Bichon Frise/Shih tzu puppies

live'n'learn

I was planning to buy my 5 yr old daughter either a Bichon Frise or Shih tzu pup and i was wondering if either of these breeds of dog would be suitable?

I have seen a variety of prices from £200-500 although the one for £200 was a year old.

Would i be unrealistic to try and wait to buy one for £200?

Thanks in advance,

jadedson

To be honest the cost of the dog is irrelevant. In the kindest possible way if you can't afford the upfront purchase then what about the cost of feeding, insuring, grooming and vaccinating your new dog. Then there's the time to toilet train, socialize and walk the dog too. It's a big commitment for you as your 5 year old daughter is too young to be of much help with looking after a dog.

The nature of the dog would be more important that the cost, you can get good pups and bad pups and you are as well picking a breed by doing lots of research, then viewing litters of puppies until you find one who's temperament is even, has good parentage and comes from a healthy line of dogs. It's always important to view at least the mother too. Don't go for a cheap dog as you might end up with one from a puppy farm. You might think you're rescuing a farmed puppy but all you're doing is perpetuating the illegal and horrible industry that puppy farming is.

warmhands.coldheart

livenlearn wrote: »

I have seen a variety of prices from £200-500 although the one for £200 was a year old.

Would i be unrealistic to try and wait to buy one for £200?

Thanks in advance,

Get a rescue dog...... loads of them about..... we got ours when he was about 1 yr old and he's just great........

dazb75

Please bear in mind, you're considering buying a 'dog', not a 'puppy'.

SnowyOwl_2

How about getting your five year old some goldfish or similar. They are a lot less interactive, but also they are much, much easier to look after. You know the old saying "A dog is for life". If you buy a puppy - regardless of the cost - you are looking at anything up to 12, 13, 14 maybe 15 years of commitment. That's picking up dog sh*t every single day for that number of years. Do you really expect that sort of commitment foisted on a five year old will work out?

robocop

The cheaper the dog the more likely it will come from someone who knows nothing about the correct way to breed dogs (health testing, hip scoring etc)or worse still a puppy farmer. Here's an post on gumtree from someone who bought a pup through the site:

On sunday 1st april i replied to an advert on here about jack russell yorkie cross puppy i got a very swift reply with the offer to deliver the pup. ( very stupid i know ) within half hour of me saying yes i will have the pup they were here. with puppy in hand . this was at about 12.55pm this perso walked into my home where there was 4 very excited children i handed her the money plus the money for delivery and she handed me the puppy my children sat with the pup.

at 9.50pm the puppy was dead. he had parvo virus.

these evil people handed me a dying pup and i had the ordeal to tell my children the next morning that there puppy had died it wasnt a very nice thing to have to do.

we cannot now have a puppy in the house for 6 months.

we are unsure whether we will even get another one
there are some very evil people about so please when going to buy a pup go and see it and do all the checks you need to do

My advice is to rehome a dog from a rescue.

totallybroke_2

If u are worried now about how much u need to spend to buy a dog, then will u be able to financially cope with the upkeep of one?!

live'n'learn

jadedson wrote: »

To be honest the cost of the dog is irrelevant. In the kindest possible way if you can't afford the upfront purchase then what about the cost of feeding, insuring, grooming and vaccinating your new dog. Then there's the time to toilet train, socialize and walk the dog too. It's a big commitment for you as your 5 year old daughter is too young to be of much help with looking after a dog.

The nature of the dog would be more important that the cost, you can get good pups and bad pups and you are as well picking a breed by doing lots of research, then viewing litters of puppies until you find one who's temperament is even, has good parentage and comes from a healthy line of dogs. It's always important to view at least the mother too. Don't go for a cheap dog as you might end up with one from a puppy farm. You might think you're rescuing a farmed puppy but all you're doing is perpetuating the illegal and horrible industry that puppy farming is.

Hi,

thanks for your input. I do realise that although the dog is for my daughter that it will be my wife and i who will look after it.

And i agree that its best to check out where the dog is coming from and will pay the extra for a good healthy dog.

live'n'learn

dazb75 wrote: »

Please bear in mind, you're considering buying a 'dog', not a 'puppy'.

Not sure what to make of this to be honest.

live'n'learn

totallybroke wrote: »

If u are worried now about how much u need to spend to buy a dog, then will u be able to financially cope with the upkeep of one?!

I am not worried about how much to spend i guess i am the sort of person who likes to get things at a good price but at the same time i would like a good healthy dog from a good home and will pay the price for it.

live'n'learn

SnowyOwl wrote: »

How about getting your five year old some goldfish or similar. They are a lot less interactive, but also they are much, much easier to look after. You know the old saying "A dog is for life". If you buy a puppy - regardless of the cost - you are looking at anything up to 12, 13, 14 maybe 15 years of commitment. That's picking up dog sh*t every single day for that number of years. Do you really expect that sort of commitment foisted on a five year old will work out?

The dog is for my daughter but i realise its the parents who will look after it until my daughter is old enough to look after it. Done the goldfish thing and thought it was time for something a bit more interactive.