I’m looking into getting a Cockapoo puppy within the next few weeks. I’ve never owned a dog before but managed to bring two children up (semi-successfully) so far.
I was looking for a fairly active dog, who is willing to go on long walks and a few beach runs.
We wanted to rehome/adopt a dog but every website and company we have spoken to, say that they won’t allow rehoming to families with children (understandable I suppose). This has led us to look at buying a puppy
Do any of you have any advice? Know any breeders, etc?
If you don’t mind sending me any details. I don’t mind traveling (lockdown allowing).
Just spoken to a guy who is selling one. £3400
I understand it’s supply and demand and that is why I’d rather get a rescue dog - one that needs the love. I just wish these places would allow us to go through a process to check we will be safe to have a rescue dog and that it’s our responsibility if something goes wrong.
We were planning on getting a Cocker Spaniel once my son finished his A-levels in May. We’d been watching the rescue and puppy sites for months to get a feel for what was about, then lockdown kicked in.
Puppies were between £500-800 prior to lockdown then almost immediately went up to £3k. They started falling slowly after the first lockdown, got to about £2k but have now gone back to £3k again.
There are loads of reports of scams, dogs being stolen etc. we’ve put the whole plan on hold until some semblance of normality returns.
All the predictions seem to be for a glut of rescue dogs in the future as novelty of all the lockdown puppies wears off.
We got a cockapoo about 4 years ago for £120 from a rescue centre.
He was 9 months old, fully house trained and semi-obidient when we got him.
He just didn’t like the previous owners Yorkie and their kids
He loves my kids and got proper excited today when my riding buddy knocked on.
They’re quite energetic, we do 10km walks a day with him.
When working we pay a dog Walker about £200 a month to walk him for an hour each day.
Food is about £50 a month for him, then £38 a month for a groom.
They also get ear and anal problems, but that’s £20-£30 every quarter at the vets.
The breed is like a modern Labrador (insofar that everyone had Labs 20-25 years ago, now it’s these)
The lady I was speaking to regarding purchasing him has just knocked £600 off. We are going to have a good sleep on it and seriously consider him.
We know the mum and dad and know that he is health cleared, etc.
It’s a lot of money but I think the 4 year old and 18 month old will be over the moon.
He will definitely have anal problems when the youngest has been around him for longer than 15 minutes
We have kids and we have always had rescue dogs. Some dogs sure arent suitable for children but lots are.
If you are going to pay a lotnor money for a puppy then go to a reputable breeder. They should be KC registered and usually you should be able to see the parents. I don’t know much about cockerpoos but I dont think they are well known for congenital health issues.
Would still encourage you to look at a rescue dog.
This is our rescue with my daughter doing their best John Lennon impression.
Yeah, price and availability of puppies right now is ridiculous. Wife desperate to get another Springer but they’re at least £2k, and the GWPs that I like are even more. If you can find one.
not all GWPs are going for daft money - I know of a couple of top breeders who haven’t tried to cash in on the current interest in pups and are selling at reasonable prices but we’re still talking £1500 or so, but their pups are snapped up very quickly.
we have a rescue GWP from Bulgaria - arrived with us 5 months ago having been found as a street dog at the start of the year in an awful, malnourished state but brought back to good health by a rescue centre and then up for adoption through a UK Facebook GWP rescue group. we’re fortunate in that we’ve had a rescue GWP before albeit over 20 years ago so had a good understanding of the breed’s demands (they’re a strong, wilful, hunting breed that need a lot of exercise and good training) and that helped get us approved by the group admin (who has 4 GWPs). For info, he cost us £550 which included his pet passport (and vaccinations) and transport from Bulgaria (2 days) and some admin fees. But like all rescues you don’t know what you’re getting until they arrive - as it happens Troy is a delight but he needs a strong hand and a LOT of training, but we’re seeing some good results now.
Personally I’d avoid any of the “du jour” breeds like cockerpoos, cavapoos etc as they are just way overpriced and bred often by puppy farms. If you want a cross-breed (aka mongrel as that what these dogs are) go for a rescue - there are plenty of them in rescue centres looking for homes.
Rehoming with kids is always difficult as the rescue centres can’t guarantee the dog’s manners as they often have no history on them and kids and badly mannered dogs are not a good mix.
As @JaRok2300 says, there will be a lot of dogs coming up for rehoming once life starts returning to “normal” as their owners realise they no longer have the time to look after them and the fun of a pup has worn off and due to lack of training they have a big, badly mannered, costly dog on their hands. There’s a couple local to us training a very large, lovely black labradoodle bought as a pup for £3k by a couple in London - it’s now 18mths old, large and very boisterous with little training and the owners realised they have made a mistake. It’s being trained and will be put up for rehoming once it’s sorted.
Yeah we have kids (10 & 6) so a rescue dog is difficult. My wife had Springers growing-up, and her sister still has them now, so I think if we ever do get one; that’s most likely. But I do like the idea of a GWP and running/walking all over the Cotswolds with it.
My folks, both retired, no kids in the house… have spent months trawling rescue sites and found nothing close to their requirements for a small ish dog.
Most of the rescues seem to be filled with staffies - the nations favourite dog; also the most rejected.
There are puppy farms everywhere… don’t disagree. But there are also breeders of these current “on trend” dogs that are doing things right. Ours came highly socialised, and we were well aware of what interactions he had before we got him.
These dogs are also on trend for a reason - they are incredibly friendly and tick alot of boxes that suit families. Our local park is littered with poo crosses and the interactions between them is full on play and fun. Its a joy to watch.
I do think alot of the foreign rescue sites are under-rated and not something I would have considered. But out sister in law took one… because it had lived outside it was highly socialised, only toileted outside - the only thing they had to teach it was to walk on lead!
We’ve had dogs all our lives, and couldn’t be without one.
Its a Springer for us this time, and I have to say, she’s been an absolute delight. She needs her exercise, but the most loyal, gentle and loving dog we’ve ever had.
F*****g world class at using her ‘sad eyes’ to win arguments though…
I grew up with Springers (Dad had Welsh and English as he did a lot of rough shooting on local farms) so any of the gundog breeds was of interest to me when we first adopted. We got our 1st GWP in 1987 when they were pretty rare in the UK - I’d never seen one before but knew of the GSP - and she turned out well. We had her for 12 years.
They’re a hard breed as they are so bloody wilful and we learned a lot with Gemma - and made loads of mistakes! We had to think very hard if we wanted another but decided to go with it - we’ve had some regrets so far as Troy has been hard work, but now 5mths on, we’re getting to understand him better and work with him.
The GWP group we got Troy through are very good at working with European rescue centres to ensure they work together and support each other. Dogs come from Bulgaria, Romania, Croatia, Cyprus, and Spain (and no doubts other countries). He was well socialised with other dogs (unlike our last one who hated other dogs), house trained but like your folks not lead trained at all - that’s been the hard part of his training over the 5 months and he’s improved a lot but we still have to work with him on every outing.
