Sounds like common sense to me!

But it rarely happens.

My husband Jamie has this very annoying saying that there is "Nothing common about common sense"!

Believe me, when the time comes for me to get a pup I will have saved the money but saying that price should never even be a consideration is, imo, not realistic. It certainly wouldn't be high on my list of things to consider but if all else were equal then price would probably be the deciding factor I'm afraid.

And when it comes to people who don't know the difference between a good breeder and a bad breeder (or don't care!) price is DEFINITELY going to come into it. Especially when you get prices varying from £50 to £800 for a pup.

Of course it DOES. But it SHOULDN'T. These people shouldn't own dogs if they don't care! Or shouldn't be buying a puppy anyway. If they really don't care, they can rescue.

When we were thinking of getting Ollie we did research, research and more research for at least 18 months to see which parts of the country breeders were located etc., and in all that research at some point reference to price did come into it. Explaining in maybe 2003 to 2005 you would of expected to pay around x amount for a well bred dog from a reputable breeder no less than the smallest amount but certainly no more than the highest amount recommended.

We looked into several and they were all around the highest amount recommended. I asked in the second or third e-mail when making enquiries and explained we would like to know a ball park figure so we knew how much to save. It was received in a good way.

Researching for Dillon the same thing the breed club especially gives you a good guide. So when we had decided on the breeder and went to visit of course it wasn't the first question asked. Also breed club sites give you an idea of the questions to ask and when to ask about price and it should never be your first question but of course it is a question you need to ask its just getting the timing right.

We had been there for a good 2 hours met the dogs asked lots of questions of each other and generally got to know each other then I slipped the question in that when doing my research this was the recommended price expected to pay. Was that the price expected for one of the pups we were hoping to go on the list for. It was received well.

But research will usually come up with something at some point about prices then and now so before you go to see a breeder you should be looking at a rough idea of what you will be expecting to pay it is just a mtter of finding out if they are on the nail or slightly under or over. Then of course the decision has to be can we save this amount ? Do we have the amount saved ? Can we afford it all ?

I am sure breeders don't mind at all that question being asked it is just a case of not making that question your first priority there are other important questions to be asked first and yes it is an awkward question to ask wherever you slip the question in. One I personally hate having to ask.

in my breed at present you can get a pup from £450 (unregistered no health tests for parents, or eye test for pups ) up to £750 (parents fully health tested ,pups eye tested) people have a choice and many will go for the cheaper option.

If somebody rings me for a pup and the first question they ask is how much i'll ask what are they prepared to pay as they obviously haven't researched the breed enough.

I would rather no price that POA..
Now in my head that means expensive lol..

Price is included in my on line site. We get too many tyre kickers who spend half an hour talking about wanting a pup only to freak at the price.

tbh, i think that not displaying the price allows the breeder to separate the people who want a puppy NOW to the people who have done their research, looked into the different breeders and their lines, and have then gone on to make an informed decision about who they are going to contact. if prices are readily available, it makes it more difficult for them to distinguish between the 2 types.

obviously there are exceptions to the rule ... but when you look at most byb's, price is one of the first things to be mentioned, health tests etc would be pretty far down the line of importance, if at all. thus saying that the money is the most important thing to them rather than the health and happiness of the pups.

now i'm not saying that as a blanket for all breeders that mention price on their website, and i'm not saying that it would put me off if the price was stated. but i believe it shows more where a breeders focus is if price is not mentioned, and at the end of the day, you want a breeder to be thinking more of the pups than of the money.