I've paid up to $3000 for a well bred purebred dog from an excellent breeder. 500-800 more commonly. But I've gotten dogs worth up to 1000 and more from good breeders FREE because of the home I can and have provided for my dogs over the decades. A training home with a good reputation is also worth something to a GOOD breeder.
I also have mutts and shelter dogs. Most shelters here adopt out from Free to 80$. Most rescues (who do all the spaying/neutering, shots, veterinary care, HW testing and parasite control FIRST) go from 150 -300, more if the dog needed extra vet care like surgeries or HW treatment. My free and cheap dogs have usually cost me the most in health care bills. The record at this point being four thousand for a pup that died anyway...
None of our local shelters in eight counties charge more than 85.00. Again sometimes they get an "adoption sponsorship"and some are adopted out free or low cost.
Most people wouldn't even begin to KNOW how to find a good breeder or what constitutes good breeding in the breed they're looking for. Color, shape, sex, breed, that's about all John Q can figure out. AND most bad or marginal breeders are now well PRACTICED liars. They can make anything sound good. They have pretty pictures and ALL puppies are cute.
I make a habit of responding to german shepherd pups for sale in my area. They have huge price tags. Most barely meet any part of the type standards for GSDS, and so far, most of their parents don't meet anything approaching type or temperament, whether the standard you are measuring them by is SV or AKC. Most could be husky mixes and look the same.
I have yet to see a litter I'd take a pup from free. Yet they sound good. They talk the TALK, they say "all the right things".
But you ask to see those actual HEALTH CERTIFICATES - OFA 's and proof that the dog in front of you is the dog with the certificate and wow things get ugly fast. Some people are breeding dogs, with copies of old OFA's or someone elses OFA's . Or they say they have the Certs. and they don't. Double check with a vet on size, wt, description and tattoo and you find it's another dog entirely.
What a dog is worth, what is charged, varies. I just placed a rescue Pyr. Not only can she guard goats, she won't hurt poultry, is house trained, leash broken, spayed, UTD, HW negative and treated. She could certify as a therapy animal, she's that social, and is now the official greeter for the farm she's working. Her spaying by a GOOD vet, cost 200.00 and it was a good thing she wasn't done at the low cost clinic. She almost bled out due to bleeding caused by exposure to Erlichia. She was treated for Erlichia. She was treated for the massive parasite load she had when she came in. Including fleas, ticks and worms. Her veterinary bills were over 600.00. They placed her for 300.00 and she's easily worth 800 and more in what she can do, how she is. If she certified for therapy work she'd be worth thousands. That dog rocked. I found her tied to a dumpster with her daughter.
Temperament, working ability, soundness and stability in and with the public are something most pet breeders don't even understand or consider. Yet temperament is a primary cause of home loss.
So cost... sometimes FREE ain't cheap. And $3000 is a low price for the dog you get. I've worked with service dogs and military dogs and protection dogs whose value is in the thousands. A sound working dog is priceless in many ways.
Fools and their money are easily parted over a cuddly puppy. And people are paying top dollar for MUTTS, which is weird but they believe the LIES and they pay and those breeders charge whatever the market will bear. And LIE through their teeth and pretend SURPRISE, when it grows out unhealthy, ugly, too big, too small, actually SHEDs like a MOFO, is deformed or crippled. Gosh sorry... don't know what happened. Or worse with a dangerous temperament.
I know people who've spent thousands on Labradoodles, only to learn they shed, often have poor temperaments, are a total pain to groom. There are labradoodles in lab rescues, poodle rescues and now labradoodle rescues. Want one, consider rescue.
Working in shelters for 30 years, you see all the designer dogs come in and what bad breeding does. I have both types of dogs, well bred and thoughtlessly bred. I still love them. I have the most awesome Pyr/Kuvasz pup here today, who was dumped at a shelter when she got too big and hairy.... sigh. At least she has an awesome temperament and kennel cough, sigh...
Bad breeders are breeding for BAD customers, for idiots and impulse, for the easily led. For people who don't understand that they will get exactly what they are shopping for depending on how educated they've made themselves about buying a good dog from a good breeder, or not. Most people put more thought into their shirt for the day than into the puppy they purchase that will grow up and have sharp teeth and medical bills.
