We sadly lost our family dog and we have been looking for quite a while now for a puppy to replace him. It even more so now due to our 13yr old son having been diagnosed with leukaemia so introducing a new puppy into our home now would be extremely beneficial for our son as hes spending so much time isolated away from his friends from school. We have looked at all the breeds of dog and we would love to bring into our family a Pug puppy to be our new family member but moreso to be our sons companion. But we just cant afford the prices that breeders are wanting which means we have to look at possible taking our chances in buying one from the internet instead of being able to happily know that our new addition will be fully healthy for many years . Just wish there was a way of making our sons dream come true within our means of what we can afford

you could contact pug rescue and see if they have any to be rehomed. Unfortunately pug puppies can be hard to produce hence the high prices so you might have to have something else there are often Jack Russell type pups in the local dogs homes and they would not be as expensive.

Firstly I'm very sorry to hear of your sons condition it must be a terrible time for you all, of course more than anything you want to bring a smile to your sons face, I fully understand that, we'd all move heaven and earth for our children.

Are there any charities that may help?

which means we have to look at possible taking our chances in buying one from the internet instead of being able to happily know that our new addition will be fully healthy for many years

Please don't do it........ why put yourself through that? Do you really want to spend thousands on vet bills, have all of that worry and also have your son going through the upset too?

It would be more important to make sure your son has no stress..... don't unintentionally or rather intentionally bring potential heartbreak, spending on a cheap puppy farmed dog, that has the most important things missing.

You could try the Pug breed clubs/rescue for an older dog needing a home, there are also unfortunately rescued or thrown out ex breeding stock wanting homes too,

Or if you pass a breeders vetting requirement most responsible and reputable Pug breeders will have a waiting list that could be a year in advance, you could then save up every month towards that 'healthy' puppy.  Your son can meet the parent/s and breeder, and have updates on how the pregnancy is going, once the bitch has whelped he can then have puppy pictures to view until it is time for you the family to collect your pup, you can make it all very exciting for him, knowing you are bringing the most healthy pup you can into your home.

Or go for another breed entirely.........

Please just do not go down the cheap dog route, you get what you pay for always remember that...

Wishing you much luck in your search. :-)

There's a 4 year old ex breeder on the Many Tears website.

There's a 4 year old ex breeder on the Many Tears website.

Just bear in mind with this website "breeder" equals puppy farm -so the dog is likely to have behavioural problems (will never have lived in a house, never worn a collar and lead etc) and could well have any number of health problems too.

I don't mean to be rude but if a 'good' puppy in your chosen breed costs more than you can afford I'd suggest you think again about what you're looking for and consider a different breed perhaps.  As others have already said, or alluded to, it's daft to consider a 'budget' dog that may well cost you and your family more than you can afford in the long run.  Remember too that a dog with health issues costs far more than just the money for vet bills, or special foods, insurance etc there is a huge emotional cost too...

The many tears website has so many ex breeders of all descriptions I've begun to wonder why.    Surely it would be better not to assist these puppy farmers inrehoming their spent stock?

Tracey,

I'm really sorry about your son and know personally what it's like to deal with all the hospital visits, worry and emotional upheaval of a sick child.   

You really don't need the possibility of the same thing witha budget puppy.    Please think of delaying and saving for a health tested pup, or look at other breeds.   Pugs are among the most expensive breeds. 

Are you aware of all the differentreeds available?

Have a look here, to find out which breeds might be suitable for your situation

Sorry, that should have been 'different breeds' available.

Grrrr tablet!

> Have a look here, to find out which breeds might be suitable for your situation

While I am glad the KC's find a breed service has been fixed (wasn't working for a while last year) I'm also disappointed that "my" breed/s don't come up unless you say you have a large house AND garden AND live in the country, despite saying you have 2 hours a day to walk the dog. 

It doesn't take into account how much time you have for training a dog - and as we all know, brain training is very often more important than physical exercise; certainly more important than the size of your house or garden.

>brain training is very often more important than physical exercise;

Certainly this is true with at least one of my larger breeds.

