Ho Lee Shih Tzu!

[Stinky The Clown]

Last edited Tue Feb 28, 2012, 10:59 PM - Edit history (1)

Sparkly was searching for something on the Intertubes and came across a site that had Shih-Tzu dogs for sale.

Ours is a true rescue from a small dog rescue group. She cost us right around $300. That included her spaying, all her shots, some other vet costs, and a donation to the rescue group.

The site Sparkly found tonight was offering Shih-Tzus for someplace in the $2500 range!

Wow!

[OffWithTheirHeads]

1. Bonnie and Clyde cost us $600.00 each but yeah, purebred dogs can be expensive

[Stinky The Clown]

4. What a great picture! Are they in our big, pinned picture thread?

[OffWithTheirHeads]

6. I don't know where that is. So, no.

[Stinky The Clown]

7. It is pinned to the top of this forum

Look at the list of posts for ths forum. It is at the top.

Here is the link: http://www.democraticunderground.com/11611046

[mopinko]

2. pure bred dogs are getting up there.

i am on a couple bulldog boards and that is the going rate for the really desirable bloodlines.

[Curmudgeoness]

3. People who are not interested in showing dogs

should never pay that kind of money for a dog. In fact, why bother? Yikes

[TorchTheWitch]

5. health and temperment

In the long run it comes out as FAR cheaper than astronomical vet bills and/or behavioral problem solving. I pay up front for a show quality dog from an excellent breeder for that very reason. I learned the hard way that saving a few hundred dollars in initial output is peanuts compared to the higher risk of thousands or tens of thousands down the road.

My first Akita had many many health problems his entire life that cost thousands upon thousands of dollars I didn't have. ALL of his health issues were the direct result of bad breeding. Wish I didn't have to learn such a horribly expensive lesson.

Of course, there are no total guarantees, but I'll very gladly pay that few hundred dollar initial output for the greatly reduced risk.

[roody]

9. Mutts are the best and the healthiest.

[TorchTheWitch]

10. no, they aren't

Mutts MAY end up being more healthy but without knowing the parentage of any dog whether a mutt or a purebred you have no idea whether or not defective genes that cause many health or behavioral problems are being passed on or not. No mutt can be guaranteed against hip dysplasia, and a wide variety of other various ailments. It stands to reason that breeding ANY dog where the health stats of the parents are unknown can lead to all kinds of problems whether the dog is a purebreed or not.

This is exactly why RESPONSIBLE breeding is important - eliminating many ailments or behavioral issues that are passed along by genetics. It could be done as well with breeding mutts but apparently no one is interested. And that's a shame. What a wonderful dog world it would be if all breeding was done responsibly whether with purebreds or mutts so that those dogs with any genetic problems aren't used for breeding thereby passing along defective genes that are the cause of so very many health and behavioral problems.

But of course, some breeds because of the very standards of their breed are guaranteed to have health problems, and this really upsets me... breeds with mashed in snouts, pop eyes, stumpy legs, underbites, hairless, too much hair... all of these are genetic defects that are health problems in and of themselves in various degrees and should be discouraged, not encouraged. Case in point is the breed standard for the French Bulldog and why it it wonderful that there are responsible breeders starting to breed against the breed standards in order to eliminate those standards that are health problems in and of themselves.

I think that we can all agree that we want all dogs to have the best shot at a healthy life and want to do what little we can to encourage that. Part of that is understanding that genetics plays a role whether it's mutts or purebreds.

[Curmudgeoness]

12. I am glad to hear that some breeders

are rebelling against standards that are actually causing health problems. Maybe the AKC will follow suit.

[TorchTheWitch]

14. I despair of the AKC most of the time

One can hope though.

[wildeyed]

15. I adopt rescues at a year or older.

Usually, any serious behavioral problems are evident by then. I would not adopt a rescue puppy again without knowing a great deal about parents and early life after having a very difficult experience with a rescued puppy years ago.

[roody]

8. My city's new police dogs cost 15,000 each. n/t

[TorchTheWitch]

11. and worth every penny and then some

Of course most of that amount is the rigorous training that went into making them the wonderful assets they are.

[Stinky The Clown]

13. I'm sure that's for a fully trained dog, ready to go to work.

Trainable dogs are more costly than others of the same breed. The training is very expensive, but well under the cost of a newly minted human cop.

