I love westies and would love to get one for a family pet. I am not wanting to show the dog just have another addition to my family. Would it be crazy for me to buy an unregistered westie??? How much should I pay for one??? I know the puppies are full westies the couple just doesn’t want to mess with registering them.
So here is the deal. You should get a puppy that is register-able, but you don’t have to do the paperwork if you don’t want to.
If the puppies parents are not both registered with the AKC (UKC, CKC) than the breeder does NOT show their dogs. And I am guessing that they don’t do health testing either.
When you get a puppy from a respectable hobby breeder the puppies should be from health tested champion parents that closely adhere to the breed standards. This is your best chance for having a healthy dog with a good temperament.
With an unregistered dog there is no way to tell if he is really all Westie. If the parents are unregistered then you are dealing with a back yard breeder. These people are only out to make money from their “cute” dog by breeding it with whatever other Westie they could find. The result can be sickly dogs with genetic health problems and bad temperaments. No good breeder would not want to “mess” with registering the the dogs. It is part of the process of breeding. I would not pay for this dog at all.
All puppies produced from show quality parents are not show quality, some will be pet quality. These dogs make just as good of pets, and this is what you should be looking for. These dogs are offered from good breeders with limited registration and spay/neuter contracts. Puppies from good quality breeders can cost around $1000.
If you don’t want to go to a reputable breeder why not save a life and adopt from a Westie rescue. Rescues usually charge around $200. This is the only way I would pay for an unregistered pure bred dog.
Tags: Westie, west highland terrierTags: west highland terrier, Westie
i had a registered shepherd who lived for 13 years and didn’t pay a cent for her.
i offered the owners a free home for a puppy. by the time the puppies got 4 mos, i was offered one and chose the runt. she was a great dog. even though she was registered, i never bred her, ‘tho i had plenty of offers. i’m glad i didn’t, since i didn’t have to worry over what may have happened to any offspring.
my point being, there are so many dogs out there, try not to pay for your westie. maybe, if more ppl stopped paying, there would be less breeding.
wishful thinking, i know.
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So here is the deal. You should get a puppy that is register-able, but you don’t have to do the paperwork if you don’t want to.
If the puppies parents are not both registered with the AKC (UKC, CKC) than the breeder does NOT show their dogs. And I am guessing that they don’t do health testing either.
When you get a puppy from a respectable hobby breeder the puppies should be from health tested champion parents that closely adhere to the breed standards. This is your best chance for having a healthy dog with a good temperament.
With an unregistered dog there is no way to tell if he is really all Westie. If the parents are unregistered then you are dealing with a back yard breeder. These people are only out to make money from their “cute” dog by breeding it with whatever other Westie they could find. The result can be sickly dogs with genetic health problems and bad temperaments. No good breeder would not want to “mess” with registering the the dogs. It is part of the process of breeding. I would not pay for this dog at all.
All puppies produced from show quality parents are not show quality, some will be pet quality. These dogs make just as good of pets, and this is what you should be looking for. These dogs are offered from good breeders with limited registration and spay/neuter contracts. Puppies from good quality breeders can cost around $1000.
If you don’t want to go to a reputable breeder why not save a life and adopt from a Westie rescue. Rescues usually charge around $200. This is the only way I would pay for an unregistered pure bred dog.
References :
Why not adopt? You save a life and only pay around $200 to $300. This should get you a dog UTD on shots, neutered, etc. petfinder.com
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When I was looking to get a Westie about two years ago, I just assumed I would adopt from a rescue.
Unfortunately, here in SoCal, pretty much all rescue Westies are “controlled” by Westie Rescue of CA, and they denied my application. They would never actually give me a reason, but I suspect it has something to do with the fact that I’m a female in my 20s, and they assumed that I was going to pop out a baby any second and then dump the dog. Couldn’t be further from the truth, but there was no negotiating with them–They actually told me “sorry, our email volunteer has no way of contacting our adoption volunteer.”
So, needless to say, I still totally support animal adoption, but I also understand why some folks don’t go that route–some rescues can be a little less than welcoming.
In any case, I ended up finding a great breeder in Victorville, CA (all the puppies were up on shots, genetically tested, papers avail, lived inside, parents on premises, etc) and paid $450 for the furry love of my life, Mr. Henry. Here’s a photo of the adorable little man: http://urbzen.com/2008/10/31/weekly-henry-take-one/