I have never yet managed to get any of these breed suggested things come up with my breed no matter how I slant the answers and nothing even remotely that I would consider.

A small but sturdy breed you might consider would be a Norfolk or Norwich terrier, not many bred a year but certainly not being a commercially exploited well known breed more likely to find a  reputable breeder and be worth the wait.

I just did the KC's breed test and specified large breed, lots of exercise, large garden, countryside, medium coat and grooming once a week -and it came up with almost exclusively long coated toybreeds such as Pomeranian, Papillon (okay I have them but deliberately tried to get Malinois) and Japanese Chin! 2 hours+ exercise, large garden and once a week grooming???

Is it a good idea to have a puppy while your sons immune system is compromised? I understand the emotional side but what about all the mess of a puppy and the scratches etc? And as others have said, does it have to be a pug and does it have to be a puppy?

A rabbit or guineapig might be a better bet.  Or perhaps a nice cat, an outgoing adult rescue cat would spend hours on his bed during the day..

I tried the KC website before recommending :-)

It's the first time - ever- that my own breed has come up in one of these things!

I did like the fact that there were breed suggestions at every stage, rather than just at the end :-)

Regarding Norfolk/Nerwich Terriers, they seem to be more difficult to breed than Chihuahaus!      I was astonished at this when talking to a Norwich breeder,  I well remember a friend who used to breed them back in the 70s  and litters of 6 were normal with their bitch.   But not so today, apparently.    This may well be reflected in the price  ;-)

I was brought up to have what you could afford or wait until you could afford it.

Buying poor quality is always false economy, and with a pet heartache to add to the mix, and worse than a dodgy second hand car re onging costs.

>But not so today, apparently.

I wonder if this is due to inbreeding depression, reflecting fertility/fecundity issues??

No idea Barbara, the breeder I was talking to said it had happened gradually over the years.

I suppose all it takes really is to use a dog and/or bitch that isn't as fertile or has fertility problems and then that gets passed down the lines.   The breed has never had huge numbers.  they are on the vulnerable breed list.

I so agree about saving up for things we want.   I don't understand the current want it, must have it NOW mentality :(

I saved for years so that I could have my first Bedlington pup and not have to worry about the price of a well bred health tested pup.  It was well worth it and I even ended up with a pup from exactly the lines I had wanted.  In the end I was able to act very quickly when the right pup just fell into my lap :-)

I persuaded it to suggest a King Charles, but not my Cavaliers. No sign of my American cocker either! When I said 'long coat' I got Maltese (which I would love!) so not bad. :-)

> Buying poor quality is always false economy, and with a pet heartache to add to the mix, and worse than a dodgy second hand car re onging costs.

Indeedy.  I have examples here.  My oldest - pet bred dobermann, cheap at £400.  So many medical problems!  Hip dysplasia, arthritis, rare form of hypothyroidism, vit/min deficiencies caused by constant digestive problems for his first three years, and now a prolapsed disc which has probably been building for years but has only just become noticeable amidst everything else.  I don't even want to think about how much he's cost in vet fees (normal and referral) over the years, and he hasn't even started rehab for his disc yet.

False economy indeed!

I just tried the KC dog picker, despite putting in I have a large house and garden, willing to groom every day, large dog, walk over two hours, I got everything from a Min Pin to an Otterhound, even a Min EBT, but not a standard one, pretty useless really.

Celli, what were you trying to get?

A standard English Bull Terrier wouldn't require groomng every day ;-)

I put in 1hour a day walk, twice a week grooming, short coat, small house, small/medium garden, large breed

And got both Bull Terrier and Staffordshire Bull Terrier amongst others :-)

The many tears website has so many ex breeders of all descriptions I've begun to wonder why.

Thats an astute, well noted, observation!
.

Me too and at the 60 breed point I still couldn't get it to show my breed, Keeshond and the new Eurasier were there, the latter being larger than my breed so it wasn't that I listed medium size fro my breed which is ideally 19 1/2 inches for bitches and 20 1/2 for dogs.

I tried each step and a small medium house is Ok, but if you don't tick large garden then my breed disappears, think that weird when some very active and herding breeds stay in.