I also have mutts and shelter dogs. Most shelters here adopt out from Free to 80$. Most rescues (who do all the spaying/neutering, shots, veterinary care, HW testing and parasite control FIRST) go from 150 -300, more if the dog needed extra vet care like surgeries or HW treatment. My free and cheap dogs have usually cost me the most in health care bills. The record at this point being four thousand for a pup that died anyway...
None of our local shelters in eight counties charge more than 85.00. Again sometimes they get an "adoption sponsorship"and some are adopted out free or low cost.
Most people wouldn't even begin to KNOW how to find a good breeder or what constitutes good breeding in the breed they're looking for. Color, shape, sex, breed, that's about all John Q can figure out. AND most bad or marginal breeders are now well PRACTICED liars. They can make anything sound good. They have pretty pictures and ALL puppies are cute.
I make a habit of responding to german shepherd pups for sale in my area. They have huge price tags. Most barely meet any part of the type standards for GSDS, and so far, most of their parents don't meet anything approaching type or temperament, whether the standard you are measuring them by is SV or AKC. Most could be husky mixes and look the same.
I have yet to see a litter I'd take a pup from free. Yet they sound good. They talk the TALK, they say "all the right things".
But you ask to see those actual HEALTH CERTIFICATES - OFA 's and proof that the dog in front of you is the dog with the certificate and wow things get ugly fast. Some people are breeding dogs, with copies of old OFA's or someone elses OFA's . Or they say they have the Certs. and they don't. Double check with a vet on size, wt, description and tattoo and you find it's another dog entirely.
What a dog is worth, what is charged, varies. I just placed a rescue Pyr. Not only can she guard goats, she won't hurt poultry, is house trained, leash broken, spayed, UTD, HW negative and treated. She could certify as a therapy animal, she's that social, and is now the official greeter for the farm she's working. Her spaying by a GOOD vet, cost 200.00 and it was a good thing she wasn't done at the low cost clinic. She almost bled out due to bleeding caused by exposure to Erlichia. She was treated for Erlichia. She was treated for the massive parasite load she had when she came in. Including fleas, ticks and worms. Her veterinary bills were over 600.00. They placed her for 300.00 and she's easily worth 800 and more in what she can do, how she is. If she certified for therapy work she'd be worth thousands. That dog rocked. I found her tied to a dumpster with her daughter.
Temperament, working ability, soundness and stability in and with the public are something most pet breeders don't even understand or consider. Yet temperament is a primary cause of home loss.
So cost... sometimes FREE ain't cheap. And $3000 is a low price for the dog you get. I've worked with service dogs and military dogs and protection dogs whose value is in the thousands. A sound working dog is priceless in many ways.
Fools and their money are easily parted over a cuddly puppy. And people are paying top dollar for MUTTS, which is weird but they believe the LIES and they pay and those breeders charge whatever the market will bear. And LIE through their teeth and pretend SURPRISE, when it grows out unhealthy, ugly, too big, too small, actually SHEDs like a MOFO, is deformed or crippled. Gosh sorry... don't know what happened. Or worse with a dangerous temperament.
I know people who've spent thousands on Labradoodles, only to learn they shed, often have poor temperaments, are a total pain to groom. There are labradoodles in lab rescues, poodle rescues and now labradoodle rescues. Want one, consider rescue.
Working in shelters for 30 years, you see all the designer dogs come in and what bad breeding does. I have both types of dogs, well bred and thoughtlessly bred. I still love them. I have the most awesome Pyr/Kuvasz pup here today, who was dumped at a shelter when she got too big and hairy.... sigh. At least she has an awesome temperament and kennel cough, sigh...
Bad breeders are breeding for BAD customers, for idiots and impulse, for the easily led. For people who don't understand that they will get exactly what they are shopping for depending on how educated they've made themselves about buying a good dog from a good breeder, or not. Most people put more thought into their shirt for the day than into the puppy they purchase that will grow up and have sharp teeth and medical bills.
