Hiya
I've just got back from taking the dog for his morning walk. (Its still flipping freezing out there!) I bumped into a guy with a Cocker pup who is about 2 months younger than Dylan (Dylan is a Cocker) He was very proudly telling me about his pup & where he got it from, but I was shocked when he told me it cost £600. I kept quiet, but I've come straight on here to see if this is a normal price for Cockers, mine was £400 & I thought that was about right. Has this guy been ripped off do you think????

does seem quite expensive,but price's do seem to vary quite alot in different parts of the uk.
at least you did'nt pay 6oo

How old is Dylan? and is he working or Show blood, the only reason I ask is it may be he did not have his dog from a pup ie 6-7 weeks old but has had him at an older age where a breeder/trainer may try and get a bit more for a dog 4-6 months old, or alternatively he could be full of crap.

lol I must admit I'm beginning to wonder if hes full of crap & trying to impress me.
Dylan is 5 & a half months old, he comes from an excellent breeder who has done very well in shows. I have seen this guy before when his pup was about 10 weeks & he was having to carry it around because it hadnt had all its jabs yet. The breeder he got him off is local & I was thinking of seeing if they do any grooming, now I'm having second thoughts in case he charges over the odds.

Why not ring the breeder concerned [$ ask what his grooming charges are? Most Cocker breeder/exhibitors who groom as well are quite reasonable in their charges I have found (compared to some high street groomers anyway) If you want to contact me privately, I'd be happy to let you know if this breeder is known to be reputable in the Cocker world - just because his puppies cost more than your breeder's doesn't make him a con merchant ]-)

Jane

i've just shown interest with whom i believe to be reputable breeder (came on good authority) and she is charging me £450.00 for a blue roan cocker (boy). I've asked about and this seems to be the general pricing. Can't wait to get mine!

You tend to pay more for any pedigree dog from a breeder that is in for the money. I paid £375 for Ozzy and £400 for Tilly (Cavaliers), but I have seen them for anything between £350-£600. Older pups (4-8mths) tend to cost more though, maybe as they have all their vaccinations and time spent training them ???

"Older pups (4-8mths) tend to cost more though, maybe as they have all their vaccinations and time spent training them ??? "

I'm no expert but I'm not sure if this is actually the case.
When I was looking for my pup I was told by a lady that she had an 8 month old dog looking for a home - she had kept him to show but he had grown a little taller than she had expected. She did not intend to charge any more than she would for a puppy. For the little it costs to vaccinate a dog, I don't think a reputable breeder who was concerned with finding a good home for an older pup would charge excessive prices to cover this.
When looking for a puppy, I'd be more concerned about breeders charging below the average. I've seen cockers advertised for £250 - as with everything else the more you sell, the lower you can set your prices - commercial breeders rely on selling lots of dogs.

At the end of the day, there's a lot more to choosing the right breeder than looking at what he/she charges for their pups.

I'm sure a lot of breeders get enquiries where the first question is "How much do you charge for your pups?". If I was them I'd be concerned about a buyer who was more concerned with price than the health and temperament of the dog.

Yea i bought my cocker 18 months ago she was from sucessful show background cost 600 . so we were willing to pay out for a brill pedigree. you can see the quality in her.
she gave us reasons for high pricing too.
one of which is that she wants her pups to go to the very best homes a person who just wants a cocker and isent that bothered is more likley to find the cheapest.
Also she invites yo to go into her home and see the pups when you like .. quite often you will go round and see her cooking all sorts of food for the pups , especialy tripe bit stinky! but you know shes giving them fresh food .
they were all paper trained really early . its easy to see the time and care she put into them.
, ive had other cockers ranging in price first one was 200 13 yrs back v poor quality and the other 2 were 300 , they were normal cocker but dident show the quailty my current one has.
I was happy to pay over the odds for good breeding and so where the other 9 owner of the other pups:) she sold them all at 3 weeks.
One man in lincoln is selling choc cockers for 800 umm not sure id go up to paying that;)

Paying big bucks for a puppy does not in anyway guarantee quality, Knowing the breeder seeing the sire and the Dam, Knowing the history of both the dogs and the history of the breeder would give a better indication of the quality you could expect.Even then it can be a lottery, top trainers/breeders can't pick a winner from the average at 6 weeks of age.

I have to say the ability to pay a high price is not necessarily an indicator of a good home; nor is the reverse true! The "very best homes" are not necessarily those whose owners have the most money! If that were the case, breed rescues would be very much emptier!

The "very best homes" are those who provide consistent care, training and most of all love! Love, like respect, is not a saleable commodity!

I agree with those of you who have said the older the pup the more they cost... they have to re-coop from somewhere i suppose, but as for £600 for a pup (under 6 mths), i think that is a little steep!!
I got the impression before i got my Blue Roan boy, that the average price was around £425 (based on 18 months research!), as for charging potential new owners more purely to 'test' their committment, well what a scam that is............. in fact there was a scam that worked on that vey same thread that was exposed by a TV programme around 4 years back....remember the snowleopard kitten breeder????

well i duno but i can def tell my cockers got aa great pedigree her mother won her breed in crufts 3 or 4 years back . so to be honist i think you will pay more for show quality. you can pick up normal bred cockers for 400 in the paper so .wouldent you exspect to pay more for show quality? im more then happy with my bitch . and the breeder is a hobby breeder shes not like a kennel she breeds becuase she wants to keep a pup for showing her dogs are beautiful. personly i prefer hobby breeders there not trying to earn money from there bitches all the time.so no she wasent trying to earn a fast buck. if she was she would have advertised them.which she dident

Because any given breed has many show or trail champions in its pedigree does not mean your little pup from the litter will turn out the same and because you have payed £150 over the norm does not guarantee this either.Just look at the Queen she has spent millions on horses and has never had a Derby winner!