In my own experience my breed aren't that bothered about size of garden tending to treat the garden as somewhere to toilet or snooze, and in fact having too much garden will allow them to exhibit one of their less socially tolerated traits, barking.

Mine only have the first 25 feet of mine, as exercise is taken (and should be primarily) outside the home. Once mature after checking the garden for anything new they rarely bother to do anything but laze about, not wasting their energy when at home, which they view as rest time.

In fact they can be an ideal apartment dog as long as the propensity for alert barking is curbed.

Dill, I was trying to get a TM or similar .
An EBT wouldn't require much grooming, but I just don't understand why it suggested a mini one and not a standard, given I'd said I wanted a large breed, and goodness knows where the Min Pin fits in lol.

>  The many tears website has so many ex breeders of all descriptions I've begun to wonder why.    Surely it would be better not to assist these puppy farmers inrehoming their spent stock?

It isn't about assisting them - it's about ensuring the spent dogs have a chance.  If MT or other rescues don't take them, the puppy farmers will simply dispose of them in other ways; bolt gun, dumping, killing in any way that does the job, anything that gets them out of the way to make room for more.  These people don't give a flying feck what happens to their finished dogs, a rescue taking them won't make any difference to the numbers of them or the business itself.  MT and the like are just making sure the dogs don't see a horrific fate.  The reason MT has so many is because they are in Carmarthenshire, which is basically puppy farm central for the UK; by default, most of their dogs will be ex-PF dogs and with so many PFs there, there will be a high volume.

I must admit to being astonished at my breed coming up at all.   It never does on other  sites.

I did a couple more searches and changed everything,  it does seem very inaccurate.

All sorts coming up, regardless of needs

I did wonder if they were trying tosteer people away from some of the most popular breeds,  like staffys etc,  but then Pugs came up'on every search - weird!

Just tried it out of interest - my breed doesn't come up if I say I only want to groom once a week, it only appears if I say more than once a week. However, the breeds that it does suggest are Catalan Sheepdog, American Water Spaniel, and German Spitz (Mittel). All of which require far more grooming than my breed!

I found this one to be a bit more accurate -
http://www.purina.co.uk/content/the-right-pet-for-you/choosing-a-dog/dog-breed-selector

> I found this one to be a bit more accurate - <br />[url=http://www.purina.co.uk/content/the-right-pet-for-you/choosing-a-dog/dog-breed-selector" rel="nofollow]http://www.purina.co.uk/content/the-right-pet-for-you/choosing-a-dog/dog-breed-selector[/url]

Hmmm - not for mine!! Reckons up to 2 hours a day for exercise - some of mine would be telling me 'see you when you get back' if I insisted on that every day! And more than once a week for grooming - once a week is more than adequate. They don't come up at all if I select "multiple pets" when they're a very sociable breed. And "usually quiet" for how vocal they are - hahahahaha found that one quite funny :-D

Origin and history is a bit suspect as well....

I got a TM on that one !....mind, that was the only breed it thought would suit me .

Any luck with your quest Tracey? Hopefully, someone can help you :)

Hi

No. No luck as yet
It would be nice to complete our family again as we miss not having a loving pet. Most people have commented about my comment about not being able to afford much by saying if we cant afford one then we shouldn't get a pug, but I never said in my first post just how much we could afford, people have just assumed. Yeah we cant afford thousands but then again we know with pugs that you don't get them free either, and we wouldn't expect to.
Other people have commented about our sons immune system with a puppy which is understandable but we have made spoken to his consultants at the hospital and they have said that as long as our son takes the proper precautions they don't have a problem with us having a pet. Just as they wouldn't have expected us to get rid of pets if we had any when he was diagnosed. Having Leukaemia doesn't mean you have to get rid of pets you just have to minimise the risks.
At the end of the day we ARE thinking of our sons welfare and we know that hes missing his buddy (our dog that passed away) lots, hes an only child and we don't live near his school friends so he's isolated and getting depressed as you can imagine. Us as parents want him to be happy and also to get through this and been able to get him a new buddy to see the smile on his face and also on ours would be priceless as we haven't seen him smile for a long time :(

What is the average price of a pug from a good breeder ?.

regarding many tears the rescue makes a point of taking dogs from breeders ( puppy farms) to at least try and give them a decent life after what has happened to them
It is open to debate if that could in anyway encourage puppy farmers or if the dogs would just be discarded to a terrible fate if many tears didn't exist. Personally I believe until the laws in this country and people are educated more about buying a pup they are doing a wonderful service to look after these poor abused dogs.

