# Was my boy really $500??



## NachoPup (Jan 16, 2011)

Not that it matters, but I have been thinking about what made my Chi so expensive. The lady that I got him from said she paid $500 for him at a pet shop. When I think of a high priced pup, I see a much smaller chi with a short nose and with perfect markings. My nachos is almost 8 pounds with a longer nose and he is tall. I asked for his papers so I could research his blood line for fun but she didnt have any papers.  When you pay that much you expect show quality right? Giving her the benefit of the doubt I thought maybe she had be had by the pet shop.. any thoughts?


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## jesicamyers (Dec 27, 2010)

Where did you find a pet store chi for $500? They're $1200 here. She may have been telling the truth. In VA, hobby kennels are not regulated and pet stores get their dogs from hobby kennels, most of whihc are really puppy mills. AKC does not always mean bred to standard. It just means the parents were registered.


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## Lou_lou (Jul 23, 2009)

That seems a fair price you would pay more for a chi cross here. I payed £1200 (just under $2000) for my first bitch, no offence meant to my baby but I was ripped off!!


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## jan896 (Dec 9, 2009)

I paid $1200.00 for Chico.... his breeder shows dogs and is the President for Maryland club of chihuahuas. I can't imagine $500 for show quality...I would think it would be much more for show


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## chi's R me (Jun 30, 2009)

NachoPup said:


> Not that it matters, but I have been thinking about what made my Chi so expensive. The lady that I got him from said she paid $500 for him at a pet shop. When I think of a high priced pup, I see a much smaller chi with a short nose and with perfect markings. My nachos is almost 8 pounds with a longer nose and he is tall. I asked for his papers so I could research his blood line for fun but she didnt have any papers.  When you pay that much you expect show quality right? Giving her the benefit of the doubt I thought maybe she had be had by the pet shop.. any thoughts?


In our part of the country (I live fairly close to Nachopup) you can buy a very nice chichuhua for alot less that $500.00, no it wouldn't be "show" quality but much closer to chihuahua standards. I think the prices range alot depending on where you live. There are some good breeders that arn't terrible far from us and they sell very pretty small pups reasonable (pet quality) I don't how much pet shops charge, I stay away from those places.


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## Smith (Jun 7, 2010)

In my area, pet shops that sell dogs (at least one chain I know of) sell nearly all their puppies for between $800-$1500, including 'designer' mixes. I think, in general, folks who purchase from pet stores don't have a sense of what an appropriate price would be, or they would protest such high prices! I can guarantee no puppy purchased from a pet store was bred to show quality standards. Commercial kennels are about quantity rather than quality.


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## NachoPup (Jan 16, 2011)

Thanks everyone, I had no clue! I love my Nachopup anyways!!


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## Amandarose531 (Aug 9, 2010)

Generally speaking pet store pups aren't very desirable, fear of puppy mills etc. come to mind but i've seen local pups go for anywhere from $100-2500 here.

I paid $150 for Gretel to a friend, and $195 for Godric to a breeder.

Neither are to "standard" but I don't love them any less.


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## Lin (Jun 7, 2006)

NachoPup said:


> Thanks everyone, I had no clue! I love my Nachopup anyways!!


And that is as it should be.


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## Blondie87 (Jan 10, 2011)

My Chi was way cheaper than that, but she isn't registered, and is definitely not bred to standard, but she's perfect in my eyes..


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## leiahrandy (Jan 18, 2011)

jesicamyers said:


> Where did you find a pet store chi for $500? They're $1200 here. She may have been telling the truth. In VA, hobby kennels are not regulated and pet stores get their dogs from hobby kennels, most of whihc are really puppy mills. AKC does not always mean bred to standard. It just means the parents were registered.



whoa 1200! my randy was $400, and he has decent markings.


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## Bm0589 (Oct 28, 2010)

I paid $1500 for apple and for a chi her quality i would say thats pretty much the going rate.... i wouldnt even think twice of paying that again for another chi if their personality/temperment/conformation was like apple she is perfect.....and i will say that pet store prices are like daylight robbery the prices they charge are insane and your not even guaranteed that ur dog is from a reputable breeder half the time....


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## cprcheetah (May 4, 2009)

I paid $1125.00 for Zoey from a craptastic byb and paid about $800 for Sebastian who was show potential...he didn't end up being show material so I had him neutered and breeder refunded me 1/2 the money. Chi's in petstores here go anywhere from $400-$999.99. My Ziva (miniature Pinscher) came from a petstore (I rescued her from someone who bought her), her original price was $899.99 but she was on 'clearance' lol for 1/2 price as she was older (3 months old)


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## Yoshismom (Jul 6, 2005)

$500.00 is cheap in my area as well.


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## leiahrandy (Jan 18, 2011)

every pup around here is around $1100-$1200.
but i think my mom got randy from a breeders store(they also had animals that needed to be adopted) and she paid 400. but it was christmas.... and they were having a sale so ummmm.... lol.


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## MChis (Oct 13, 2009)

$500 in my area would get you an out of standard pup from a BYB trying to make a few bucks on their pets. We have VERY few (2 or 3) good "hobby breeders" in our state who sell their pups for between $700-$900 in my area...some of those are bred in standard & some are bred out of standard. But all of those breeders dogs are healthy Chihuahuas that are bred for the sole purpose of creating healthy, socialized, well tempered pet Chihuahua puppies. Do some end up in a show ring? They sure have...but the majority go to pet homes.

