Price of dogs

naughto

Bought a young pub about 8 months old sheep dog two weeks ago papers and all not much change left from 500.
He is some what trained and will be going to a man locally to be fully trained in the next few weeks.
Kids love him and hes very friendly with them which is great

Lost bag

Glad I came across this thread! I called a person about shihtzu’s advertised on DD just over a week ago, I was told I’d get a call bacK - never did.

Next day ad was gone from DD, it was back a week later and price went up 3 times the original. It’s very frustrating.

shaveAbullock

Say my name wrote: »

A farrier told me leisure horses have gone up in value since the lockdown.
Even unbroken horses gone up as people were looking for something to occupy their time with.
It'll be a different story of course when people get back to work or no work in cases and the economic situation bites hard.

My local rescue is already re-homing dogs because the owners are back at work and no longer want them.
These are not dogs that were fostered from the rescue as they were reluctant to foster dogs when so many were out of work.

Birdnuts

shaveAbullock wrote: »

My local rescue is already re-homing dogs because the owners are back at work and no longer want them.
These are not dogs that were fostered from the rescue as they were reluctant to foster dogs when so many were out of work.

Clowns like that should be banned from ever owning a dog again:mad:

martinr5232

Lost bag wrote:

Next day ad was gone from DD, it was back a week later and price went up 3 times the original. It’s very frustrating.

Id say you dodged a bullet so.

eamond

afkasurfjunkie wrote: »

Seriously, who in their right mind would buy a ‘pupe’ that’s ‘wormd and vacation got’. These so called sellers should be neutered and microchipped.

Brilliant comment afkasurfjunkie. I was browsing the ads on DD and I found myself going from disbelief to anger before breaking into uncontrolled laughter at the outright cheek and BS of these 'breeders' (or maybe 'breaders'!) - as well as the quality of the prose.

Some of these ads were hilarious in terms of what the poor pups had going for them (mainly sfa!)

It seems the modern approach is either
1. Start a puppy farm and sod the consequences
or
2. If Trixie (who is pure-bred but a bit of a slag really) happens to mate with Joxer (the local Rex O'Carroll-Kelly) in the park - or at a site of your choosing - you simply take the names of both breeds, slice and dice them into something 'cute' and stick an ad on the dreaded DD.

Either way, the wording (if not the speling) of the ad is critically important. The products of this canine quickie must be described as 'worm(e)d', 'vac(cin)ated', 'great with children', 'non-shed', 'hypoallergenic', 'member of Mensa' and 'full driving licence'. And most importantly, this canine mutation must be priced in 4 figures.

Now I'm no apologist for the IKC - I'm sure they're not perfect any more that a lot of our institutions. But at least they provide some level of oversight - not to mention the much-lauded 'transparency' and 'traceability' we all know and love.

And needless to say, I am a lover of dogs of all breeds - and none (ah, you know what I mean). We had a much-loved (and spoilt) Bichon for about 15 years and I used to call him 'the youngest'. We still haven't got around to replacing him just yet since his unfortunate passing about 10 years ago. He was a fully paid-up IKC member btw.

But now, I think I'm entitled to a bite of 'new' this cake. So I'm currently hatching a plan to put an ad on DD advertising an entirely new hybrid .... cue the dreamy music.....

What if one were to arrange the union (via Photoshop of course) of say, an Akita and a Mastiff. Let's call this new creation a Ma-kita. (this Hybrid can even be charged at night on cheaper electricity!)

Once we have a few good photographs and add a dash of cuteness (but not too much given the parentage - and the target market for such a cocktail), think of a few meaningless pieces of bs and decide on a ridiculous price, we're all set to go. I'd say these adorable 'pupes' should fetch around € 1850 without any bother.

OK, I'm off to make up the ad and go shopping for a new car. And no, I'm not buying a Prius!

Thanks afkasurfjunkie for giving me a laugh. But please, as a new 'breader', I don't want any of the treatment you describe - especially that 'neutering' crack!

