Originally Posted by PatchworkRobot

This thread has been done before - within the last few months, if I remember right.

Originally Posted by Sharly

My first doberman was from a pet store. I paid $700 for him. Knew nothing about BYBs or anything. He was truly a wonderful dobe boy. Unfortunately I had to rehome him .

Originally Posted by Jayda+Bronson

They would've sold her for drugs or something or to a friend that does drugs.

Originally Posted by Sharly

Uhhhh my Toorc has cowlicks and zippers.... Pretty sure there isn't anything "glinchy" about him o_O

Originally Posted by pdubois64

If someone can't afford $1500 to buy a Donermann then they probably shouldn't own a Dobermann. When/if health problems arise, as they often do in this breed, you will be looking at many times that amount.

Originally Posted by Jayda+Bronson

Everyone that wants a doberman cant always afford a $1500 dog, or any other breed for that pricing.

Originally Posted by Jayda+Bronson

Everyone that wants a doberman cant always afford a $1500 dog, or any other breed for that pricing.

Originally Posted by Jayda+Bronson

Whats would happen to all the B.Y.B puppies if starting tomorrow, unannounced, everyone stopped going to them? ... I say a lot of puppy deaths, and/or irresponsible people without the means to provide for one would be their only option.( People that should never have a dog and would only get one if it was offered free, like my dad)

Originally Posted by Jayda+Bronson

...The lady I got him from could have easily bred champion dogs, ( even though she says Bronson has champion bloodline, I pay that no mind) She's rich! I mean her house is beautiful and she has 18 acres. Me and my co-worker/friend drove down to get him and they ended up snatching us up to some wine and good conversation. I bought Bronson for $500...

Originally Posted by Jayda+Bronson

I bought both of mines from, i guess, a byb.

Originally Posted by Jayda+Bronson

Jayda, who i got seven years ago, till this day is still healthy and as of yet knock on wood) hasn't had any health issues at all. Only a minor skin infection that cleared in one week on antibiotics. I did not get to see the mom or father. He told us to meet in the Petsmart parking lot. When he arrived, He had 7 cute little doby puppies inside. I wanted the one with the mohawk on her neck ( Jayda). I knew that meant there was a glinch in here doberman DNA for a ridge to show up on her neck but thats why I chose her. None of the other pups had them. He picked the perfect spot because as soon as i gave him the money, we went inside Petsmart. I paid 350.

Bronson, now 4 months old, he's huge! Already have Jayda size. So far he's healthy. All testings looks good, especially for a blue doberman. The lady I got him from could have easily bred champion dogs, ( even though she says Bronson has champion bloodline, I pay that no mind) She's rich! I mean her house is beautiful and she has 18 acres. Me and my co-worker/friend drove down to get him and they ended up snatching us up to some wine and good conversation. I bought Bronson for $500.


Please share your story, and price you paid if you don't mind.

Originally Posted by Ruffly Speaking: I consider him a rescue.

Here’s how it goes:
Person A shows up with a puppy.
Person B says “Oh, such a cutie! Where’d you get him?”

Person A says “Well, I got him from a pet store, but they said he was get*ting so old that they were going to send him back to the broker!”
or
“I got him from some*body sell*ing pup*pies online, and when I got there the con*di*tions were so bad I had to buy him!”
or
“I called a breeder about pup*pies in the Want Ads, and she said that she had a puppy she was going to put down because he was sick!”
or
“When I got there, I knew I shouldn’t buy him, but I bonded instantly with him and I had to take him!”

and they always, ALWAYS end with
“So I consider him a rescue.”

Well, I consider my hand to be a pumpkin pie, but so far reality has not responded to my wishes.
That was NOT a rescue. That was a PURCHASE. And it is a purchase that rewarded, usually amply, the person selling the puppy.

My next favorite part is when person B says someihing like the following:
“Well, it doesn’t mat*ter where dogs come from, as long as they find love!”
or
“I am sure you couldn’t have left him behind!”
or
“I am so glad that you gave him this won*der*ful happy ending!”
or
“I can’t believe nobody bought him before you! Good for you for buy*ing him!”

Two words:
BULL
PUCKY.

Do you REALLY think it doesn’t mat*ter where dogs come from, as long as they get carried off into the sunrise, surrounded by butterflies and the sound of an autoharp? Seriously?

Do you think it does that person a BIT of good to have their PURCHASE given your stamp of approval?

Because here’s who DOESN’T go off into the sunrise:
- All the other dogs in that pet store, which can continue in business another day because YOU just paid their rent and salaries and covered the pittance they paid for that puppy.
- The next corgi puppy or Lab puppy or Shepherd puppy who gets ordered from Hunte Corp. because YOU showed them there’s a market for this breed, so we’d better get two next time.
- The other dogs in that breeder’s home, who will now be bred again because wow, she just covered six months of electric bill in a single day thanks to YOUR check, so she WILL breed those dogs again.
- The mother dog in the puppy mill somewhere in the Midwest, who will be bred again because Hunt corp got a ton of orders for corgis or Labs or Shepherds or Poodles this month.
- The other dogs in your puppy’s litter, who were sold to who knows what people with zero screening or any qualifications other than a credit card.

There is a sacred rule upon which our entire society is built: The end does not justify the means.
It is a GOOD thing that the puppy is going to have a good life. That does not justify the tens or hundreds or thousands of BAD things that had to occur to get him to that point.

