Why are European puppies so much cheaper???? - Page 1

While reading the "Why are some breeders able to sell puppies so quickly?" i began to wonder: Why is it SOOOO much cheaper to purchase a puppy from a German breeder than an American breeder in general??? Even after the USD to Euro Conversion AND the cost to fly a puppy from Germany to the US, there is still a huge cost difference. This is not isolated to my experience...

 

@Susie - Do you have any insights to this since you live there?

Cutaway, that´s not that easy to answer-I often wondered myself.

Fact is that the German Shepherd is the cheapest breed you are able to buy with VDH/FCI pedigrees in my country,
but during the same time it´s the ONLY breed with such a lot of breeding requirements... ( titles, health ). That´s plain stupid, isn´t it?

The German Shepherd, although always in the top 3 of the breeds ( only toppped by Golden and Labrador Retrievers ), never really was a "fashion" dog. You don´t see a lot of them in the cities, that said, most of them are not sold for "social companions" over here. People tend to pay a lot of money to own a "fancy" breed (right now Rhodesian Ridgebacks, up to €2500), the German Shepherd never was fancy, never belonged to any modern "lifestyle".

Traditionally the German Shepherd owners didn´t have much money, most of them were "workers" only, they either raised and trained racing pigeons, or they raised and trained German Shepherds...The dogs were ( and a lot of them still are ) kept in kennels, sometimes not even at the house, but in a kind of garden plot, mostly well cared for by their owners, but no pets, no "family members", just working dogs.

The breed gives birth easily, mostly 6-8 puppies, a lot of studs around...

In my country everybody who breeds or raises and trains a German Shepherd is aware, that a lot of dogs are not able to pass IPO, show, health certs later on - so why pay a lot of money for a gamble? A lot of the expensive breeds need to look "cute" only, and behave like a pet = no risk.

Furthermore we tend to have fun training and titling our brood bitches on our own, we don´t tend to pay for training and titling, and brood bitches are not often sold to another breeder in my country ( "borrowed" yes - "sold" seldom ).

Although German law became more strict about the health of puppies, the buyer of a German Shepherd dog normally doesn´t ask for a "replacement" in case of health problems - we know shit happens.

Last but not least the main intention of the "small" breeders over here is to carry on the blood of good dogs they raised and trained, they don´t breed because they want to make money, they breed, because they like it.

Sure our breeders do make money ( and some of them make a lot of money ) - but it´s not made by selling puppies, but by selling dogs that either made their way in the show ring or on the trial field.

Just reread my post - maybe it´s easier to understand this way:

We don´t tend to buy adult dogs for breeding purpose
We train, title, and show our dogs on our own
We don´t tend to give replacements for unhealthy puppies
We don´t await to make money out of puppies
In case we want to brag about a breed, we don´t buy a German Shepherd dog, but something else
Over here German Shepherds mostly are no "pets"

i was going to say they dont guarantee, but there are a small amount of breeders in the USA that are more fair price, i know i prefer to buy from Germany cause they are cheaper , and even though i dont get a guarantee i still take the chance, like everything its a crap shoot, you win some you lose some, i like that i can buy form a top stud litter and not have to pay top American dollar , if thats what i chose to buy.

@Susie - Your popping my bubble LOL.... I often hear great stories about the SchH clubs in your country, about the training and camaraderie of those clubs. I often find myself envious of the SchH lifestyle i hear about there and not just from Americans who have gone over to train/visit but also from the SV Judges and Trainers we bring in from Germany.

Although, i have heard that it is pretty common for the GSD to be a Kennel dog in Germany, only being brought out of the kennels to train and then back in they go and not really living in the house with the owner/family. I just always hoped that was the exception not the norm... Please no i am not judging your statements.

I grew up with "kennel dogs" - you don´t tend to question something that is totally common in your surrounding.
My dogs sleep at my feet for years now, but it took me several years to change my mind.