Btw, I'm not trying to make light of this very serious issue. It is something which really gets me annoyed. But looking on DD, I found it totally ridiculous that people would be willing to pay such stupid money for a mongrel - and that is exactly what a Cockapoo, Labradoodle, Makita etc. can be described as.

Incidentally, if I was to buy a house in Cabra and start cross-breeding a Poodle and a Labrador, could I call the pups 'Cabradoodles'. OK, enough of this. Time for my medication......

shaveAbullock

eamond wrote: »

But looking on DD, I found it totally ridiculous that people would be willing to pay such stupid money for a mongrel - and that is exactly what a Cockapoo, Labradoodle, Makita etc. can be described as.

Am I wrong in thinking that this is how the majority of people get dogs now?

Feisar

shaveAbullock wrote: »

Demand, loads of people want an dog right now because the are bored and have more free time.

Are people that simple minded that they cannot see that in three months time they'll be back to work, kids at school etc. and there won't be time for Fido?

eamond

shaveAbullock wrote: »

Am I wrong in thinking that this is how the majority of people get dogs now?

Appears to be. The new 'Buy and Sell' it seems. But definitely not the ideal place to source a pet.

Outkast_IRE

A person is smart , People are stupid.

Once they hear the demand is going up for something they want it too.

These people went out for a few walks during lockdown and now want dogs for company. Wait till its pissing rain for weeks on end and your collie or German Shepard will be digging bunkers out in the garden out of frustration and boredom cause these owners wont go out in the rain.

As others have said , i was talking to a few people who help out in shelters/rescues in Cork and they are all dreading the Autumn when people start to dump these animals with no consequences. I had a collie up until recently who died of old age related issues but up till the last 6 months if you were not out for a 5k plus walk and spent time training with her she would leave you know she wasnt happy.

amacca

shaveAbullock wrote: »

Am I wrong in thinking that this is how the majority of people get dogs now?

I wanted to get a golden lab a couple of years ago and asked my vet how would I go about it....i was told donedeal is your best bet ......i was going to go down the find a breeder go on waiting list road and remember getting contact details from a breed society website but when I was told that i just got a dog off donedeal in the end......dog is ikc registered etc (for what its worth) and I did the best I could to ensure it wasn't a puppy farm he was coming from.......found it difficult to get contact details for a "reputable" breeder..

What irked me (although I see the need for it given some of the goons you hear about) was all the rigmarole with rescuing a dog you seem to have to go through.....remember rescuing a Springer from a pound in Dublin donkeys years ago and it was the best dog we ever had....just requested a dog breed, waited and then took him home, was so delighted with him I dropped a good bottle of whiskey back to the warden the next year ..rescued a lab mongrel more recently and jumped through moderate hoops and then shelled out 300 in vet bill (different vet) to have him treated for parvo which they didn't vaccinate for in that pound ....unfortunately he died so that and the hoops the other ones make you jump through to adopt a dog (which are sadly probably necessary) just put me off so I said I'd buy...........mayve not ideal but donedeal seems to be the route of least resistance everything else seems to be a potential pain in the hole or at least it did to me.

thecretinhop

The only thing on the planet I agree with Linda Martin on.
How do I get a dog from a proper source.
Last 2 dogs rescue yeah there will be a swamp of dem come August even

LilacNails

A lot of these so called sellers are thefts. There's been a huge spike in dogs reported missing or stolen where I am.

Please have a look on some animal charities and dog pounds before purchasing off done deal or any other similar platform.

There are thousands of unwanted dogs, the country doesn't need anymore, it's only easy money for many who can't be bothered to get off their holes and work.

eamond

amacca wrote: »

...........mayve not ideal but donedeal seems to be the route of least resistance everything else seems to be a potential pain in the hole or at least it did to me.

I think it's time for the IKC to step up to the plate here. They are in the ideal position to counteract puppy farms, Dr. Frankensteins etc. All they have to do is allow genuine (and properly vetted) breeders to advertise their pups on a DD clone of their own making and control.
I think they have registers of breeders but Lockdown Larry (and Liz) want the point-and-click convenience of DD etc.

eamond

and there's a couple of French Bulldogs in Dublin for €3000. Must be paying for their good looks ('a face that only a mother could love'). Or maybe they actually speak French. Must be really special.

mp3guy

eamond wrote: »

and there's a couple of French Bulldogs in Dublin for €3000. Must be paying for their good looks ('a face that only a mother could love'). Or maybe they actually speak French. Must be really special.

