We've talked about whether or not we would import (as you do!).

This came about when we were discussing the cost of French Bulldogs, some of the prices the pups were anything from about £1500 to as much as £3000! We've been to Benidorm a couple of times and seen litters advertised in a pet shop at around £400 a pup.

That got me thinking - I mean no, I wouldn't of course buy from a Pet Shop itself. But, I believe the prices of these UK pups are so expensive because they are a relatively numerically small breed. As there are so few having litters the breeders can charge a lot more for them. One concern I have if I ever wanted one from UK is that there seemingly quite a limited gene pool?

Only a few years ago the prices of Shar Pei's & DDB were sky high - now they have greatly reduced in 'average' puppy prices compared to back then. The main reason I believe is because there are lots more people breeding them.

I wonder just how much it would cost to get a good, well bred Frenchie from overseas? I confess I haven't a clue about air-fare costs etc, but wonder if the overall cost would be anywhere close to the £1500 - £3000 they seem to be pricing them at here?

im very interessed in this thread as i would like to import a slovakian rough haired pointer dog to improve the gene pool but as this is something i've never done before it would be great if someone on here has done it so know all the info heres hoping someone comes allong

Ref prices in the UK for dogs, I don't know how it would work but it is a shame there is no way of regulating prices. Might start a new thread about that.

Hope someone comes along that can answer xxxxxx

I've imported a number of dogs from the Czech Republic and also re-imported dogs that I took over to the USA.

Although it costs more, I would definitely opt for buying an adult, rather than a puppy. That way, you know exactly what you are getting. Don't fall into the trap of just wanting to import anything - it's really important to get to know bloodlines and make sure that the dog you are going to import is of real value to the breed.

It takes time to get to know breeders, but when they do know you they will trust you with their best stock. For example, I saw a beautiful puppy about seven years ago, and asked about buying her. Not a chance. But some six years later, when she had just gone BIS at the Czech club show, her breeder saw an English dog she liked - and the upshot was that this bitch came over to the UK to be mated to him. It's two years almost to the day since she arrived here. In that time she has had a beautiful litter of pups and was overall Top Dog in the breed last year. If I'd just gone in waving a cheque book and wanting to buy anything as long as it was 'foreign' I would have been fobbed off with rubbish.

It is expensive to import. In most countries the cost of buying decent dogs (as opposed to purely pet bred) is the same or even more than it is here, then there is the cost of keeping the dog for six months until the pet passport is valid, and not least the cost of bringing the dog to the UK. Obviously that varies, but an 8kg dog from Prague to London is around £500-£600, whilst someone I know just paid around £1000 to fly a Standard Poodle here from Los Angeles.

With regard to buying from the US - most puppies there are sold unseen, because the distances involved are so great, so it's fairly common for breeders to list shipping charges - but that will normally be within the US - to ship to Europe will be a LOT more.

The cost of my two, all costs including proce of dog, going out to Germany to chose puppy, boarding costs and transport costs etc. Cooper cost me approx £3,500 and Parker approx £3,000.
If I was going to do it again then that is what I would be looking to have minimum in my bank account!
Becky

Thanks everyone for your replies. I am taking it that the law to 'export' to the USA is different, to importing to here?

thanks for this information,i would rather get an adult which has had hips scored etc ,but they still not a lot of my breed around ,slovakia seems to be my best bet and of course i would be going across if the man i'm getting in touch with has anything which sounds suitable. the reason i am trying to do this is to increase the gene pool yet again thanks for your help and i hope you dont mined if im luck and manage to find a nice dog ,could i get in touch with you ,to make sure ive done ever thing corcectly as theres nothing like experience and i'm totally new to this
ros

I know several breeders who have imported dogs for principally breeding purposes and it has worked very well. They have done this on the basis that the breeds in question are rare and under threat and to increase the gene pool it made sense to bring in quality genes from overseas. In fact I even know of a breeder who operates a regular "exchange" programme with another breeder in another European country.
The irony is that the most recent imports (which have been from America) have mostly come about because of the problems of importing semen. I don't know the ins and outs (no pun intended ) but they have said that if they hadn't had as much problem donating and transporting semen samples they wouldn't have had to think about moving the dogs on such an international scale.

On a moving basis, I know how much I would want to take my animals with me wherever I went. Some good friends had to move to Japan on business and despite the expense and hassle moved all 3 dogs and both cats with them and don't regret it for a second.

Sorry another thing - I think I am correct in saying that moving animals around within the USA itself is pretty common (please let me know if it isn't!) which I initially found quite surprising because if you think about it a lot of travel between states must be about as long as it takes us int he UK to fly to most European countries.