise (not for FOUR GRAND though)and a KelpiexCollie would be perfect - turns out every day's a learning day with Bandit. Bandit's a Kelpie Collie X and as much as I love him, my god I feel like I need a physchology degree every day of the week.

 

[PapaverFollis]

I was considering The Next Dog this year but the price of puppies is just plain too expensive! I don't think my boys would cope well with an adult rescue dog so just waiting for now.

I like the puppy stage so will always be after a puppy anyway. ?‍

 

[Esmae]

We've been looking for a medium sized rescue/rehome dog since March. Would really like a whippet or similar but not cast in stone. I've filled in more forms than anyone deserves in a lifetime and haven't got a look in anywhere. The usual reason (if one is given at all) is "Oh it wouldn't get on with any of your other animals!" This distance thing is just rubbish for trying to find the right dog. You can see a lot about a dog when you actually see it in front of you rather than someone else's pictures and opinions. As for puppies, I just couldn't afford one at the current prices, or justify it if I could, to be honest.

 

[scats]

My friend has just got a rescue dog. She has been looking and applying for dogs for over 12 months. She’s filled in lots of application forms that have taken a lot of time and said she can see why people don’t bother rescuing as she said it’s soul destroying filling in applications and putting lots of time into them only to be told the dog has gone to someone else.

I understand the need for rescues to make sure they home dogs to the right people, but I can see why some people might be put off.