buying a dog

We paid £400 for our springer spaniel. A couple of reasons:

H wanted a gun dog and its very unlikely we could have found one in dogs home.

As selfish as it sounds i had just lost a baby and was in a not very nice place. I wanted something to mother and focus on besides what i 'should' have had. It did the job, she is a light in my life.

Ours have always been rescue and you usually pay a fee but can't remember what that was for ours? To be honest, insurance, vaccinations, food etc all make a dog very much like having a child!

My grandfather did this for my grandmother back in the day. It really helped her, and then she went on to have my Dad and another baby (my uncle)

Bless him! ?

Why are the people charging for the dog?

We paid for our rescue. About £80 I think which goes towards the charity.

I also had to agree to get him neutered which was about £100. I was planning on doing that anyway though.

Leni, if you're wanting a dog there are more costs to think about than the price of the dog. Potentially... Food, bowls, collar, lead, bed, flea/worm treatnments, toys, coat. Insurance or saving up for possible vet bills. Kennels if you want to go away or dog sitter/walker.

All things (apart from collar & lead!) that we considered when getting our cats who we would not now be without :-)

Daisy

Mini- they just said that the pups were £80 each.. didnt give a reason just that they were selling them - my boss's daughter works in a vet so i get good deals thru her.. and would get the dog neutered- oh was gutted cos i said no- and he really wants one.. i guess im just spoilt with my cat that he does as he pleases and all i have to do is feed him ? ive never trained a dog before either ?

WSS if you can't afford a one off £80 how can you afford the other costs that keep on adding up?

I have paid for a dog, but ahev always paid for mine usually to cover the cost of neutering and help towards the chairty that ahs housed them.

That is SO the best bit. Spending time with a dog and bonding and getting to the point where you jsut make a slight movement and they instantly understand the command<sigh> Ahh only another ten years until I can get a dog again! (Waitting until my children are older, I'm not on remand or anythign!)

3yrs ago, we paid £450 for ours from a family friend and he's a pedigree working cocker spaniel - not that we use him for that, he's 100% a family snuggle wuggle pet! To be honest, when we knew his mum was pregnant, I was like, I'll only get one if he's the golden/lemon colour - and out popped Dylan, the biggest most noisyest bounciest full of life pup. He was ours ? Oh how I wish he was one of the quiet ones, but I wouldnt have him any other way! We were lucky and got to meet him every week from when he was one week old. We forgot to take photos that first time, but he was the size of a gerbil! Soooo cute! This is him at two week olds, before his eyes opened or before he could walk (he just shuffled):

Back on subject, I'd be concerned about paying only £80 for an 8 week old pup, especially female. Did you see the parents and other pups?

I will say though, any future dogs I would love to adopt - I dont think I could do the puppy stage again ?

I'd be worried about that price. Reputable breeders will be charging much more for 8 wk old puppies! Was it just an accidental pregnancy? I would suggest being sure that both parents were healthy dogs, as they might have passed on serious genetic issues. Have the puppies all been wormed weekly in the weeks leading up to finding their forever homes?

Wispa was £700, but labradoodles can go for upwards of £1500, so not a bad price. My sister paid $1500 for her maltese Lulu, and I know my brother paid similar amounts for his weimador and beagle. My other brother only paid about $100 for his rescue dog, and that was to cover jabs and meds given while in the shelter.

Puppies are quite expensive. If you think about all the time and effort a good breeder will be putting into breeding their dog - there's paying for a stud, giving the *** good prenatal care, building a welping box for the puppies, meds for mum and puppies, and it's basically a full time job for the 8 weeks the puppies are there, sleepless nights, vet checks, etc.. When you get people selling puppies cheap you can almost guarantee that puppy hasn't been well cared for, and it will show as they grow up, unfortunately. Up to 16 weeks of age puppies imprint fears, and the seeds of aggression can be sown. It's why puppy farming is such a horrible thing. Big time breeders who mistreat their bitches and don't bother with ensuring the good health of the puppies before shipping them off to be sold second hand Waah, it makes me so angry/sad!!