Puppy farming is continuing whatever happens to the abused ones
 

I got no dog at all when I tried lol that was changing things to up to two hours exercise weekly grooming some noise medium or small breed. Oh well looks like I shouldn't have dogs at all :(

> I tried the KC website before recommending :-)
>
> It's the first time - ever- that my own breed has come up in one of these things!

Ah you're lucky, while I wasn't expecting it to come up with Silken Windhounds I did try and get borzoi, despite specifying large breed my suggestions were pekingese, shih tzu, cotton de tulear an bearded collie :-D  (this was large breed, more than 2 hours exercise a day - for a peke!).

Tracey, 

I can well understand the wish to get another dog for your son.   It's similar to the reasons we got our Bedlington Terriers,  it also helps them to feel 'normal' again ( whatever that is ;-) )     

Ours brought a lot of joy and laughter into our lives, at a time when all we seemed to do was visit hospitals and worry, and after two years of it,  it was difficult to 'switch off.'

I doubt any good breeder would be selling Pug pups at reduced rates,  breeding costs will have gone up, like everyting else lately, but you may find a breeder who wants to rehome a young adult who was kept for showing and maybe hasn't quite made the grade,  this would by no means be a second rate dog, far from it,  and would still make a wonderful pet, since that's what they are when they aren't at a show ;-)    This might be a less expensive option?

You might find a youngster like this through the breed clubs.

There are other breeds you might consider,  but I wouldn't presume to suggest one,  best to look at all the different breeds and find out about their needs and character.

I'd expect a health tested pug to cost probably over £1k, whether I agree with this cost is another matter. There are prob some breeders knocking on the £2k Mark.
Have you considered contacting the breed club for advice on what is the average price and they might know of a breeder who has run on a puppy and wants to rehome around 6 months old.
Always worth asking them.

and getting a cheaper one from a less conscientious breeder may mean you save on purchase price only to face some very serious veterinary expense due to the things the breed is susceptible to.

You could easily face specialist and very expensive surgery for BOAS (sorting out airways), eye issues, hemivertebrae (abnormality to spine) could cause mobility issues. slipping Patellas are also expensive to sort.

I would think Insurance premiums or the breed are likely to be through the roof and some conditions may well even be excluded.

Even a carefully bred pup could end up with issues, though chances are better when breed issues have actively been selected against, but their very make-up makes them predisposed.

Also a puppy may be a bigger commitment than you can offer with the pressures of a sick child.  A young adult may be a better bet, and you are more likely to know it's adult health status.

In fact, lots of unscrupulous breeders actually charge a lot more!  They are the ones with the "rare" pugs and prices run from £2000 to £5000!!!  We   are suffering greatly from them at the moment in the breed.  Average price for a well bred pug from a good breeder is around £1000 to £1200

Tracey, have sent you a PM

I'm still getting King Charles but not Cavalier on that second site! :-p

Finally found one that works for me - my breed came up as 100% match on this one!

http://www.selectsmart.com/DOG/

Wow it had my breed as No1, first time any of these breed selectors has worked for me, and No1 too. :)

That's amazing, this one got it spot on. 100% compatable with Irish Setters, good job after 40 years. The KC one said Skye Terrier and Sealyham Terrier.ppffffttt.

Dawn R.

I tried that, and skewed it as much as I could to what I know is required, and my breed featured at number 82! Not very impressed!

Wow now that is amazing, borzoi comes out as no1 match there, fantastic, wonder if the KC could adopt the same software?

Oh please no! :-o I specified that a short smooth coat was essential and it thinks I ought to have a field spaniel!