Would you buy a 'trained' dog?

[YodelDogs]

Originally Posted by Dekka

People will pay $$$ for a puppy yet that same puppy a few months later, and many skills 'smarter' is now worth next to nothing.

This is sadly very true. As a breeder, I often keep 2-3 puppies to raise up. Once I decide who to keep, I look for homes for the others. These pups are already house-trained, crate-trained, and have some basic house manners yet people will simply not pay the same price they would have for a completely untrained 8 week old puppy. I don't get it?

[Fran27]

I would totally, not for that price tag though...

[AllisonPitbullLvr]

We have one of those "protection dogs" as a patient at the clinic where I work. He's owned by a wealthy family who has several young daughters and is part guard dog, part nanny dog. He's old now but he's truly fantastic. Just an awesome dog.

In anticipation of their imminent decision to have to euthanize him due to degenerative myelopathy, they recently purchased another dog from the same place. They ended up sending him back. There was constant conflict between him and the older dog, and he was very intense with the girls.

Would I have a dog like this? No. I don't see a need for it and would rather "customize" my training to shape a pup into exactly what I need.

[AdrianneIsabel]

Yep, if I found the right dog I would definitely buy it trained.

[Gempress]

Originally Posted by Paige

I can see the appeal. People do it with horses. Why not dogs?

I agree. I see there being a great market for a dog like that. Take a family with two full-time working parents, with no prior dog experience, and an elementary-aged child who is really in love with dogs and wants one. I could see a pre-trained dog as being a perfect fit.

I do have some issue with the price. But I could see, say, $3,000-$5,000 as being reasonable, depending on the breed of dog and what kind of training was done.

[Doberluv]

No. I appreciate my puppies coming with crate training and a little potty training, and plenty of early socialization (that's a must) started by the breeder. It just gives them a little jump start. The rest I like to do myself. I enjoy it and it helps build a special bond between the pup and me.

[AdrianneIsabel]

Every dog I have had, aside from my first, has been 5-8 months old before I got the dog. Maybe I'm just not a baby puppy person?

My heart and soul belongs to that dog that I rescued at 10 years old. She has almost no training still and yet I would move mountains for her. I'm pretty sure for me bonds can come at any age with any training level.

[Shai]

Well to be honest I think such a service isn't really intended for most of the Chaz folks. Let's face it, many of us are the training-/behavior-/interaction-junkies of the dog world lol.

I mean heck I have a temp puppy I've been losing sleep over and training. Just about the time she's fully trustworthy in the house and has a really solid training foundation, she's going home. But it's fun. And that statement is not confined to puppies...Webby was a year old when he came home and very uhhhhh "self-educated" lol. But that worked for us and we figured each other out eventually. And the journey...well it was rough in places I think we arr both the better for it.

Though since doing this I've been asked if I am going to start puppy-raising as a business lol. Also: there are shelters in my area that work with prison programs and the like to train their dogs and thereby increase their adoptability. In those cases the dogs are often already adolescents or adults and having a solid set of basic behaviors in place seems to reall work for their organization. They have a good reputation...even if they wouldn't let me adopt a high-energy dog because I lived in an apartment at the time...*grumble grumble*

[Doberluv]

Originally Posted by AdrianneIsabel

Every dog I have had, aside from my first, has been 5-8 months old before I got the dog. Maybe I'm just not a baby puppy person?

My heart and soul belongs to that dog that I rescued at 10 years old. She has almost no training still and yet I would move mountains for her. I'm pretty sure for me bonds can come at any age with any training level.

Definitely. I didn't mean to suggest that one only gets a special bond from training a puppy. I mentioned in my post that the early training and raising of puppies helped create a special bond. That is not to say that adopting an older dog precludes one from having a special bond. I most certainly think there's a unique relationship that comes from rescuing an older dog and giving it a new home. I think there's something there where they feel extra gratitude...they seem more appreciative for what they have. So, a wonderful bond can be built by all kinds of means. After all, we're humans and they're dogs. What more do we need? lol. I just meant that I've enjoyed having little puppies and working through their growing up. Not so sure I'd be up for it these days, but throughout my life, I've had several puppies and the process was quite rewarding and special bonds were developed.

[Red Chrome]

I would ABSOLUTELY buy a trained dog. I'm actually looking at started dogs for my next Schutzhund dog.