thanks for the pics.....they are sweet....enjoy them....your doing a great job.

Different strokes for different folks.

I don't really care what my pets are but many many people want X breed. If I wanted X breed I'd likely go to a breeder too though but I don't think I'd ever pay much more than maybe $100-200 for any pet. I've owned every kind of pet before and the only difference is their looks and personalities. I guess I lucked out since my dad's a vet so we never paid for any of our pets (all the pure breed 'show dogs' we owned were free from clients and their was always strays around that we'd convince him to let us keep). My cat's a mutt but she's so awesome!

Saying a pure breed is guaranteed to not have X problem is a load though and if any breeder ever claims that, ask for it in writing. Every animal can have a multitude of problems. They are usually just selectively bred to REDUCE the likelihood of certain problems.

No I agree there is never a for sure but with this dog I know that my odds are a lot less to have problems as he has a family health that goes back generations of not having these problems. I would never send him back but wanted the odds stacked in my favor this time.
My last three were mutts and they were great dogs as well. That being said I wanted one that I knew I would not have curtain problems with as well as I picked this dog for my life style.
Here is a picture of what happens when you take a dog hiking that has hip problems. This was his last hiking trip with me.
Not fun to carry a 130lbs dog out of the bush.:wink:
http://i246.photobucket.com/albums/g...a8be2588_b.jpg

Considering what a dog will cost you over its lifetime in vet bills and food a thousand is not that much to pay for a dog, but like you said to each his own.

the price of the dog is the cheep part, its what the vets soak you for the 3 rounds of shots, spay/nuter/ect.. we paid 1K for our golden, then another 400 in vet charges for shots, 500 is going towards training classes ect.. and I haven't even inquired to what nutering costs yet. oh I am almost at 400 in food for the last 3 months plus 1 or 2 more... so ya.. the price of the dog isn't realy relivent other than its a one time charge..

I should also add the 225 for the dog we got from the SPCA, 200 bucks in food for 3 months, 500 bucks in trying to cure her of her dog agression problems.. and what you can put a value on is the heartbreak of the kids and us when we decided we had to take her back...

thats why we went with a puppy and hegged our bets with a breed that is knowen to be exelent with people and other animals. the other dog was a goldenX we found out it was crossed with a chow and attitude wise it is the chow that domanated when dealing with other dogs. that is the only down side to a crossed dog, you never know which trates will domanate and there is no continuity even in litter mates. now we could have been luckey with the SPCA dog also.. we had a 50/50 chance.. but we wernt.

Steve

Tell me about it!! 35/week for stock lessons x2, 250/quarter for agility coach, 40/dog/day for flyball tournaments, renting sheep, 25/hr, backyard with 1000 worth of equipment, house crates, van crates, van, etc. Oh, and food. 3 cases of chicken a month, 1 case of beef bits, treats, toys, and then the vet. 800 to pull a tooth, shots, etc..
Yup, the dogs were the cheap parts :)

:pound:

Again I'm very lucky in that regard. My dad and sister are both veterinarians and my family owns several vet clinics. I've never had to pay for a vet or any vet related services. Food I currently get for free also (written off as a clinic expense, this is likely to change when I graduate University). If I do ever get anything it's always at cost anyways. When it comes to pure breeds there's usually someone my family knows that'll give us a great deal for reducing their bills on the rest of the litter (we've done that in the past and got free dogs.. It is a good deal for the breeder and costs us nothing really except my dads time). Again, I'm just lucky though.

are you feeding vet food for that write off or are you actualy buying good food somewhere else?

Steve

I assume you're trying to start another raw food debate in here which I won't get into (and I'm sure others don't want that again as this is not the appropriate thread for that subject and it's already been beat to death in the last thread...). But to elaborate my answer more clearly than my last post already stated, I'm feeding recommended food from my family that would likely be considered 'vet food' since it does comes from a vet clinic. If I got it from somewhere else it wouldn't be 'free' for me unless my family could order it. This food has never given me or my family problems before so I use it with confidence and I consider it 'good food' as you said, even if others may disagree with me. So let's leave it at I won't push my views on others if they don't on me.