Hey DP, If i offended you in any way yesterday I do apologize. I am just trying to take the best possible care that I can for my dog. Heres my question:
I noticed that you said to sell mix bred puppies for $50. I was wondering if you could elaborate at all on this, because we were just concerned about finding great people with great homes, and not even asking for money. Can you further explain your opinion on the subject? I would really appreciate it.
Thanks, Camille
Answers:
I don't think you offended me. I very quickly get over things.. so if you did.. It's forgotten.. Thanks
I believe that if you give away puppies you invite the wrong kind of people .. People who use dogs for bait for fighting.. People who take those puppies and feed them to their snake ( YES THEY DO ) and people who take puppies and do not take care of them.
I have given away 2 dogs.. both of them to what I thought were trusted friends.. Both people I have known for over 20 years. In both cases I have made a big mistake.
Anyhow.. These are people I know and thought I could trust.. What about the people that come to your house to see puppies? You have to either get them to fill out a questionaire and follow up. Or you must meet with them a few times.. You cannot put an ad in the newspaper.. meet people for 20 minutes and get a real good feel for them.. It used to be you could look at someone and size them up pretty quickly. They were what they seemed.. But today people are different. You can't as easily make a judgement on people.. They have evolved I guess into what they need to be.. Look how many scams are out there.. People are falling for scams all the time, WHY? Cause it's harder to judge people.. If someone could easily be scammed out of millions of dollars.. Don't you think it would be easy for some joker to con you into thinking he was a great home? They learn what they need to say to get that puppy out of your home.
So if you at least charge $50.. Then you are at least going to deter some of these people from showing up. $50 is even easy for people to get, spend and feel like ' oh well it's just $50.. not a big deal '
If I gave you something and you lost it.. You wouldn't be all that upset.. Big deal, I'll get a new one. Or It was FREE.. If I sold you something, you would be a little more careful with it.. Puppies are the same.. NOT ALWAYS, But it at least is a bit of a deterant to someone who wants the puppy for reasons other than what you intended..
Don't get me wrong.. Rich people aren't any better lots of times.. Cause money doesn't mean as much to them. But Free is just that.. Free.. and people don't take good care of things that they get for free.. That includes puppies.
Just in case DP doesn't see this, I think what she is suggesting is charging for the pups so that people don't get "free" puppies and sell them to labs as research dogs.
People that are willing to pay are usually the better homes.
Don't know if DP is around but I can answer your question. Charging some type of adoption fee sorts out people who are serious about getting a dog from those who do it on a whim and don't have resources to care for them. Also it prevents animal collectors or hoarders (a psychological problem) from taking them or people collecting animals for laboratory testing (they sometimes will pose as adoptive families).
I personally would prefer if you took the whole lot to a no-kill shelter or humane society and let them handle adopting them out. They are have a lot more experience at screening prospective owners and the chances of finding good homes is better since people actually looking for pets automatically go to shelters. They also can advertise them better through petfinder.
Hope this helps.
ADDITIONAL COMMENTS:
Try www.petfinder.com and see what's closest to you. You may have to drive a bit.
I'm not DP but I can offer this to you. Selling a pup is much better than giving it away. If people have to spend money on a pup then tend to take better care of it. They do not want to spend money on a pup that they see as worthless because they didn't have to pay something for it.
So In essence if a person has to invest even a small amount of money into a pup they see it as worth something not as worthless and they tend to treat it better also.
Hope this helps a bit.
I Starred this (so did Goldengal) so maybe DP will see this. Everyone pretty much explained why to charge 50$ or a bit more for the pups .. so I wont get into that.
To look for more shelters/rescues in your area check out http://www.petfinder.com Sometimes if you can find a rescue a bit farther away .. they can arrange for transportation of the puppies.
Hope you find one!
Camille:
I also agree with DP. When I was in college a classmate of my boyfriend's used to troll the free pets ads to get free food for his snake. He would go adopt puppies or kittens and act like he was in love with the animal, "adopt" it and take it home and feed it to the snake. Even 50.00 deters people like this as 50.00 is a lot to pay for a meal for a snake (rats/mice are cheaper!). So while it doesn't mean that your puppies will go to a great home, it makes it a little less pleasing for someone who wants a cheap meal. And DP is also right about bait dogs. This wasn't a problem so much in hte past, but nowadays, people are trolling for free dogs to use as bait dogs, and they would rather use a free dog than one they had to pay for.
Also, animal research. While regulations are in place with responsible institutions (they have to account where the animals come from) - less scrupulous people will "adopt" an animal and useit/sell it for research. That's very easy to do with free animals and then they make money. If you charge a fee, that is also less likely to happen.
Even if you end up giving hte puppies away for free, advertise them at a cost. This can help keep the evil trolls away and will increase the liklihood of finding a good/better home for your puppies.
Hi Camille... all the answers have been great. If you're interested, I have 2 versions of questionnaire that I use to pre-screen people. It drastically cuts down on time spent with people who I would NEVER sell a pup to so that I can spend time interviewing those I would.
Feel free to email me if you're interested. My email is animal_artwork@yahoo.com
You could easily take one of the questionnaires and tweak it to fit your pups
Lot's of those "free puppies" end up being snapped up to be either used in puppy mills or as bait for fighting dogs. Those who do go to legit homes often ending up not getting the best of care. Not that they are not loved, but someone who can't afford the initial cost of a pup often can;t afford any vet treatment, good diet etc for the pup. Yes you are much better off selling the pups for sure. You could always dontate the proceeds to a shelter if you so wish.
Trust me I know DP pretty well and she is always looking out for the good of the animals. Some people may misunderstand her at times, but she is probably one of the most informed people on the group.
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