Imagine spending more on a car that will have more issues than a cheaper (or even free) one down the line?

gmisk

eamond wrote: »

and there's a couple of French Bulldogs in Dublin for €3000. Must be paying for their good looks ('a face that only a mother could love'). Or maybe they actually speak French. Must be really special.

That honestly isn't that unusual for a good french bulldog. A blue one can easily go for more.
Mine is fawn went through proper channels IKC etc visited him and the house,other pups, parents, about 4 times before collecting. Zero real breed issues health wise and he is 3 now. He was 2k. They can be great family let's.
On the flip side I go to french bulldog meetups and some of them are not good health wise.

People getting dogs from donedeal etc are asking for trouble.

lakill Farm

had a litter of liver colour springer spaniel pups last year. I own the 2 parents. During the Last few weeks, 4 of the people who bought pups off us last year wanted to buy another this year but we aren't going to have a litter this year by choice. all 4 booked a pup for 2021.

There are good bloodlines in both parents but really pups are hard work. first 5 days you could be checking them every 2 hours around the clock. bitch had a clatter of pups so swapped half the pups from bitch to a clear plastic box beside her with heat lamp and hot bottle every 2 hours.
Feed and water and small run of bitch every 2 hours.

IKC fees
Food
micro chip
more food
vaccinations

you would have about 135/150 cost per pup for a spaniel

Ave Sodalis

I have absolutely no problem with spending money on a well bred, health tested reputable sourced dog. In fact, I would prefer that to rescue, and I despise the whole "adopt, don't shop" notion.

However, thousands for a byb mutt is insanity. There needs to be far higher repercussions (or just repercussions in the first place) for anyone puppy farms and backyard breeders. Designer breeds should be outlawed unless they have a specific working dog purpose, in which case they should be held to the same high standard as purebred dogs.

Say my name wrote:

A farrier told me leisure horses have gone up in value since the lockdown. Even unbroken horses gone up as people were looking for something to occupy their time with. It'll be a different story of course when people get back to work or no work in cases and the economic situation bites hard.

Horses are completely unattainable right now. You're looking at 3k for something that would have cost 300 a few months ago. Anything that is capable of doing anything, you're talking 5k or more.

shaveAbullock

Ave Sodalis wrote: »

I have absolutely no problem with spending money on a well bred, health tested reputable sourced dog. In fact, I would prefer that to rescue, and I despise the whole "adopt, don't shop" notion.

Is it because most dog rescues require you to have a secure area for the dog?
That's the issue most people I know seem to have when they consider adopting and why they feel a breeder for donedeal the better option because of this.

eamond

gmisk wrote: »

That honestly isn't that unusual for a good french bulldog. A blue one can easily go for more.
Mine is fawn went through proper channels IKC etc visited him and the house,other pups, parents, about 4 times before collecting. Zero real breed issues health wise and he is 3 now. He was 2k. They can be great family let's.
On the flip side I go to french bulldog meetups and some of them are not good health wise.

People getting dogs from donedeal etc are asking for trouble.

Absolutely agree with you. And sorry for the cheap shot about the good looks - obviously a very subjective thing!
Of course I realise that some breeds are very expensive and I have no problem with that. If the pups are IKC registered, the breeders have a right to charge a fair price.

And I know that breeding a dog correctly is not a simple or inexpensive matter. So again, no problem there. In fact afaik, the IKC will refuse to register more than one clutch in the year for any bitch - very laudable.


I suppose what most people here - including yourself - have a problem with is the concept of paying silly money for mongrels.

mp3guy

Ave Sodalis wrote: »

I have absolutely no problem with spending money on a well bred, health tested reputable sourced dog. In fact, I would prefer that to rescue, and I despise the whole "adopt, don't shop" notion.

Why? How can you justify introduction of additional lives to the world when rescues aren't empty?