I know a lot of trainers/breeders who kennel their dogs, but you need to differ.
A lot of dogs do have a good life, "training" includes daily work with the dogs, tracking, obedience, endurance training, several hours, day after day. These dogs are okay - for a lot of pets life is way more boaring.

I hate breeders who own too many dogs, who only train the "important" dogs, brood bitches after they are titled and breed surveyed are not seen any longer, puppies not well socialized, elder, useless dogs sold.

Nobody should give any money to such a breeder - we should know better today.

There are only two ways anyone can sell puppies cheap ( less than $1000 ) and that is 1) raise them cheap and treat the breeding stock poorly or 2) lose money on every pup sold. I sat down and did a rational cost budget for keeping the sire and dam from birth until death, excellent food, housing and costs for puppy rearing and my out of pocket break even cost was $800 per puppy. I have had the experience of buying one German based female adult and importing her into the USA and I would think the expense was $2000 for vet fees, import costs and miscellaneous equipment costs and travel costs. The $2000 cost was in addition to the cost of the 4 year old female GSD purchased in Germany. Some breeders buy dogs, breed them out and sell or donate them to avoid lifelong ownership costs. Some sell females too old to breed to unscrupulous breeders who continue breeding females well beyond the age they should be bred or asked to raise a litter of puppies. I suspect some such unscrupulous breeding practices and care of breeding stock occurs in Europe as well. I also know that some buyers have purchased a puppy or dog in Europe and got a reasonable facsimile of what they purchased. I don't own and have never owned a dog or puppy that I did not pick up from the breeder in person or was bred from my own stock. The most I have paid for a puppy is $1800 at 8-10 weeks and that was for a puppy which I had waited a year for born in the USA. I have never paid a breeder anything other than the price they asked or bargained for a lower price as I know first hand what is involved in breeding high quality dogs. If you think shipping a puppy by air is anything other than bad for the pup and potentially damaging for the pup's development I suggest you think again. Nothing good can happen to a puppy on an airplane.

The difference in American and European dog ownership has a lot to do with this. Like Susie has explained, the German Shepherd is still a working dog in Europe, people treat the dog as a working dog, and the majority don't buy them to be "just pets." This is contrary to what we see in the United States. In the United States, the uneducated dog owner is the one that has driven the prices of the dogs up. Lower level breeders have slowly increased their prices to make people think that their dogs are of a higher quality, in turn, higher level breeders have increased their prices because they do more work, invest more in their stock, and expect a higher return than the ones taking short cuts. Warrantees/guarantees have also played a role in the increasing prices as a way to differentiate from not just European importers, but also provide an "extra" and be able to charge more without any "real" cost to back it up (lets face it, a very small minority of puppies get returned or are needed to be replaced).

There are many other reasons why puppies are more expensive in the United States and to me, the fact that the majority of the demand comes from uneducated and uninterested customers is the biggest one. When people are just buying what they see, without much research, and just because they have the means and the want to do so...you'll have a natural inflation in prices. The demand for GSD in the United States is greater relative to the supply compared to the demand relative to the supply in Europe. Basic economics tells you the prices will be higher.

It is also demographics. That is a huge factor in price. Look just how expensive it is to title your dog in the US, how many hours you have to travel, how many out of state trips you have to make because there may just be a single or at the most, two trials a year in your own state.

Cost of Veterinary care is by far higher in the US and let's not talk about how difficult it is to feed your dog raw, or get a decent food.

Everything is by far more expensive in the US. So are the Club fees. Club fees in Germany, maybe, at the most 20 bucks. In the US, you have to expect 400 bucks.

So all that plays into the puppy price as well.

> Even after the USD to Euro Conversion AND the cost to fly a puppy from Germany to the US, there is still a huge cost difference. This is not isolated to my experience...<

 

 

This wasn't true for me. In Jan 2014, I bought an 8 week old puppy from 2 IPO3 and breed surveyed parents. He was 800 euro and then I split shipping on him because he was shipped with a littermate. End result was that he cost me about US$2000, including shipping. If I hadn't split shipping, he would have been about $2500.

 

Christine