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Cheap dogs for sale are always attractive to many people. Not everyone can afford to spend thousands of dollars for a pedigree that shows the promise of a show champion or an indispensable working dog. However, an inexpensive dog incurs costs of feeding, veterinary bills, and supplies.
Sources of Cheap Puppies for Sale
Cheap puppies for sale are more difficult to find than adults, but they are still plentiful. Surprisingly, humane societies get unwanted litters of puppies frequently. They also acquire puppies through the return of unwanted birthday or Christmas gifts. Sometimes a family will decide after a few weeks that they are unequipped to care for a puppy. Other times, owners find they have a pup that has greater demands than they had anticipated. For many of these same reasons, rescue organizations frequently end up with puppies. Rescues allow you to get a specific breed of a young dog. Both rescues and shelters occasionally remove puppies from unsuitable homes and then put them up for adoption. Many charitable organizations take in strays, a few of which might be puppies. They clean these pups, treat them for obvious problems, and vaccinate them. Often, you can then find the puppies for sale cheap.
What to Look for in Cheap Dogs for Sale
Standards for choosing a cheap dog may differ from those you employ when picking a puppy or paying high prices for a coveted pedigree. For one thing, your motivation to adopt a cheap puppy or dog can be variable.
- Rescue dogs can have curable health problems, skin issues, or weight problems (parasites, fleas, or hunger)
- Adoptees from a shelter or humane society – you may acquire an older dog or one without any health guarantees or definitive breed
- Rehome a dog (owners need to move or cannot manage animal) – you may have to accept behavioral problems and invest in additional training
- Accidental breedings – you adopt a dog from a neighbor so the animal has a home and to help a neighbor or friend; accept a lack of a known heritage and the inability to obtain papers for major registries
Puppies for Sale Under 300 Dollars
Many owners budget $150 to $200 for the purchase price of a new dog. Although such prices are rather archaic, you can still find plenty of puppies that cost under $300. You can even find free dogs, although many sellers charge a base price to increase the chances that their pups go to a loving home. Despite preconceived notions, you can find quality puppies for sale under 300 dollars. Most of these pups, as alluded to earlier, are available through websites, rescues, or shelters. Websites sometimes feature extraordinarily cheap purebred dogs or pups that have faults that preclude them from showing. Since flaws can be as simple as a disqualified color, size, or ear carriage and will not affect your pup’s health. You have to look hard for a puppy under $300 as even a shelter dog can cost over $350. Many humane society dogs are $50 to $250 as they subsidize care for their animals through donations and state funding. Your purchase price often includes vaccinations, deworming, and neutering.
Can You Get a Purebred Dog for Cheap?
When you search for a cheap purebred dog, you must exercise even more diligence than usual when trying to acquire a healthy pet. Unfortunately, unless you go through a rescue or shelter, you will likely get what you pay for in a purebred dog. What is worse, paying a premium for a purebred dog does not guarantee you will get a high-quality or healthy pet. Many of the expensive dogs you find in pet stores are $800 to $1,500 but come from puppy mills. You often cannot trace their full family tree let alone feel confident that there has been any screening for genetic problems. If you are persistent and determined you can find purebred dogs from $250 to $500. When you consider that the average purebred dog in the United States costs $1300, and one from show or working lines will set you back $2,000 or more, any puppy under $700 is a bargain.
The Mutt Dog Paradox
Repeatedly in history, searching amongst mutts or mongrels was a surefire means to find cheap dogs for sale. Many were unwanted, and sellers practically gave them away. Even during the periods when purebred dogs fell out of favor, you could still find a mixed-breed dog for a low price. With the advent of the so-called designer dog craze, a mixed heritage no longer comes with a cheap price tag. It has become exponentially tricky to find a cheap mutt as fanciers experiment with more breed mixes. Dogs become expensive designer mixes regularly. However, you can still find cheap puppies for sale from mixed and designer dogs if you search through websites and ads. Also, as occurs with any surge in popularity among animals, many designer crosses end up surrendered to shelters.
Puppies for Sale Cheap Standard of Care
Most owners know that a cheap dog requires the same level of care as the most expensive champion stud. What often gets lost in the excitement of a new puppy is how the cost of care so quickly exceeds the purchase price of a cheap dog. It can be hard to wrap your head around the fact that you got a free pup and now must shell out hundreds of dollars for basic startup supplies.
Puppy Starter Kit
The following are the initial items that most puppies eight weeks and older will require.
- High-quality food formulated for growing puppies
- Collar and leash
- Chew toys- choose size-appropriate
- Kennel or pen
- Bed and bedding – not absolutely necessary, but most dogs benefit from a cushioned bed
- Toothbrush and dental hygiene products
- Brush
- Food and water bowls, feeding mats
You should also consider baby gates and informational books about feeding, grooming, and training puppies. Adult dogs need certain items as well, but they may come with several essentials.
Care Routine
Cheap puppies for sale need love and attention. Since many of them come from humane societies or rescue situations, they are more prone to separation anxiety than other dogs. They do not do well alone and are difficult to crate train. Another crucial step in the development of your new pup is socialization. Socializing your puppy will decrease her anxiety in new places and help her adjust to her environment. It also decreases the likelihood of unprovoked aggression and timidity.
Grooming
As part of your pup’s grooming routine, you will clip his nails every month to six weeks, wipe his face daily, and shampoo his coat every one to three months. Brushing your dog’s coat is the primary way to enhance its health and shine and depends on its length and texture.
- Spitz (Siberian Husky, Akita, Pomeranian) – brush twice weekly, increase to daily or more during heavy sheds in fall and spring
- Herding dogs (German Shepherd, Corgi, Collie) – similar to Spitz
- Livestock guardian dogs (Great Pyrenees, Kuvasz, Anatolian Sheepdog) –
- Doodles (Labradoodle, Maltipoo, Goldendoodle) – once weekly to daily depending on the texture of the fur (the curlier the hair the more brushing it needs)
- Poodle – daily brushing
- Bichon family (Bichon Frise, Maltese, Havanese) – brush daily to every other day; many keep their dogs short
- Smooth-coated (Pit Bull, Boxer, Rat Terrier) – brush weekly
- Wire-haired (Scottish Terrier, West Highland White Terrier) – brush or comb weekly, strip every few months
Training
Puppies should begin their training in basic obedience as soon as they arrive in their new homes. The breeds involved in a mixed or purebred dog can affect how willing it is to please and quick it is to learn. However, all dogs require consistent and repetitive training methods based on a positive reward system. Some dogs need more persistence and patience than others while others need daily variation. Cheap dogs for sale from rescues and private sources may need professional training for behavioral issues.
Feeding
Dogs require mostly meat with moderate fats (below 20%) in their diets. If you adopt a malnourished dog, you must get it back to a normal diet slowly. Some dogs may have underlying health problems that require a special diet. Assuming your dog is of a normal weight and activity level, you will need to feed it 24 to 35 calories per pound every day. Large breed dogs generally need fewer calories for their weight than small types.
Exercise
Mental stimulation is as important for your dog as physical exercise. Many dogs live boring lives and become destructive or excessively vocal. Owners then surrender them for behavioral challenges. Since your cheap dog may very well come to you as a surrendered animal, exercise and mental enrichment must be your top priorities.