Ave Sodalis

shaveAbullock wrote:

Is it because most dog rescues require you to have a secure area for the dog? That's the issue most people I know seem to have when they consider adopting and why they feel a breeder for donedeal the better option because of this.

It's actually because it gives the sense that dog rescues are perfect when there are dodgy rescues as well as breeders. I much prefer the term "adopt and shop responsibility".
The biggest issue with rescue over buying is that rescue only isn't going to affect your backyard breeders all that much. The first people that will be impacted is going to be your genuine breeders that are seeking to create healthier dogs. The only dogs to exist then will be poorly bred dogs with health issues. Whereas, if people only bought from proper breeders, the number of dogs in rescues will drop dramatically.

treascon

I’ve noticed a few sellers on DD care that much about the pups they’re selling that they can’t even get the breed of dog right on the ad. Enough said!

eamond

mp3guy wrote: »

Imagine spending more on a car that will have more issues than a cheaper (or even free) one down the line?

That car analogy reminds me of another one. I don't know how many of you remember the practice of 'ringing' in the motor trade (or at least the shadier side of the trade). This involved taking two crashed cars (often if not usually write-offs) where the damage was to the two ends. The practice was to take the undamaged front of one and the undamaged rear of the other and weld them together to produce a 'new' car. This would then be sold to some unsuspecting mug. I don't need to go into the pros and cons of this arrangement.


So if we were to take two dog breeds ....... I'm beginning to see a parallel here - maybe I need to get out more! What do ye think? Or am I finally losing it?

BnB

I'd agree with almost everything on this thread. I've been on the lookout for a pup for the last 3 months on Donedeal. It is flooded with backyard dealers.

The worst I have seen (in terms of the amount of stuff they go through) seems to be around Newcastlewest / Adare in Limerick. I started to notice it because I was looking on Donedeal every day and that area is traveling distance for me so it was on my radar. Now I see almost every single day there is a new ad up around that area. Someone out there is definitely going out of their way to try and hide the fact that they are dealers. It is usually a new Donedeal account with just one Ad in Adare, Newcastlewest, Athea... But the wording is always the same with the BS text "Good home is a priority" etc

You would have to be looking at Donedeal for a few weeks to see the patterns. I could be looking at it for a week and there might not be a single Ad from Clare, Tipp, Galway, but there could be 6 or 7 ads (from different sellers) in that same pocket of Limerick in the same week. I see the same up around Longford but I haven't scrutinised as much RE who's placing the Ads as it is probably further than I am willing to travel anyway.

I'd also agree with the Rehoming thing. I might do it in the future maybe when my kids are a bit older, but I am not going to risk bringing any dog into young kids that may have had some kind of a messy history that could trigger him to turn on a child when they pull his tail or whatever. Not the poor dogs fault of course, but I can't risk that with young kids. Also, to be honest, I have looked at a few animal charities and fair play to them, they do some good work. But looking at their twitter feeds and FB pages, they are very often the same people who want to shut down farming, horse racing etc which really puts me off them.

I actually don't know what to do at this stage. Mad and all as it is, the price wouldn't worry me too much if I knew I was getting a pup from a reputable dealer and I wasn't paying some pr1ck to abuse dogs. But how do you go about finding a reputable breeder ?

eamond

BnB wrote: »

But how do you go about finding a reputable breeder ?

Hi BnB,
You're pretty much on the money with your assessment. Kind of unusual geographic spread alright!


In the 'old days', the best way to find a reputable breeder was through the IKC. I'm sure that channel is still available. Another way was to chat someone who's in the know - eg someone locally who breeds or shows dogs. These people know what's going on in the dog world and most of them would be happy to set you straight. It doesn't matter that they're not breeding the type of dog you want (in fact, that's probably an advantage!). You could also chat to people involved in grooming, small animal clinics etc. However, it's a big help if the person is a at least a friend of a friend. I would not go on the opinion of a casual meeting with some stranger out walking their dog as I think they're unlikely to give an objective warts and all description of Fido.



