Hilly
Member
- Location
- Scottish Borders.
Yes , best dog for sheep work I ever had was the strangest looking collie ever, got it given as so
Some had bought it for a pet and couldn’t house train her, she was with me for 13 years great bitch .
Collie pups for £1000+...,
- Thread starter Fat Lamb
- Start date
Some had bought it for a pet and couldn’t house train her, she was with me for 13 years great bitch .
- Location
- Cheshire
The non working dog is bred too the nines. Trial winners back umpteen generations. He was bought for his looks and too be the yard dog. 90% of the puppies I get will go for domestic pets so how they look is very important. I’ve had dogs that have amazing working parents on both sides and ended up giving them away at 15 months coz they won’t work. So I’m not a massive believer that working ability is solely due too the parents.Why would you need a good work bitch to a non working dog?
- Location
- Cheshire
My best ever work bitch was bred from a very quiet bitch who couldn’t control more than 10 sheep and a dog who would only work cattle in the yard if my gran was with him. (Pretty damn useless really but he was her pet) but together they bred more working pups than I could shake a stick at! For quite a while I ran 3 of their pups. Non of them would breed though
so I lost that bloodline. Was quite done about that. Looked the part and worked too match!
- Location
- Aberdeenshire
I've bred one litter of pups and that was because the bitch I owned was spectacular and I wanted a daughter from her. Each pup sold went to working homes. I asked about where the owners shot, their training methods, how they would be kept, how much attention they would get and so on. I got reports back about how well they were doing and every one shone. When a working cockers were £600 I sold mine for 200quid because I bred because I wanted a daughter and only wanted superb homes for the others. The money wasn't important.
When I visit my vet and see folk coming in with setters, pointers, spaniels etc I always ask where the folk shoot, the answers range from 'oh, we don't shoot but we walk a lot' to 'shooting is horrible why do you ask that' and my heart bleeds for all those fantastically driven, determined dogs slowly having their spirit sapped and their will broken in their urban homes by folk wanting nothing more than a status symbol. Breeders prepared to do that to pups don't deserve their daily oxygen allowance.
I wonder if the number of sheep worrying cases has anything to do with the number of frustrated, ill trained urban dogs with biological urges to hunt or herd that have them suppressed until a dose of freedom and a trigger sets them off?
When I visit my vet and see folk coming in with setters, pointers, spaniels etc I always ask where the folk shoot, the answers range from 'oh, we don't shoot but we walk a lot' to 'shooting is horrible why do you ask that' and my heart bleeds for all those fantastically driven, determined dogs slowly having their spirit sapped and their will broken in their urban homes by folk wanting nothing more than a status symbol. Breeders prepared to do that to pups don't deserve their daily oxygen allowance.
I wonder if the number of sheep worrying cases has anything to do with the number of frustrated, ill trained urban dogs with biological urges to hunt or herd that have them suppressed until a dose of freedom and a trigger sets them off?
Netherfield
Member
- Location
- West Yorkshire
My mate has the builders in at the moment, one of the builder's dogs, a dachsund had 8 pups sold the lot for £2250 each, cash or bank transfer, spread among accounts of a few family members. If his cost are one pup, it's a nice little earner, as long as the tax man doesn't catch on.
Dave6170
Member
- Location
- Watten, caithness
Best dog we ever had cost mum and dad £50. Jack russel with a bit of pomeranian in him. A proper lad! Great nature dog with heaps of personality. Now jack Russell are £1200!
- Location
- Cirencester
Yes, bonkers money, thats why they are getting nicked. I have a stunning long legged old school JR and want to breed from him but trying to find a traditional long legged smoothcoat bitch is the issue (story of my life!!) They just dont seem to be about anymore, all short legged.
Greythundercloudys
Member
Tax man will be looking in to this, 8 pups x 1000, 8grand nice pocket money. Or a new kitchen if wife finds out.
- Location
- Fife
I cannot agree strongly enough. I'd rather shoot a pup than put it in a pet home.
I only breed for my own use anyway. Last litter, excess pups were advertised at £300 but given away free to working homes. I keep tabs on their progress as I may want a pup back.
Will they be for sale?
CopperBeech
Member
- Location
- A Welsh man lost in England
Cant really put a price or value on a good dog, and you pay what you need to pay i guess. But folk breeding for money just turns my stomach a bit, money and dogs dont mix well, when they do folk tell lies and breed shite. Most the dogs I see arent worth breeding off.
- Location
- Cheshire
A couple came today for the last pup. I’ve known them for years. Do fell runs all over the country. Always had a pair of collies too run with.
They saw my advert and didn’t click it was me. They were telling me they had been too see 2 litters before mine. First one seemed too have mislaid the bitch after saying that parents could be seen. Then said she was at his aunts due to some issues. So they walked away.
