why is it that pedigree pups are so expensive?

Jojo_the_Tightfisted

Person_one wrote: »

Well, I think they're dogs, and I think every dog is worth the same essentially. Its just as stupid to pay a grand for an inbred, non health tested, poorly cared for pedigree puppy as it is to pay a grand for a 'designer' crossbreed.

In my opinion, its worth paying for a puppy from healthy parents that's been carefully reared in a loving breeder's home, regardless of its 'breed' and not worth paying for a carelessly bred puppy with an unknown health background. They're all the same species after all!

Of course, I prefer to rescue anyway.

They're mutts.

The KC registered ones are mutant mutts.


Wouldn't catch me paying hundreds of pounds of perfectly good money for any mutt, mutant or otherwise.

I prefer dubious parentage things, anyway. More interesting when trying to work out what you've got when faced with a puppy with unfeasibly large paws.

gettingready

When was it last time you asked someone walking their dog "What is your dog" and they came up with "Oh, he is a mongrel"?

Nope.. they will always go into "Oh, he is half this and 1/8 this and 1/25 this and..." ....

Zara is a mutt, she is MY mutt

Person_one

Caroline_a wrote: »

If you want a mongrel, dont pay shedloads of money for something with a fancy name, because you're paying for the name, not the dog!

But, then what are you paying for with a pedigree? Why is a bulldog or a shar-pei of intrinsically more value than a mongrel?

I have pedigrees actually, because I'm allergic to dogs so I can't have just any mongrel from the dog's home, but I'm not daft enough to think they're any 'better' objectively than any other dog. They still trail mud through the house and sit on the sofa licking their bits!

Person_one

gettingready wrote: »

When was it last time you asked someone walking their dog "What is your dog" and they came up with "Oh, he is a mongrel"?

Nope.. they will always go into "Oh, he is half this and 1/8 this and 1/25 this and..." ....

Zara is a mutt, she is MY mutt

Now that's a bit disingenuous GR, in a thread not that long ago you told us you only wanted a GSD or a GSD cross, nothing else would do!

Caroline_a

I used to have mongrels, but now have pedigrees simply because I wanted a particular type of dog, and could afford to get one from a breeder who was conscientious enough to health check and carefully select the parents. However, it doesn't make them any better dogs than a crossbreed, it just makes the adult dog more predictable from getting a puppy.

My shepherd isn't a dog that would win any show classes - he's a longhair. Now I like longhairs, but wanted one that was bred by a breeder who minimised the risks of hip problems, and behaviour issues - they breed for obedience dogs rather than show dogs .

Person_one

Caroline_a wrote: »

I used to have mongrels, but now have pedigrees simply because I wanted a particular type of dog, and could afford to get one from a breeder who was conscientious enough to health check and carefully select the parents. However, it doesn't make them any better dogs than a crossbreed, it just makes the adult dog more predictable from getting a puppy.

My shepherd isn't a dog that would win any show classes - he's a longhair. Now I like longhairs, but wanted one that was bred by a breeder who minimised the risks of hip problems, and behaviour issues - they breed for obedience dogs rather than show dogs .

If a breeder of crossbreeds did health checks and was generally responsible, would you then feel the price tag was more reasonable? After all, there are plenty of people who question how ethical it is to keep breeding pedigrees within small gene pools.

cepheus

Why is anything worth anything in a market economy? The law of supply & demand; there is no not rationality in this. In the case of dogs it is snob value or fashion which adds a premium for a pedigree, despite many looking grotesquely ugly, some being monstrosities unfit to breathe and walk properly, and nearly all are more susceptible to illness and injury than their mongrel cousins.

Of my two friends which have bought a pedigree, one was a Labrador which was limping by the age of 5, and the other, a Golden Retriever which is desperately clinging to life between epileptic fits. The latter was from a respected KC breeder and had a tabulated ancestory far longer than my own, but they later supposedly 'discovered' that one had epilepsy!

Normal breeding in the wild generally removes this from animals, that's what they call hybrid vigour.

Caroline_a

Person_one wrote: »

If a breeder of crossbreeds did health checks and was generally responsible, would you then feel the price tag was more reasonable? After all, there are plenty of people who question how ethical it is to keep breeding pedigrees within small gene pools.

Unfortunately for the most they dont. Most of these so called designer breeds are 'my mate's got one of these, let's call it a (insert cutesy fancy name) and make a bomb'. There's no forethought except money making. As far as the gene pool goes, again, sensible breeders check the background of both parents, but if you think about it, years ago the mongrel gene pool was often dominated by the neighbourhood rogue who roamed his area!

gettingready

Zara is a long haired GS with no papers - that makes her a mutt, simples.

hoppo,p

Because people pay the the stupid prices!!!!