Hello

If this guy has paid £600 for a cocker all i can say is more fool him, he was robbed , my mother brought a blue roan cocker six months ago , both the sire and the dam of her dog are champions.

And the breeder charged no where near that price for my mothers cocker , so either my mother was undercharged by a breeder that has been been doing this for over 30 years , or the guy was severely robbed by someone who knows nothing , but thinks they do.

Dean

we paid 350 for our first cavalier puppy, and £500 for our second,
it really depends on the breeder, the second breeder was going to keep our little girl to show)
best of luck with your puppy!

It is every breeder's choice what they ask for their puppies - I now know who the breeder of this "expensive" puppy is & he is a highly experienced reputable breeder so Dean your comments are both wrong & actually quite offensive - remember the laws of libel apply to the internet as well as to any other published medium. The fact that your mother paid less for her puppy is neither here nor there. Nobody forces anyone to buy a puppy from a breeder if they think the price is too high - presumably the owner of the "expensive" puppy is happy with his puppy, as Luvlylady is happy with her own Cocker bought for the same price. We have had the same discussion on this subject on another board & it has been interesting to compare puppy prices here & overseas eg Cocker pups in Scandinavia for example cost quite a bit more than they do here!

I am in a numerically small breed, and there is no rule but most every breeder charges the same by consensus it is now £500 where as it was £450 for several years before that. It makes life a lot easier when swapping puppy enquiries that we all charge the same.

If you7 contact the breed club, they will usually be able to say what the going rate for a well bred puppy is of their breed. :D

Brainless you are lucky in the attitude of your breed's owners and club. Unfortunately in our minority breed not only is their a north/south divide in the price of the pups but their are some breeders who constantly up their prices to beat other breeders.

For example in the North the pups are sold for between £350 and £400 whereas down south you will pay between £600 and £800. There have even been reports of some pups sold for £1000.

I am in the North of England and do sell my pups at the lower end of the spectrum but this has more to do with the fact that I like to be picky about my owners and would rather have a wide selection of potential owners who can meet a reasonable price and my own personal requirements in a dog owner than a select few with the money and perhaps not meet my ideals in a potential puppy owner.

Kate

JaneS

I fail to see how my post is offensive , i have mentioned no names , so my post is not libelous.

To be done for libel Jane you have to mention names i didnt , and i am sorry , but i dont know the breeder of this dog and dont care to.

Dean.

Well said Dean'o

In my area puppy farmers are breeding pups for 400 each so there has to be some change of price and for qulaity i think you will pay more ,i think you mother got lucky if she paid under 400 for a champ.what lines are they from? if she did id love to have the number of the breeder , id buy in bulk and show them all:D but only if janes willing to groom 4 me;) poor things would end up with big quifed cockers:D if left to me/
This is janes subject. she knows better then most people ,her dogs are lovely too. thats why i post on her boad. as its proper cocker breeders who know the breed best. come on some breeds are charging over a 1000 ,some of which are in my eyes deformed i dont know how they can call them a breed.but thats up to them what they breed and there price range so whats the deal?
if your sayin that it dont matter what cocker you u get you may as well buy one from the rspca for 100 with its papers;)umm

I just thought I'd add to Janes comment about 'presumably the owner is happy with his expensive puppy'. Yep he sure is, I've never seen someone so proud of their little dog. I guess that is the main thing, money aside she is a beautiful little lady.

I have to agree with whistle blowers previous comments. It is a lottery win when choosing a pup. One of my Akita bitches comes from a fab pedigree line, her sire is a stunner, her dam is absolutely gorgeous, yet the pup is a very slow developer and seems to be taking forever to mature. She is 7 months now, and is slowly gaining all the right qualities, and like the breeder said, you can have a litter, half of which can take on a certain line in the breed where as the other half could be a totally different type. Paying high prices does not guarentee you a CH pup in the making. Our pup will probably never make a CH however she will be loved all the same. The most i will pay for an Akita pup is £850.00, and that puppy would have to be dripping with potential. But even then..... Its always a gamble!

i wouldent give up on her being a beauty yet. quite often you will see a ugly duckling turn into a swan, my freinds boxer looked in bad shape when she was young now i can hardly reconise her shes so nice. shes going to show her next year so we will see:D

Thats great. My pup will be loved all the same whether she makes it in the ring or not. At the end of the day i believe you should buy a puppy as a companion, not as a purpose for show or breeding. I intend to breed from my Akita's in good time but would still have bought them in the first place as pets.

yes i agree they should be bought as a companion but i supose when you look for a pedigree pup you try to find a good quality one , i know becuase ive had one in very poor condition with many medical conditions so when i bought my latest i visited many breeders and saw many pups . went with a breeder who sounded like she knew what she was doing, she had lots of information ready for us to read and spent a good few hours talking to us.the money wasent the factor so i supose its peace of mind that you look for when you get a new pup too.:)

you're so right, after all the dog will be with you for the rest of its life. Take care x