Your dog is a rescue if he came from a rescue. A rescue is an organization desperately trying to put itself out of business.
Your dog is NOT a rescue if he came from a pet store. A pet store is a place trying to STAY in business.
Your dog is NOT a rescue if he came from a breeder. And that includes a good one; my puppies are not “adopted” or “rescued” or anything of the kind. I SELL puppies. The difference is that a good breeder doesn’t view anything she does as a business, and if she did she’d be the worst businessperson on the planet. She sells puppies based on the accomplishments of their parents and she loses money. A bad breeder is trying to make breeding their business, selling puppies based on the value of cuteness and maximizing profits however is possible. But even when you buy from the best breeder on earth, YOU ARE NOT RESCUING.

And STOP mouthing those hideous platitudes about how it doesn’t matter where a dog comes from as long as it’s loved. You do no one any favors when you justify giving hundreds or thousands of dollars to a machine that grinds up dogs and spits them out dead.
When you buy from a pet store or puppy mill or bad breeder, you create pain ten times the size of the good you’ve done. When you encourage that purchase, you’re scratching the chin of a business that can only be called evil.

STOP IT.

If you did something wrong, if you made a mistake, even if you knew it was wrong and said heck with it, I’m doing it anyway, OWN IT. Say “I did some*thing really stupid, something I hope you don’t ever do, something I hope nobody ever does.”

If somebody comes to you chirruping about a puppy, say “He’s gorgeous, but you can never, never do that again and here’s why.” Will it offend people? Absolutely. Will they think you’re mean and uncharitable and go away saying “I don’t regret a single thing I did! I’d do it again!” For sure.

But the thing is, they WON’T do it again. The next time they stop in front of a pet store window, they’ll hear your voice and they’ll feel just a little bit ashamed, and they will NOT go back in. They may attribute the wiggle in their gut as a desire for Cinnabon that’s greater than their desire to see a Beagle puppy, but the result is the same. A puppy does not get purchased.

And if enough are not purchased, that pet store will go out of business. Don’t think it can happen? It does all the time. When I was a kid, everybody got every pet from a pet store, and there were little mom and pop pet stores in every town. Now, I can think of only four or five within two hours of me. Those are staying in business because they have the tiny designer dogs of the moment; I haven’t seen a big dog in a pet store in New England in years. IT’S WORKING.

And if enough pet stores go out of business, Hunte will go out of business. And when that happens, thousands of puppy mills will simply shutter their doors. There will be a massive increase in dog auctions for six months and then they’ll blessedly go away. And THAT is the true end we want.

Don’t settle for anything else.

Originally Posted by Jayda+Bronson

Come on really?

You should know what I meant by that....

You just reveal to me that someone told me something stupid about her mohawk then and I was stupid to continue to believe that. You could've done that without the sarcasm though...

Originally Posted by Ruffly Speaking: I don't want a show dog; I just want a pet

This is one of the most pervasive statements that puppy buyers, especially families, express when they're looking for a dog. What they really mean, of course, is that they don't want a show BREEDER- don't want to pay the high price they think show breeders charge, don't want to go through the often invasive interview process, and think that they can get a better deal because they can get a Lab for $150 or a Shepherd for $300.

I want you to change your mind. I want you to not only realize the benefits of buying a show-bred dog, I want you to INSIST on a show bred dog. And I want you to realize the cheap dog is really the one that's the rip-off. And then I want you to go be obnoxious, and when your co-worker says she's getting a puppy because her neighbor, who raises them, will give her one for free, or when your brother-in-law announces that he's buying a goldendoodle for the kids, I want you to launch yourself in to your solar plexus and steal their wallets and their car keys.

Here's why:

If I ask you why you want a German Shepherd, or a Maltese, or a Labrador, or a Leonberger, would bet you're not going to talk about how much you like their color. You're going to tell me things about personality, ability (to perform a specific task), relationship with other animals or humans, size, coat, temperament, and so on. You'll describe playing ball, or how affectionate and intelligent you've heard they are, or how well they get along with kids.

The things you will be looking for aren't the things that describe just "dog", they'll be the things that make this particular breed unique and unlike other breeds.

That's where people have made the right initial decision- they've taken the time and made the effort to understand that there are differences between breeds, and that they should get one that at least comes close to matching their picture of what they want a dog to be.

The next step, tragically, is that they go out and find a dog of that breed for as little money and with as much ease as possible.

You need to realize that when you do this, you're going to the used car dealership, WATCHING them pry the "Audi" plate off of a new car, observing them as they use bondo to stick it on a '98 Corolla, then writing them a check and feeling smug that you got an Audi for so little.

It's no bargain.

Those things that distinguish the breed you want from the generic world of "dog" are only there because someone worked really hard to get them there. And as soon as that work ceases, the dog, no matter how purebred, begins to revert to the generic. That doesn't mean you won't get a good dog- the magic and the blessing of dogs is that they are so hard to mess up, in their good souls and minds, that even the most hideously bred one can still be a great dog- but it will not be a great Shepherd, or a great Puli, or a great Corgi. You will not get the specialized abilities, tendencies, or talents of the breed.

If you don't NEED those specialized abilities or the predictability of a particular breed, you shouldn't be buying a dog at all. You should go rescue one. That way you are saving a life and not putting money in pockets where it doesn't belong.

If you want a purebred and know that a rescue is not going to fit the bill, the absolute WORST thing you can do is assume that a name equals anything. They really are nothing more than name plates on cars. What matters is whether the engineering and design and service department back up the name plate, so you have some expectation that you're walking away with more than a label.

Keeping a group of dogs looking and acting like their breed is hard, HARD work. If you do not get the impression that the breeder you are looking at is working that hard, is that dedicated to the breed, is struggling to produce dogs that are more than just a breed name, you are getting no bargain, you are only getting ripped off.