The cost of purchasing Cocker Spaniels!!!

[Chezer]

Why is it in a litter of Cocker Spaniels that they are all different prices???
Like a chocolate Roan will be £80 more and a Black Cocker will be £50 less yet a blue roan rare sable will cost £1300! In fact why are Sable Cockers extortionate in Price??? They are still a Cocker Spaniel!

How much did you spend when buying your pup? My friend paid £1200 for a Sable that she now has with her at 7 weeks old!

[LinziS]

Never payed anywhre near that for my blue roan!!

[7733lily]

I have noticed this too, especially with the sables  
I don't see why pups from the same litter should all be different prices, but I guess some colours are more "desirable" than others  
At the end of the day, I agree with you they are all cockers whatever their colour or gender
I paid the same for all three of my boys (from different breeders) and they are golden, choc and tan and a blue roan sable....as much as I love him, there is no way I would have paid £1300 for my sable...but if there are people out there that will pay that  , why would they reduce them

[black taz]

Supply and demand!

Taz is show black and i only paid £325.  I must admit I was a bit naive when i bought him and didnt realise it was necessary to have all the relevant tests - his dad wasnt KC registered either.  However, i love him to bits and fingers crossed doesn't have any health problems.

Certainly wouldnt pay £1200 though

[Nicola]

They shouldn't be. Reputable breeders don't charge more for 'rare' colours - it's bybs and commercial breeders who tend to do things like this to cash in on the novelty value.

[karendorman13]

I have paid £650 for my black show type. But I did notice when I was looking £1100 for a tri colour but the rest of the litter were £700.

[Chezer]

They shouldn't be. Reputable breeders don't charge more for 'rare' colours - it's bybs and commercial breeders who tend to do things like this to cash in on the novelty value.

Totally agree Nicola, but when I phoned up a well know Reputable breeder about a Chocolate cocker who was an assured breeder with those rosettes next to them and everyone highly recommends these breeders who have a very long waiting list and some people wait years to get a cocker from them they charge from £950 and upwards for a sable!  obviously wasn't that much of a reputable breeder.

[Jane S]

You won't find any reputable breeder charging £1200+ for sable - this is not a rare pattern anymore and I'm afraid the only reason some breeders get away with asking these prices is because there are gullible puppy buyers willing to pay these huge sums, thinking they're getting something special when really they're not And just because someone is an Assured Breeder, doesn't make them reputable - there are plenty of "commercial" type breeders who are members of the ABS scheme. I'd also take any claims of people waiting years for puppies from such breeders with a pinch of salt

As far as other price variations go, yes you will find different breeders charge different prices - it's inevitable. There's a rough average you can expect to pay for a KC reg pup from health tested parents but there are no fixed prices as individual breeders decide what they want to ask and it's up to potential puppy buyers whether they want to pay it or not. We've had lots of similar threads in the past on this subject - if you do a forum search, I'm sure you'll find past threads

[Chezer]

I phoned up practically everyone on champs dogs and kennel club and all of them charged over the odds apart from a few in wales who charged lower because the puppy was damaged in the eye from litter mates or In Scotland where they charged lower because it it wasn't registered.

Breeders who charge £1300 for a sable are ############

[Jane S]

I phoned up practically everyone on champs dogs and kennel club and all of them charged over the odds apart from a few in wales who charged lower because the puppy was damaged in the eye from litter mates or In Scotland where they charged lower because it it wasn't registered.

Not sure what you mean? Do you mean all the breeders you contacted asked more than you wanted to pay? If so, that's not "over the odds" - I'd say anything from £600-£800 is within the normal price range for a KC reg pup from health tested parents.

[Chezer]

Argg silly me I would expect to pay anything from £600 up to £800 and I had a budget of £850 top but they were charging more then that. The ones wanting over a Grand for a Sable tells me they love Cockers when they should say they love money! I do know that there are some good ones that charge the normal price.

[Jane S]

Argg silly me I would expect to pay anything from £600 up to £800 and I had a budget of £850 top but they were charging more then that. The ones wanting over a Grand for a Sable tells me they love Cockers when they should say they love money! I do know that there are some good ones that charge the normal price.

Ah so this was for a particular colour was it? I was thinking you meant all the litters advertised on CD or on the KC site were over-priced but forgot you were after a particular colour which isn't that common.

Yes it's hard to take any breeder's claim to love their dogs seriously when they are seemingly more interested in generating income from "rare" colours - if they weren't after the money, they wouldn't be asking such ridiculous prices

[JennyBee]

I'm in Scotland and paid £600 (the going rate at the time) for my liver roan four years ago, the exact same as all the other colours in the litter. Definitely would avoid anyone asking for different prices. We are cheaper in Scotland (or we were four years ago) and I'm not sure why x

[SophieBlueRoanLover]

I've also seen people quoting different prices for bitches (more, given that you can then have puppies from them and make money as a byb, presumably).

I was quoted £850 for a blue roan bitch, 1/4 working 3/4 show where the dam hadn't been FN tested (and breeder avoided my question about it) - the quote was given after I'd expressed an interest in one of the pups and she'd seen the car my mum drives parked outside (!) and she hesitated when we asked and then came up with "£850" - I guess she'd sized us up and our interest level and then come up with that extortionate figure - what she thought we'd pay! Needless to say I didn't take one of her pups and found a pure show-type a couple of weeks later; he's a blue roan male and I paid much less than that and he has fully-health-tested parents. No strange price for "rare" colours or being a breedable bitch. I assume the rest of the litter was the same price.

I have seen some websites for reputable breeders saying that they have increased their prices to £850 as they're passing on the cost of the increased burden of health testing to the purchase price of the puppies. Others obviously see it as a necessary cost prior to breeding their bitch (in order to breed healthy pups) and it just comes out of any profit they make.

[Chezer]

Yes just sables , but there are other colours  like take me I was looking for a chocolate cocker and because of that they charged more. Im so glad I can stop looking for cocker pups now as I was shocked by byb! I agree with you about breeders claims on loving their dogs when their clearly after money. Grrr