Pricing a Pure-Bred Dog

Why should I go through all the paperwork to buy a dog from a breeder who charges $1000 for a puppy when I can get a registered and/or pure-bred puppy for $300.00 without all the “hassle”?!

That’s a really good question and it got me to thinking about my own requirements as a breeder and what I looked for when I was buying my breeding stock.

I talked to a breeder about a well papered puppy asking price $2500.00. NO breeding rights EVER. Parents were not vetted and the breeder would not (or could not) provide any documentation for what he was saying about the dogs. I passed. That’s a lot of money for a pet and no documented assurance that the puppy is as healthy as possible.

As a breeder I strive to produce breed quality puppies. I feel that I won’t know if a dog is a breed quality dog until it is two years old which is why I offer limited registration to buyers who have no intention of breeding and just want a healthy puppy. It’s also why I send puppies home without breeding rights until they are two, so I am doing my due diligence as a breeder and making sure an animal from my breeding program is worthy of passing on its genes. I have a dog I paid a lot of money for who should not be bred. We still love her and she is still part of our farmily, but she’s not going to have puppies. I’m out a lot of money I will never get back. That is why we release breeding rights to buyers after the puppy is two. Our buyer’s still have a great dog, but if something happens in spite of how careful we try to be they are not out a ton of money for a dog that isn’t going to work for their breeding program. The uncertainty of whether a buyer can trust that I will keep my word and release the rights to full registration is also why I fill out the forms and sign it when they pick up their puppy and let them know who to contact if they cannot reach me at the end of those two years. Those papers are filed where my designee can send them off once the buyer fulfills the remainder of the contract if something were to happen to me. This is also why I want to be in contact with my buyers. This is why we develop a relationship. I want to KNOW if something comes up. The breeder I got the dog from who can’t be bred? She doesn’t breed that pair any more. She is responsible and cares about the breed and her buyers as well as her dogs. If a genetic defect shows up that’s awful and unfortunate, but imagine being a buyer and something comes up and you never hear from the breeder again. You can never get ahold of them. They are out there passing on puppies with the same genetic defect litter after litter and DON’T CARE.  That happens ALL the time when a buyer chooses a cheap puppy.

Speaking of contracts…a contract protects the buyer and seller. I am not a puppy mill. I am not mass-producing puppies, flooding the market with inferior dogs and sitting back lounging in money while my dogs live in sub-standard conditions and do all the work. A LOT of money, time, and love goes into my dogs and their puppies. I CARE about them and my buyers and their families. I am not going to send a good puppy to a bad home and I am not going to send a bad puppy to a good home. I can’t know if a buyer is the right fit for a certain puppy or even a German Shepherd in general if I don’t get to know them. A buyer isn’t going to be happy with a high drive dog that weighs 90 pounds if they live in an apartment. But that same buyer may be really happy with a 65-pound dog that loves to lay at their feet, take several walks a day to the dog park, and isn’t going to chew up their couch because it’s bored. A good breeder will not only ask questions and get a feel for every buyer, but will also answer every question a buyer has and want to stay in touch with them.

Why do I charge what I charge? My puppies are not sold for $2500.00 because I do not sport, title or OFA my breeding stock UNLESS I see something that causes a concern after they are two. If I do, we go to our vet and have a thorough physical exam and if our vet agrees that we may have something to find we will x-ray them. If we don’t see anything of concern, we do not stress the dog and go through the expense which is over $1,000.00 per dog. I do DNA test my dogs so that I can control recessive genes like DM. Where hips and elbows are subjective, something like DM is not. A dog has it, doesn’t, or carries it. A good breeder will know the status of the dog and never breed a DM positive dog. They will also never breed a DM carrier to a DM carrier dog – 25% of their puppies would have DM! Where joint issues like hips and elbows are somewhat due to genetics those things are easily observable, if they don’t show up by the time the dog is two then any issues later in life can be contributed to old age. I have arthritis in my major joints, a hard physical life, injury, and some genetics contributed to that. The same is true for dogs. That’s why we don’t force our young dogs to do anything they are not physically choosing to do on their own and watch them very carefully as they navigate stairs and different surfaces during their developmental years.

I don’t charge $300.00 for a puppy because my puppies are high quality. Their parents are housed in large kennels with room to run and play every day as well as crates in the house at night. Housing for one dog costs $1,000.00 not including maintenance and repair. I feed my dogs a high-quality dog food which averages out to about $100.00 per dog per month. I treat my dogs for heartworm, fleas, and ticks every month average about $30.00 per dog. My dogs receive annual shots $25.00 per dog. They see the vet annually which averages $100.00 a visit. That doesn’t include urgent care, emergencies, pre-breeding visits and tests, blood work, DNA testing, prescriptions if needed or well puppy visits and care for each litter. It also doesn’t include the cost of registrations, pedigrees, microchips, and puppy packs. Then there are fencing costs, toys, training equipment, birthing supplies, puppy supplies, etc. Breeding dogs is expensive if you do it right and a good breeder is lucky to break even. What you are paying for is a healthy, purebred puppy who will likely cost you less in the long run because I have taken as many concerns out of the scenario as I possibly can. If the $2500.00 dog had come with breeding rights (even limited like mine), parents were fully vetted with proof, I would have paid that and been happy to, but it wasn’t. I had no guarantee of any kind that that puppy would be an outstanding dog worthy of passing on it’s genes and wouldn’t have been permitted to anyway, so no I wouldn’t pay that. But I have and would pay $1000.00, which is what I ask for, for parents that I can see as two-year-olds who are strong, healthy, and have no visible issues. Who are genetically clear for GSD negative mutations. For a puppy who comes from a mother who is in good weight right after birth. A puppy that comes out of a clean home where it is socialized and loved from day one. Yes, I’ll pay for that because even though there are no guarantees that a puppy will be breed quality until it is fully mature and genetically tested, the odds of it being breed quality are higher when the breeder takes the responsibility to breed the highest quality dogs possible and takes precautions to ensure the next generation is even more healthy and of higher quality then the previous one.

A note on that $300.00 puppy with or without papers…I looked at a pup for our breeding program whose breeder does all the things I do EXCEPT let me go out and see the whole litter. That did not send up a red flag though, she was willing to bring in every single puppy for me to see them and she brought the parents out to see me. She explained that they do not allow people out to the kennel and whelping area for health reasons (we limit contact until the puppies are older also) and because they had shown a couple a prior litter and they had come back when the family was gone and stolen all of the puppies. That’s why we ask for a picture ID, address, and phone number on our contract. That’s why a buyer should ask to see the place the dogs are kept, the parents, the paperwork. You could be buying a stolen dog, a falsely registered litter (someone has registered a litter or more puppies then were born and puts those papers on inferior or non-purebred puppies) or an unhealthy and/or mixed breed dog. Bottom line buyer’s beware – you get what you pay for.

A good, quality breeder produces good, quality puppies and puts a great deal of time, money, and effort into providing you with the opportunity to add a good quality puppy to your family and/or breeding program. It shouldn’t bother you to put the effort into reassuring the breeder that you are a good fit for one of their puppies and will give it a good quality life by filling out some paperwork.

As always, comments and questions are welcome. Have a great day!

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