Second one, again no parent dogs too be seen anywhere even though they were advertised as available too see. They reckoned the pups were nearer too 5 weeks than the 8 they were claiming. So again they walked away.
Both litters were asking over a thousand a piece. It’s just wrong. Either those litters had been stolen or they were straight from a puppy farm.
They went off chuffed too bits with mine at £700. Having seen and handled both parents. Fair chunk of the money from this litter will go to a new steel door on the kennels. The wooden one won’t keep the baskets out for long if they come!
They saw my advert and didn’t click it was me. They were telling me they had been too see 2 litters before mine. First one seemed too have mislaid the bitch after saying that parents could be seen. Then said she was at his aunts due to some issues. So they walked away.
Second one, again no parent dogs too be seen anywhere even though they were advertised as available too see. They reckoned the pups were nearer too 5 weeks than the 8 they were claiming. So again they walked away.
Both litters were asking over a thousand a piece. It’s just wrong. Either those litters had been stolen or they were straight from a puppy farm.
They went off chuffed too bits with mine at £700. Having seen and handled both parents. Fair chunk of the money from this litter will go to a new steel door on the kennels. The wooden one won’t keep the baskets out for long if they come!
very well written and thought provoking post Anymulewilldo , am thinking of getting my first collie but with only a small flock of 200 mule lambs am not sure I will have no where near enough work to stimulate the dog , but trying to get the sods in on your own is nigh on impossible .
- Location
- Durham, UK
Bought an absolutely lovely collie pup. Tri coloured from a neighbouring farmer for £300. This was the start of lockdown.
I balked at that as the last one was £100
I balked at that as the last one was £100
- Location
- Aberdeenshire
@Cobblers my shooting spaniels only have a 'working' season from August till Feb 1st but come to no harm whatsoever. They are however my friends, they accompany me everywhere. They are house dogs which supposedly ruins them for work too but seems to have made no difference to mine. If their minds are occupied regardless of the type of stimulus it does them good. There are plenty of folk with 200 sheep for whom a collie that only knows the basics is still a great asset and a great friend. You'd be amazed at how well dogs from first time trainers do as they generally invest much more time in the pup and seek to learn as they go along at a pace similar to the pups.
@J 1177 I bought my cocker in 2004 for £600 and never regret that investment, as a worker she was worth 4 beaters without dogs, as a friend she was priceless. If I could buy her as a pup now I would easily justify her at £2,000. An eye-wipe retrieve on a January morning gives the same thrill as closing the gate on a quietly and efficiently gathered flock of sheep. As a willing farm servant who can sire or breed their own replacements they are worth far more than we pay but I guess the gist of this thread is to note just how many folk have jumped on the bandwagon and began profiteering from a freak year and how perhaps it will have repercussions both for the future price of pups and their welfare.
Am I a hypocrite for buying pups dear and selling low. I don't think so. I buy from guys/ladies whose career is their dogs. They field trial/sheep dog trial to gain a reputation, travel the length of the country. invest in stock and their training time needs a financial value.
@J 1177 I bought my cocker in 2004 for £600 and never regret that investment, as a worker she was worth 4 beaters without dogs, as a friend she was priceless. If I could buy her as a pup now I would easily justify her at £2,000. An eye-wipe retrieve on a January morning gives the same thrill as closing the gate on a quietly and efficiently gathered flock of sheep. As a willing farm servant who can sire or breed their own replacements they are worth far more than we pay but I guess the gist of this thread is to note just how many folk have jumped on the bandwagon and began profiteering from a freak year and how perhaps it will have repercussions both for the future price of pups and their welfare.
Am I a hypocrite for buying pups dear and selling low. I don't think so. I buy from guys/ladies whose career is their dogs. They field trial/sheep dog trial to gain a reputation, travel the length of the country. invest in stock and their training time needs a financial value.
CopperBeech
Member
- Location
- A Welsh man lost in England
The non working dog is bred too the nines. Trial winners back umpteen generations. He was bought for his looks and too be the yard dog. 90% of the puppies I get will go for domestic pets so how they look is very important. I’ve had dogs that have amazing working parents on both sides and ended up giving them away at 15 months coz they won’t work. So I’m not a massive believer that working ability is solely due too the parents.
pretty much disagree entirely. Folk breeding for looks is the ruination of most working breeds,in most types of animals. Yes you do get some animals which produce abs don’t perform and vice versa, and obviously handling and rearing play a part.
But if you want to produce top animals who perform to a high level it’s always best breeding two beasts together that do the job you want to a high standard and come from family’s / lines of dogs that were / are all
Doing the job you wish the pups to do, to a high standard.
But also most folk only see average animals most of the time, so have a slightly warped idea of what a real good dog is.
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