Cost For Small Breed Pups And Question About Temperament?

[kelpiecuddles]

Excuse my fairly simplistic question but I'm just trying to get some ideas to help out an acquaintance of mine. She was going to buy a random crossbred BYB type puppy but I've been steering her in the direction of a health tested pup(especially important with small breeds I told her ;) ) or rescue. She wants something low shedding but doesn't mind a little bit of shed just not crazy shedding, she was originally thinking a maltese X shih tzu so small fluffy/long haired. Happy to groom, particularly wants a pup so she can train it the way she wants.

In theory I think she's sold on the idea of a health tested pup but I'm not sure how high I can push the $$ before she'll balk, at that point I'll steer her to rescue. Is anyone able to give me suggestions of small breeds that might suit a family with a small, well-supervised child. I know people like CKCS but I think the shedding might not be what they want there. Also if people could give me an idea of costs for different breeds I can discuss the pros and cons of different breed options with her. A lady I know just spent $5000 on her small BYB dogs knees so that's been good ammunition for this conversation LOL

[Loving my Oldies]

Go to a rescue group: www.paws.com.au

[~Anne~]

Why not a Maltese OR a Shih Tzu?

I'm not sure Malts are that highly priced are they? Not sure about the Shih Tzu though.

[kelpiecuddles]

I am going to look at rescue with her too, I want to give her the options. Her budget isn't tiny, well over the cost of a rescue dog but I'm just not up with the cost for the sort of breeds she's looking at so I have no idea what to tell her to expect, I suspect the more common sort of breeds she is considering would not be in the same price range as my girl was so it's potentially a doable thing for her, I just have no clue that's all.

[kelpiecuddles]

That's what i was thinking Anne or maybe a mini poodle or a bichon

[~Anne~]

Maybe send an email to the breed clubs in question with a query on average price so you can advise your friend? Be careful of how you word it though... I've read some strange comments about puppy buyers who ask the price before anything else. :laugh: I'm sure if you explain it well you'll be fine though.

Edited October 8, 2013 by ~Anne~

[Loving my Oldies]

How small is small? Quite a few kilos difference between a Miniature Poodle and a Maltese or Maltese Shih Tzu cross.

I have a female Maltese Shih Tzu cross who weighs less than 4 kilograms whereas I believe M/Poodles can get up 11 kilos.

[kelpiecuddles]

As she doesn't have a specific breed in mind at this stage I don't think she's too set on the size, she just doesn't want something big. I think, for example, that a cocker spaniel sort of size would be getting too big, anything smaller than that she'd consider.

[Cosmolo]

My pedigree rough coat JRT was $600. Not saying a JRT would suit but just to give an idea of price. A bichon frise may suit.

[ESCS]

Our tibetan spaniel pup was $800. Great with well behaved kids but they do shed.

[mixeduppup]

Mini poodles are around the 1200 mark usually

[Trisven13]

NOt sure on the price of a Havanese but if she likes the look of the Malt/Shih Tzu they fit that.

[RiverStar-Aura]

Aussie Terriers are around the $750 to $900 mark. Wire coat breeds are generally non-shedding, but will require hand stripping.

Hope this helps!

Edit: how about a breed that doesn't require health testing? It might help keep the costs down. I don't know much about other breeds but Aussies don't need health testing as they are generally very bomb proof. Some can suffer luxating patellas but that's it.

Edited October 8, 2013 by RiverStar-Aura

[kelpiecuddles]

That's certainly another option riverstar. My kelpie isn't from a registered breeder, but she did come from a working farm with many generations of proven workers(and the bloke certainly didn't make any money off me, he was keeping one for himself and simply wanted working type homes for the rest). She cost me $20 LOL. She was purchased back before i understood the value of a registered breeder but I'm still pretty comfortable with my decision even now.

I explained to her the difference between that decision and my decision to spend well over $1000 for my basset which is a breed i would never have entertained getting without the added assurance of proper health testing. She's very receptive to advice and wants to do the 'right' thing but that has to be balanced with her budget contraints which are probably sitting at around the $500-700 mark at this stage(but might have some wiggle room there if we found her the perfect breed ;) )

Edited October 8, 2013 by kelpiecuddles

[RuralPug]

She may wish to consider a toy poodle rather than a miniature, or perhaps a miniature schnauzer, which is very similar in temperament to the toy poodle. Both breeds are lower shedding and need regular clipping.

Havanese, Bichons and Maltese are similar breeds, also low shedding and in need of regular clipping or quite a lot of daily grooming. The Havanese looks very very similar to many maltese-shih tzu crosses.

If you are looking for puppies where the parents have been tested for heart, joint, eye problems etc, you will probably have to start at the $1000 mark minimum, as the cost of testing is quite expensive.

One great advantage of rescue is that most dogs are older and are fairly easily tested (during the trial period at the adopter's expense) for likelihood of some of pricey ailments (heart, eyes. joints for example) which are impossible to test for in puppies. If testing is done during the trial period, the dog can be returned to the rescue for a full refund. Make sure that the rescue does have a trial period though, not all of them do.

[kelpiecuddles]

Unfortunately she won't consider an older dog She has her heart set on training her pup from small the way she wants it trained. I don't know how she'll go finding a small fluffy pup in rescue, I'm sure there aren't many around. She's not in a huge rush, she has holidays over christmas so was thinking around then might be good if possible so she's home for the first few weeks, but apart from that is happy to wait and see what comes up.

[Bjelkier]

NOt sure on the price of a Havanese but if she likes the look of the Malt/Shih Tzu they fit that.

They really do. You have no idea how many people have asked me if that's what my Hav is. Very frustrating.

Price however...well, they ain't cheap.

You can pick one up for around $1500 - $2500 depending on who you go too, lines etc. You could get an older puppy for less but finding one could prove difficult.

[YvonneM]

I have a maltese - 7 months old now and brought him home at 8 weeks. No shedding and lovely temperament - not sure what he would be like around kids as we have no kids in our family and he is not exposed to too many kids. We paid $1000 for our pup but know that others in the litter went for $1200. Professional grooming ever 4 weeks costs me $50.

[kelpiecuddles]

Thanks all. Sadly I suspect she might be heading out of her price range with most registered breeds, I might just have to hope she finds something young in rescue. Just hoping she doesn't decide it's all too hard and just buy whatever she can find in the trading post.

[dancinbcs]

The chance of finding a small cute fluffy puppy in rescue is pretty much nil. Anyone breeding them has no trouble selling them and therefore they do not need rescuing. The only exception would be where a pregnant rescue comes in they raise the litter but then you have no idea what the sire is or how big the puppies will grow, if the parents had any health issues or how healthy the bitch was during pregnancy. If she cannot be swayed to one of the more reasonably priced small registered purebreds then she is better to look for a BYB of crossbreds that just occasionally breeds their bitch to their or a friend's dog because they just love puppies. Not ideal but better than a puppy farm and at least she can meet the parents and see where the puppy was raised and a crossbred is less likely to have inherited problems than an unregistered BYB purebred. There are a lot of people who breed small breeds like this because they love having puppies around and never have any trouble finding good homes for them. They do not contribute to rescue problems because they can always sell the puppies themselves.