We got our puppy 7 months ago from gumtree of all places. We both work so we weren’t even entertained by rescue shelters, the fact that we are fortunate enough to have a large garden and live near the sea and use dog walkers meant nothing. We saw an ad on gumtree where there was a litter of 9, we visited weekly, firstly to meet owners, doggy parents and confirm not a puppy farm (quite common near me) until puppy was ready to go. We paid £120, it covered the feeding and vet fees. We’ve never looked back.
Poodles are fine ...as long as they submit to their overlords, Border Collies, who will one day Rule The Earth...
In my experience, what you want from a gundog is something steady, quiet and responsive. My experience is quite the opposite and the ones who don't tend to make the cut are the over-excitable dogs who have not learned manners as puppies and therefore are unpredictable and difficult to control when needed for picking up or for working the line when beating. On the subject of price, puppy prices are a total scam, especially for 'in vogue' breeds, don't be tempted to get ripped off and if you are paying over £600 for a puppy make sure its vaccinated, microchipped, wormed and health checked before you buy it, i.e. know what you are buying as there are plenty of people who don't have a clue breeding dogs out there to make £5-6k per litter giving little thought on the welfare of the mother of the pups (didn't know if the filter would exclude b*tch). Sorry this is quite a negative message...puppies are awesome!
All breeds are mongrels somewhere down the line, they were all interbred to produce certain characteristics. Then the kennel club came along and started telling people what they could and couldn’t call a pure breed and created problems with overbreeding of too closely related dogs.
I think you may be talking about gundogs of the 70s and 80s they seem to have gone the other way, I do train quite a few, I have 5 in at the moment!
Having read about lots of different breeds it seems that they are a very good family dogs , don't shed hair and have a good temperament. So my wife tells me .
Exactly. I find the whole "breed" thing ridiculous. One of the reasons I like collies: they're from working dogs, and nobody really cares what they look like. As a result, they live to a ripe old age with few health problems.
I was only born in 89 so have no idea about then, just my experience is all I’m saying. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
We have loads of pheasants around ours. Farmer close by breeds 'em and just lets fly all over. Plenty of road kill. I've seen 'em fly staight at lorries
I’d be very careful about these designer breeds. I know three people who have had labradoodles. One was a classic, tight white coat and didn’t shed fur. One turned out to have a wirey coat that does drop fur. One is a very odd lanky looking dog which looks nothing like a labradoodle or a poodle. It’s a total lottery. You are hoping the one you buy ends up with the genetic traits that you want. But it easily might not. Also people think cos they are a crossbreed they will live longer. My friends has recently died from cancer at eight. If you don’t want dog hair in your house then don’t get a dog. All mine have wrecked my house at some point. I go through more hoovers than the dyson test facility.
