Just a heads up for Fake Britain, Monday night 7.30pm. Apparently they are investigating a breeder who produces pups with fake pedigrees.

sounds intresting.it happend to me with foal i got fake passport and turned out it was not the foal from mare i sent to stud.my foal had been switched too

I'll probably watch but as always with such problems, we'll only get a 'sanitised' story.   How often when something is aired that I know a thing or two about, are the glaring inaccuries very obvious!

And let's face it, KC Registrations are always taken on trust, unless somebody complains so how many people are registering litters when the sire and dam aren't as stated - Puppy Farms were doing this big time to avoid running into problems with bitches producing puppies from consecutive seasons.

Must remember to watch.

> Puppy Farms were doing this big time to avoid running into problems with bitches producing puppies from consecutive seasons.

Most puppy farm stock these days isn't KC registered (it's extra cost) and so circumventing the law as to age of bitch, number of litters etc is easy to avoid, and they of course can use any one of the Mickey Mouse registries, if they want some kind of paperwork to add value to their 'product'.

> Most puppy farm stock these days isn't KC registered (it's extra cost)

True, but in my breed, there are a good number of breeders who are clearly Puppy Farming, and registering their litters because they know they can ask, and get, more for their puppies if they are registered.   Case in point - some years ago now, I went onto the KC Puppy List and was horrified to find myself listed with a KNOWN Puppy Farmer.   Never again!

Just out of interest, what would one expect to pay for a genuine KC registered Westie?

Your best bet would be to contact the breed clubs for an idea of the going rate.

I´m not looking to buy Brainless, I just wondered if the price the woman on the TV paid would have been in any way indicative of the "genuineness" of the breeder.

Didn't see the program so don't know the price quoted.

The buyer paid £400 for the supposed Westie.

> The buyer paid £400 for the supposed Westie.

I'd say that was too cheap for a well bred pedigree dog.

Maybe that's the problem the general public want a  bargain and you can't breed well, and hope to even break even at such prices.

I thought too cheap to, but as I didn't know really how much a well bred Westie would cost I couldn't answer your question. However, I did get the impression from the people interviewed on the program, that they were looking for a bargain, shopping around for a cheaper dog that appeared (on paper) to look like a well bred dog at a bargain price. Much like you might shop around for the cheapest washing machine or something.
I suspect this is the next thing that needs to be got across to the GP buying a puppy. More are becoming clued in to avoiding puppy farmers and poorly bred dogs and looking for at least some health testing, but are still under the impression that a well bred dog can be found cheaply or bargained for. Perhaps they looked at the KC website or even Champdogs, see the price and think that's too much and check on the internet for a cheaper version thinking they are getting a bargain. Which was a big no as far as the people that bought the Lab on the program.
Now the price of a well bred pup will probably be driven by demand to certain extent, but the prospective dog buyers need to be aware of not just how much the various and in some cases ongoing health tests costs, but what goes in to producing well bred puppies, not only in time but in costs. That it really isn't just plonking two unrelated dogs together and flogging off the pups at a vast profit.
I've bought well bred dogs from pups for the last forty years, four of the same breed, and have seen prices gradually rise over that time, not surprising at all, there is a thing called inflation and everything has risen in price (although technology does appear to go down in price if you are not worried in having a slightly dated product). What I will say is that the percentage price of a dog compared to say my salary is lower now then it was when I bought my first pup.

>I did get the impression from the people interviewed on the program, that they were looking for a bargain, shopping around for a cheaper dog that appeared (on paper) to look like a well bred dog at a bargain price. Much like you might shop around for the cheapest washing machine or something.

I don't think it's as easy as saying people want a bargain. I think they just genuinely don't see any difference between puppy A and puppy B until they've had one and had problems, to be honest.