12-24-2010, 03:53 PM
We have Boxers - healthy with full AKC with excellent pedigrees. Two came with us when we moved. Our male at the time was intact and a good candidate to add diversity to the rather limited BI gene pool. Unfortunately, we were unable to breed him. We found a nice female pup locally where the breeder had imported an Italian stud to go with her Oahu/New Zealand pedigree female. She was $1000. Unfortunately, before she was old enough to breed ( 2nd heat) our male passed unexpectedly. After much searching, we decided to bring in a male from New Zealand. If you think the above prices are something, you do not want to know what he cost us, but suffice it to say it was more than I paid for my first ever brand new car.
What we have done that may not be apparent is some health testing on both our male and female. This is done in hopes of producing a better quality, long lived specimen of the breed. This is of course in addition to the usual vet stuff, not just your annual visit. This pair has produced 2 litters, a total of 13 pups. Some of these pups are still on island, some not, we kept 3 of them - all pets, not for breeding. Some folks may think we have become rich, but they'd be mistaken. I can understand that kennel pups, where you hose down the area now and then may not require much time, but ours were hand raised, house pups from the moment they were born. We keep our pups 8 weeks to ensure they are properly developed and socialized. They will have had at least 3 trips to the vet before going on to their new homes. Probably a good thing we did it for love of the breed and not for the money. I guess we could have sold them for less, in essence, giving them away at a loss, but why? Collecting welfare or unemployment would be more profitable.
So, yes, those prices for run of the mill, non health tested, kennel pups may be out of line, but please, check out the situation before drawing conclusions. While you shouldn't expect to get a mercedes for yugo prices there is no reason not to be pleased with a good slightly used chevy - a good rescue just might be the ticket.
David
Ninole Resident
What we have done that may not be apparent is some health testing on both our male and female. This is done in hopes of producing a better quality, long lived specimen of the breed. This is of course in addition to the usual vet stuff, not just your annual visit. This pair has produced 2 litters, a total of 13 pups. Some of these pups are still on island, some not, we kept 3 of them - all pets, not for breeding. Some folks may think we have become rich, but they'd be mistaken. I can understand that kennel pups, where you hose down the area now and then may not require much time, but ours were hand raised, house pups from the moment they were born. We keep our pups 8 weeks to ensure they are properly developed and socialized. They will have had at least 3 trips to the vet before going on to their new homes. Probably a good thing we did it for love of the breed and not for the money. I guess we could have sold them for less, in essence, giving them away at a loss, but why? Collecting welfare or unemployment would be more profitable.
So, yes, those prices for run of the mill, non health tested, kennel pups may be out of line, but please, check out the situation before drawing conclusions. While you shouldn't expect to get a mercedes for yugo prices there is no reason not to be pleased with a good slightly used chevy - a good rescue just might be the ticket.
David
Ninole Resident
Ninole Resident