Again, in the past, Buy and Sell was regarded as a somewhat hit and miss source for a good dog. As the forerunner of DD etc, ....... I'll let you draw your own conclusions.

Incidentally, as I've said earlier, I am not involved in any way with IKC and this is just my opinion. We have owned an IKC registered Bichon and he was a legend. I have sometimes heard mutterings of discontent from within the membership - but that can and does happen in any organisation. On balance, the IKC is probably your best resource to point you to a reputable breeder.

In the past, going this route could be very expensive but with the craziness that's been going on with 'designer' mongrels, IKC registered dogs are possible less expensive to buy. Talk about the tail waggin' the dog! It might be time to wipe out - or at least scale down this nonsense. I would have thought the IKC would be more proactive in protecting their breeders, membership, breeds, bloodlines etc.

Btw, I agree 100% about the problems of rehoming a dog where there are kids - even up to the age of 9 or 10 kids that is !). It's not fair to the dog and it could be potentially dangerous for the kids as you have observed. And while rehoming in general is a lovely idea, imho there's always a question about why the dog ended up in a rescue home - or on DD as a 'good home required' candidate. Even if it's not due to behaviour etc. - and you can't be sure until it's too late - it's hard to expect an adult dog to settle into a new environment. I wouldn't fancy ending up with someone else's problem - and I've seen that happen a few times. There's a lot to be said for getting a pup at 8-10 weeks and have that pup learn the rules of the house - ie your house!

OK, that's my tuppence worth. Hope I'm not stating the obvious here.
Hth and good luck.

dohc turbo2

BnB wrote: »

I'd agree with almost everything on this thread. I've been on the lookout for a pup for the last 3 months on Donedeal. It is flooded with backyard dealers.

The worst I have seen (in terms of the amount of stuff they go through) seems to be around Newcastlewest / Adare in Limerick. I started to notice it because I was looking on Donedeal every day and that area is traveling distance for me so it was on my radar. Now I see almost every single day there is a new ad up around that area. Someone out there is definitely going out of their way to try and hide the fact that they are dealers. It is usually a new Donedeal account with just one Ad in Adare, Newcastlewest, Athea... But the wording is always the same with the BS text "Good home is a priority" etc

You would have to be looking at Donedeal for a few weeks to see the patterns. I could be looking at it for a week and there might not be a single Ad from Clare, Tipp, Galway, but there could be 6 or 7 ads (from different sellers) in that same pocket of Limerick in the same week. I see the same up around Longford but I haven't scrutinised as much RE who's placing the Ads as it is probably further than I am willing to travel anyway.

I'd also agree with the Rehoming thing. I might do it in the future maybe when my kids are a bit older, but I am not going to risk bringing any dog into young kids that may have had some kind of a messy history that could trigger him to turn on a child when they pull his tail or whatever. Not the poor dogs fault of course, but I can't risk that with young kids. Also, to be honest, I have looked at a few animal charities and fair play to them, they do some good work. But looking at their twitter feeds and FB pages, they are very often the same people who want to shut down farming, horse racing etc which really puts me off them.

I actually don't know what to do at this stage. Mad and all as it is, the price wouldn't worry me too much if I knew I was getting a pup from a reputable dealer and I wasn't paying some pr1ck to abuse dogs. But how do you go about finding a reputable breeder ?

Well that’s a good one , I was looking again yesterday and seen one crowd with dogs in Limerick and had 2 dofferent breeds up worth thousands and offering a blanket with the cent of the parents and some dog food for the 2grand , I said to myself defo something funny about it

shaveAbullock

dohc turbo2 wrote: »

Well that’s a good one , I was looking again yesterday and seen one crowd with dogs in Limerick and had 2 dofferent breeds up worth thousands and offering a blanket with the cent of the parents and some dog food for the 2grand , I said to myself defo something funny about it

Are the puppies too young to be separated from the mother?
Do they consider the blanket an adequate alternative?

dohc turbo2

shaveAbullock wrote: »

Are the puppies too young to be separated from the mother?
Do they consider the blanket an adequate alternative?

Says 2 months , just looks like a thing to throw u off the scent of being a breeder and money racket