I need some help...urgently! I have been looking for a westie pup for a whie but am stuggling to afford a pedigree. I have found a breeder who has a litter of 3/4 westie 1/4 yorkie pups, I don't know whether this makes them crossbreeds or mongrels?! He is asking £225 each for the pups which are now 8 weeks old.

They have been wormed but not vaccinated. I asked whether I would be able to see the mother with the puppies and he told me that he had brought the puppies over from his sisters and therefore the mother and father were not with them any more.

Can someone please give me some advice on whether this is a reasonable price for the pups and whether I should be worried about seeing them without the mother. I know you are meant to but if I get something from the local RSPCA shelter then I guess I won't see the mother either!

Thanks

I would not touch these puppies with a barge pole. When you buy from a breeder, you must see the mother of the puppies. Anyone who has a litter and does not have the mother present is likely to be a dealer. They buy puppies in from puppy farms and then sell them on at greatly inflated prices. Have you considered a rescue Westie?

Why would anyone pay this much money for a mongrel/C breed?

If you would like a pedigree WHWT then you could approach the WHWT Rescue Service?

WEST HIGHLAND WHITE TERRIER CLUB. Sec. Mr McLean. Tel No: 01875 813909
WEST HIGHLAND WHITE TERRIER CLUB OF ENGLAND. Sec. Mrs Hooper. Tel No: 01963 440493

I would not trust this "breeder", why has he bred this litter in the first place?

Don't do it! These pups will cost you the same to vaccinate,feed etc as a good KC reg pup from health tested parents.
Save your money and wait for a pedigree...or what about contacting WHW rescue for a young rehome??
Archer

The secretary for the WHWT club is not David anymore but Betty Wilson she has been the secretary for well over a year now.

Her number is on the club website.

http://www.the-west-highland-white-terrier-club.org.uk/committee.htm

There are very few westies that pass throught Westie rescue or they dont stay for long and there is a considerable list waiting.

However to the original poster I would recommend you contact several breeders who are possibly Club members and see if they have puppies coming in the future you could save the extra money it may cost you while you wait.  You will at least know what you are getting. Another thing which may suit you better it to contact some show breeders and see if they have any older dogs or ones that they feel are not going to make the showing ring as they had hoped.

Unfortunatly genetics isnt as straight forward as 3/4 one breed and 1/4 another , they could be anything in there. It is a mongeral that is all..   having a westie as one of the parents means nothing I am afraid.

I wouldn't touch them either. It's a lot of money for a crossbreed which could well be from a puppy farm and shipped in. Contact Breed Rescue for a more sensible option.

It's so very important to be able to see the mother with the litter; whether pedigree, cross or mongrels. I would contact Westie rescue and get some advice if possible.

Best wishes
Lindsay
X

Hiya

Please stay away from breeders like this, this isnt a breeder, in all likelyhood its a dealer, puppy farm, whatever, but you need to have nothing to do with it.

If you want a pedigree, then save up. These things take time, it will take a while to find a good reputable breeder, wait for a litter to be born, etc etc, months, depending on the breed you want it can take years, so tahts plenty of time to save up for the initial purchase price.

If you cant afford to save up the purchase price of a pup in six months or so, then i hate to say it, but you cant afford a dog in the first place!

That might sound harsh, but really, you are best not rushing into getting a puppy.

Em

my mother in law has a westie x yorkie he is the size of a yorkie but black.his nature is like a westie.but this was 2 family dogs got together when nobody was watching.
i wouldn't get one from this breeder either i have to agree with the other post's.
at the end of the day they are x so why a few hundred pounds each.
save your cash and save a little more and get the right dog for you.you have a dog for life so it doesn't matter how long it takes you to save the cost of the pup,

It is very common for dealers who buy in litters from puppy farms to tell purchasers that they have the puppies from a relative that is ill/pregnant/broke their leg.  Only last week two J.R. puppy owners at one of my socialising groups were delighted to discover that they had 2 brothers from the same man who had got them from his daughter who owned the mum.  Then they discovered that they had two different dates of birth and one also remembered him saying 'if you don't like these I'll have some more next week.'  Another good one used by the Collie dealers is 'Mum is out working'.  Never buy a puppy unless you see the Mum with her pups.

Also bear in mind that getting one from a local or RSPCA resuce kennel you just get a mongrel pup with little or no idea of eventual size, ususally for about £50 - £80, and this is what you are getting here, for a whole lot more!  For without seeing at least the Mum with the litter (and having a good idea she actually IS the MUM!) you only have this person's word for  what the parentage is.  It sound awfully like a scam to me, to get a much inflated price for mongrels.  You have absolutely no way of knowing if they contain any Westie or Yorkie, let alone the proportions claimed.
bye
Gwen

Yup,

Its often VERY hard to tell at 8 weeks or younger, waht breed a pup is, especially a cross breed, and i know experienced ppl in rescue, who get random cross breed pups in all the time, and they cant tell!  If you are set on a certain breed, get that breed, and like i said before, take your time about it!

I would say (although i dont have kids) that a pup is a similar sort of responsibility as a child, and if you are planning a child, you dont just rush into it! If y ou were adopting a child, youd take a looooooong time, asking and being asked many questions, so do the same with the pup, after all its gonna be with you for the next 12 + years........ thats longer than some marriages these days!

Em

For the breeder to say you can't view the parents would put a big stop sign in front for me...I know people that breed bichon/poodles and you can view the mom, and dad if need be (they don't own him)...Im not up on cross breeds but people seem to be into the small dogs that way...Here they go for $200 - $450, which is pretty high, the norm is usually $250-$350 for a cross small dog...To me that breeder screems puppy mill so I would run away real fast and look else where. If you want a cross breed small dog then visit alot of the people's houses where you can see how they keep their bitch/dog/pups and what kind of conditions they live in not to mention how many dogs they have all together. The same applies for registered breeders, you also want to know how often they breed their bitch...The only down fall with a cross is that the parents will not have been tested for anything that may plague the breed. You also want to see how social the bitch/dog is ect ect. If any warning signs go off (like you wondered about this breeder) then look else where, no one says you have to get from them...

Good luck :)