[wildeyed]

16. I read somewhere that a purebred dog should cost at least $1000.

Less than that and the breeder was probably skimping on vet care or it is a backyard breeder who may not understand or care about genetics and early puppy care.

[TorchTheWitch]

17. a responsible breeder likely doesn't make any money at all from breeding

They don't do it to make money. They do it in order to attempt to produce the most ideal specimens as show dog champions for themselves and others and for the love and improvement of the breed.

There is a TON of output involved in responsible breeding, and that doesn't even take into account the personal time and attention that needs to be paid to mothers and pups and just caring for all the dogs. For the most part, responsible breeders are thrilled to financially break even. In all honesty, responsible breeders are most likely going to be those sort of folk that have a lot of descretionary income to be able to throw into such an enterprise and aren't going to mind losing it.

You need to have a lot of property with proper kennels and runs in order to maintain the number of stock dogs and pups the amount of your property can legally hold. The less property you have the less dogs you're allowed to have... and the less dogs you're allowed to have the less breeding you can do. This can be especially financially burdensome for those sort of breeds that commonly don't produce very many pups per litter, and for any breed it's not so terribly unusually for only one or two to be produced.

You have to spend a good four generations in money and time before you even GET ideal stock dogs or have the big bucks to hopefully buy one from another breeder (and good luck finding one they're willing to sell... this is where a lot of co-ownership comes in). In essense, it takes years just to really get started.

Female stock dogs are only good for one or two litters since no responsible breeder will allow a female to breed more than twice in her life time and never back to back.

Stud fees are enormous and there's the expense of artificial insemination since in this day and age sperm is sent by mail for breeding purposes which has to be specially preserved and administered... and if a pregnancy doesn't occur or otherwise doesn't work out that's your loss.

The breeding dogs have multiple health certifications for specific health issues to prove that with those issues the dogs are clear (hips, eyes, patellas, bones, etc.). These certifications are age specific, and some of them can't even be done until the dog is at least two years of age... so that's two years of caring for a dog that may not even be able to be used for breeding because of a single not good enough health cert.

Responsible breeders don't do much at all in the way of advertising and will likely have looooong waiting lists. The better ones don't usually announce their breeding plans and will rarely sell show quality pups to non-show folk (mostly because it's unlikely they'll ever have one available given the waiting lists).

Responsible breeders won't sell a pup whether companion or show quality to just anyone and screen the hell out any applicant. I like that though and want them to screen the hell out of me because it proves to me how much they care about who their pups are going to. I know of one excellent Akita breeder that insists on seeing photos of your home inside and out so he can be assured the dog will be properly housed in a good healthy and clean environment that provides enough space.

It really comes down to a serious obsession to put that kind of time, attention, energy and money into responsible breeding. We're all entitled to our kooky little serious obsessions though. At least this is one I can understand though unlike the kooky little serious obsession of mountain climbing... that one I just don't get. LOL!

Considering all that's involved and the financial output necessary to responsibly breed, I feel lucky to only have to pay between $1500 and $2500 for a companion quality or show quality pup from such an excellent and responsible breeder.

[Rhiannon12866]

18. I've adopted two Brussels Griffons from rescue.

I called about an 8-year-old cocker spaniel up for adoption and ended up with my eight-pound wonder, so small and well behaved that I could take him pretty much everywhere. When my mother told a friend, he exclaimed "That's a $2000 dog!" And that was 10 years ago. My little guy cost me nothing, poor baby fell through the cracks when his elderly owner died.

Four years later, I was contacted by a vet tech who used to work for my vet, so knew my dog. She was fostering another Brussels Griffon, a pet shop rescue, and wondered if I'd be interested. We went to meet the little guy and, guess what? Of course we brought him home.

These "pet shop rescues" are dogs who have a heath problem, so couldn't be sold. This little dog had a hernia, which was repaired when he was neutered, and it never slowed him down, LOL. He cost me $100, to cover vet bills, but he must have cost them a lot more than that. And I knew he'd require surgery for the hernia, but he was going to be neutered, in any case. Since I adopt senior dogs, a puppy (five months) was a challenge, but he's five years old now, in fine health and is sleeping next to me on the couch as I write this.

Meneken and Jack

[Sparkly]

19. SOOO Adorable!!!!!