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This makes me really sad. I have a friend who wanted to get a dog last year and was all set to drop £4k on one, though when she put together her wish list of dog attributes I pointed out that she clearly didn't really want a dog, she wanted a plant. So she got plants instead. But tons of people will have got a dog and then when the novelty wears off, the poor overbreeded, undertrained, unhappy dog will be given away. At least if you decide you don't like plants anymore you can just bin the plant :(
hats
Apologies in advance for the rant.
A browse of Pets4Homes "the UKs most popular free pet classifieds and information site" is a depressing experience. The demand for "lock down puppies" (a merle Daschund or tri-colour Bully anyone?) has caused prices to rocket - 3 grand for a staff, two and a half for a Bichon Frise, fucks sake. "Studs" are being pimped out by clueless owners and bitches are being bred from multiple times to meet the demand, by unregistered breeders. A bitch can have THREE litters a year before you have to register, if you breed for money you have to register irrespective of how many litters you breed - how is a litter of 8 pups at £3k each not breeding for money?!
There's an escalation in dogs being sold on. Fuck wits who buy a pup and then find out their son's allergic/landlord won't let them have a dog/it doesn't like the cat/etc. don't go to rescue centres as they won't get paid, and expect others to pay for their entirely avoidable mistakes. Pay stupid money for a dog full of issues with no matching.
There are breeds being mixed for no other reason than the puppies look like teddy bears and the made-up hybrid breed name sounds cute. No thought for what benefits the mix might bring or what health issues might ensue.
And there are fucking loads of stolen pups being pushed. "Last puppy in the litter", "buyer let me down and I have one left", etc. - photo of one pup, no photos of parents (or photos that return dozens of reverse image search results). Or 20% non-refundable deposits on dogs you'll never see.
Rant over...