Anyways, if you can't afford £80 in a go for a puppy, you wouldn't be able to afford the puppy long term either. On top of lead/collar/bowls/meds for worms, fleas, and ticks, you'll have to get toys and chews (or risk them eating your furniture), jabs, crate, grooming, insurance, and spay/neuter. Even if a vet will give you a good deal, you will still have to pay for those things, and a spay is over £300 at a good vet, though we paid £400 to have her done via keyhole surgery instead. And then there's training classes. If you've never trained a dog before, that will be vital.

All of this being said, all the money and time and effort of raising a puppy is so worth it.

Hehe, hitched censored my word for female dog!

My sister has just paid £350 for a shih tzu and I that is a cheaper price because it's not KC registered.

£80 for a sheepdog sounds cheap, even Jack Russells are about £200 .

He wanted the £80 in one go today which i didnt have, bloody mobile phone bills ? gahhhhh.. ive been ummmm-ing and ahhhhh-ing all day over this.. is £80 for an 8week old pup cheap? see i dont have a clue.. his son comes to the nursery and thats where he showed me the pics- but no pics of mum or dad.. they live on a farm... it was my mum and dad that said £80 was too expensive to pay for a dog which put a doubt in my mind hence why im asking all of you lovely people ? the dog i liked was the one in the front - ooh help me ?

Leni that is VERY cheap. Even if its not pedigree with papers youre looking at a few hundred. I would seriously question why he isnt selling them at that rate when he could easily get that if theyre problem free.

P.s. they are so cute and even though i said the above, my heart would probably sway me too.

People charge 30 and 40 quid for kittens nowadays. £80 is very cheap. Not sure what area you are in but check out Pets4homes they are well expensive.

Part of me would say, go meet the puppies and play with them, see the farm. If they don't let you at least meet the mum and see where the puppies live, just walk away!!

I have a border collie, bought from a farm. They're cheap usually because they're not KC registered and the farmer generally isn't breeding for profit. He'll keep one or two from the litter and sell the rest to cover his costs. My 13yr old was bought for £70.

They are gorgeous dogs and make wonderful pets BUT collies are working dogs and need a lot of training/working - they can get quite destructive if bored. That said, my Ollie is so loyal and he's fab with Sprog.

Exactly this! £80 is far too cheap, I would expect to pay more than that for a rescue dog and if you cannot afford that for a dog then you should seriously think about if you can afford to have a dog.

We paid £450 for our labrador, he has a good workling pedegree and is an unusuakl colour so slightly more expensive. Pedigree labradors round me tend to be around £300-400 but a lot of breeds are much more as there are far fewer breeders

My mum paid £300 odd for our sheltie 10 years ago. She is a pedigree though.

Is the man a breeder? Or has his dog just happened to have this litter?

Agree with everyone else about the cost, if you can’t swallow £80 into a month then I think you may struggle to manage the costs of a dog. Sometimes our two rabbits cost £100 in a month!

ETA: ? Naboo! Not seen you around for ages!

Blimey, my cats were £500. Each.

We paid £160 for our staffie cross from the dogs home.

If you are questioning bein able to afford £80 to pay for the dog then I'd really advise you not to get him. He will need jabs, neutering if you want to, bedding, food, flea treatment etc etc and it all adds up.

Everyone I have ever asked have said PetPlan. Even vets paid by other companies to push different insurance

See if you can get them down a bit. They can tweak bits of the policy a bit more to help you lower the premium

Oi! we're with direct line and our premium is only £13.73, and that's with lifetime cover, up to £6000 per disease/injury, etc. No third party coverage, though.

No, for a labradoodle, and they're only genetically prone to hip and retinal dysplasia (sic).

Thank you all for your comments- much appreciated ?

Hi OB, nice to see you, not been on for ages, just popped by for a little lurk ;-)

Shea is a papered black lab and he cost £450, about £30 per month in food, £35 in insurance, vaccinations and getting the snip were on top of that, accessories (crate, bowls, bedding, leads, collar, harness etc etc etc) £100ish per year, toys and treats - far too much as I'm soft with him.

We walk for 2-3 hours per day (hour in the morning, hour in the evening and bitty bits the rest of the time. He is a stupid, devious, destructive little sod...but he's mine

RSPCA charge £50 for a cat or dog, £100 for a puppy (I think). Cost includes all neutering, microchipping, a month's insurance, and a donation to the charity. Fair cost I think. My cat was certainly worth that and more.

If it's a working dog, or the potential to be one, then expect high charges. Shepherds charge ££££ for pups from a good sheepdog.