[PennysMum]

My dog came out of a rescue and I still paid $500 to help support the expenses of her and the other dogs involved. I know that there were about $10,000 in costs even AFTER the $100-$500 adoption fees that the rescuers incurred saving her and about 30 other dogs from the very bad situation they came out of and the medical problems that came with it. I make a very, very modest amount of money (I love my job, but it doesn't pay well!), and that $500 was a lot for me, but my dog was worth every single penny of it and more.

To be really honest, $1500 for a dog doesn't seem outlandish to me. It is a good chunk of money, but I really think it SHOULD be a good chunk of money because it prevents most people from making an impulse purchase. I cringe whenever I see people letting animals go for free or for very small amounts of money, because that is just asking for people to view them as something disposable. If somebody spends less on a yorkie than she spends on a pair of shoes, what's to say that in three years when the breed isn't the Latest Thing being carted around by Paris Hilton and Britney Spears, she won't just toss the dog like she tosses her out-of-style shoes? At the hospital where I work, we even charge a considerable adoption fee for the rescue kittens people dump in boxes on our doorstep regularly, because we want to know that the people adopting them are serious rather than just drawn in by the appearance of a warm, fuzzy cute thing that won't be nearly as cute a year down the road.

I'm sorry if it sounds elitist to say that charging those sorts of prices is all right, but I really think it does the dogs a favor in the end, and I'm one of those people who feels like the needs and well-being of the animal should come before the presumed right of everybody to have whatever pet they want and treat them however they like.

Most of the really excellent dog breeders I know do not make a profit on their dogs at all in the long run. We had a loving, serious dog breeder in the other day whose little terrier needed a c-section in order to deliver her litter of two pups. One of the pups has a deformed leg, which may require surgical correction or amputation down the road, and won't be able to be shown despite the fact that he has champion parentage. The other pup is beautiful and perfect. Even if she sells that beautiful pup for a high price, she won't even come close to recovering the cost of the c-section and the care for his brother. You see that sort of thing a LOT when you work at a vet's office, and to be honest I always highly respect those wonderful breeders who are really just in it because they love their dogs and their breed so much.

From what I've seen, most pet shops and sketchy puppy-by-internet breeders charge even MORE than what good breeders charge for their puppies, when you know that those dogs are probably coming from puppy mills where their parents are living in hellish conditions. That's what I find sickening.