For the record...no responsible "breeder" would sell their puppies to a pet store. 99.9% of puppies purchased at a pet store were created by a puppy mill. Never EVER get a puppy from a pet store because you would be supporting the puppy mill practice. Saying that, I know you did not purchase your pup from a pet store & the fact that he was purchased from a pet store initially doesn't matter at this point... He now has a wonderful home with people who love him very much & that is most important! But for future reference...I had to add the bit in about pet store puppies.


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## leiahrandy (Jan 18, 2011)

MChis said:


> $500 in my area would get you an out of standard pup from a BYB trying to make a few bucks on their pets. We have VERY few (2 or 3) good "hobby breeders" in our state who sell their pups for between $700-$900 in my area...some of those are bred in standard & some are bred out of standard. But all of those breeders dogs are healthy Chihuahuas that are bred for the sole purpose of creating healthy, socialized, well tempered pet Chihuahua puppies. Do some end up in a show ring? They sure have...but the majority go to pet homes.
> 
> For the record...no responsible "breeder" would sell their puppies to a pet store. 99.9% of puppies purchased at a pet store were created by a puppy mill. Never EVER get a puppy from a pet store because you would be supporting the puppy mill practice. Saying that, I know you did not purchase your pup from a pet store & the fact that he was purchased from a pet store initially doesn't matter at this point... He now has a wonderful home with people who love him very much & that is most important! But for future reference...I had to add the bit in about pet store puppies.



ooo really? i didnt know. and yes he has a very loving home.  .


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## Blondie87 (Jan 10, 2011)

Is all the prices ppl are talking about on here for registered Chi's?


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## leiahrandy (Jan 18, 2011)

ummmm im not sure. probably.


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## jan896 (Dec 9, 2009)

Chico is registered but.... in my eyes it doens't matter the price a doggie costs or if he/she is registered....if they are your best friend and have a loving home..... that is all that matters....... unconditional love..........


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## jesuschick (Dec 5, 2010)

In my area AKC, limited registration pups are in the $500 range and complete registration pups are $700-$2000. The higher end is show quality.


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## Blondie87 (Jan 10, 2011)

I dunno.. I don't care about Bella being not registered at all, I'm not going to breed or show her. Pretty positive she is full Chi though. But I got her for $175.


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## LucyChi (Aug 11, 2010)

I got Lucy for $400, I have her paperwork, but never sent it in to register her, it never seemed important, since I have no showing or breeding plans. There are a couple of breeders close to me who show and their show quality pups are anywhere from $1200-1600. Pet quality is $200-800. 
The pet store nearby sells chi and chi-mix pups for $800-1200.


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## leiahrandy (Jan 18, 2011)

LucyChi said:


> I got Lucy for $400, I have her paperwork, but never sent it in to register her, it never seemed important, since I have no showing or breeding plans. There are a couple of breeders close to me who show and their show quality pups are anywhere from $1200-1600. Pet quality is $200-800.
> The pet store nearby sells chi and chi-mix pups for $800-1200.



ooo yes that sounds very similar around where i just moved from.


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## Chihuahuasloveme (Jan 8, 2010)

I paid $1000 for baby no papers, vet check or shots , $700 ninja no papers prada free 

Pet store here for purebred chis $1200-$2500 

Byb prices for purebred to semi standard $1000+ 

Byb prices for bigger chis chi mixes $400-$800 

Almost all ads posted here say "teacup" parents are average size to large size lol

All kinds of whacky things going on


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## Eclipsica (Nov 23, 2010)

I inquired about one chi puppy from a breeder, price was $1500. I was caught off guard because I thought $1000 was the highest price. 
I tried to imagine paying over three months rent money to buy a chi and I didn't think that was going to work out.
Not trying to be critical of what that breeder was charging here, just the reality of wages and expenses in my neck of the woods. 

I've mostly looked at rescues and petfinder and they seem to be around $300-500.
I found some that were listed as "seriously ill" with multiple health problems with a $450 adoption fee, which I found too steep. They were rescues from puppy-mills.


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## Reese and Miley (Jun 24, 2010)

I would say $500 is on the low end of average for the cost of a puppy. My first chi, Reese, is from a pet store. Frankly I knew better, but I really wanted him, and hoped that since the pet shop is a local boutique owned/ operated by veterinarians with a vet practice attached that perhaps the puppies came from somewhere a little nicer than the avg puppymill. Sadly no. Luckily Reese hasnt had any health or temperament problems, and he is the best dog Ive ever owned, but I do feel guilty for supporting puppymills. I paid $785 for him, but he was 3 months, so had had his first two rounds of vaccines and had already been neutered (!). I was also entitled to a free vet checkup, we got a bag of treats, a bag of food, a discount on anything from the store, and the best dog in the world, so I dont feel as though I overpaid. Reese did come with AKC papers. Its fun to track their lineage, but undoubtedly Nacho comes from a puppymill like Reeses and you wont find any dogs who showed in his recent lines so there wont be much to see. I wouldnt worry about having the papers though, unless you are showing/breeding you really dont need them. You can try looking online if you know what pet store he is from and get some info on the mill he came from. I was able to look up some records and inspection reports from Reese's puppymill just using the name of his "breeder".
And as others have already said, typically you would expect to pay much more than $500 for a show quality puppy.


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