I had a litter in April and still have found forever homes for 1/2 the litter. Things were good and then it dried up. I am in the South and have gone done considerably price wise. Is this the same for yourself?

Same here.

What area of the US are you living? Just curious

I just had a litter out here in the West, all of my puppies are spoken for, and I could have sold a second litter!

Maybe "Pet Person" will take them off your hands since she must have a huge market to be making such a good profit.

Just placed the last pup. Yes, I have turned away some flakey buyers, but that is par for the course. A year ago, I would not have predicted this. I figured people would choose a puppy over some other discretionary purchase. But this economic downturn is far deeper than I imagined. A lot of folks have no discretionary money at all.

Whew, how long did it take you. How old was your last pup? My pups are almost 12 wks.

10 weeks.

Seriously .. Was a comment like that needed?

Alot of it is this time of year. From Tax season on. When it is about time for the kids to get out of school it dies. Then they think vacation and its a bad time, then school starts and its a bad time. I try to have litters come from Oct. to March. the best time here. Let some breeders in your area know what you have to find homes for. We all help each other. Some do still have the money. My litter that went home in Feb. of 10 pups were all sold at a regular price. Several spoken for before they were born but could have sold more males.

Have a litter, gotten 2 calls. I live in Virginia. When in New York couldn't get to the phone fast enough. It seems to me it is the area in which we live.

I have a litter of chocolates and I've had 3 people email/call about them. Out of the 4 people, 1 was a western union and ship on the first flight person. Thats not gonna happen. And another person may not work out. I had to lower the price which isn't a big deal. As of today I have 1 pup sold and the pups will be 10 wks. I'm from Massachusetts.

I, too, am in the south and was panicking that I had 3 puppies left from a large litter. I posted on The Forum looking for some thoughts and got some really great advice. My update is that a girl, at the age 5 months, went to a wonderful family who was recommended by someone who bought a sibling. A boy, at the age of 7 months, ended up livin' the life on a farm. And another boy, at the age of 8 months, is also livin' the life at a house on the beach.

My 2 cents is, DON'T drop your price. Network, network, network. Think of different ways to "market" them, 'scuse the term. Embrace them as if you were going to keep them. Walk in town(when old enough) so they are bombproof with people, noises etc. Do lots of early training, maybe stuff you wouldn't normally have had time to do before placing them at 8 weeks.

I am a relatively new hobby breeder and these last 3 puppies have done more for our kennel name than any of the younger ones. It's tough in the south, not a lot of quiet, reasonable Labs around.(yes, that's a terrible generalization, sorry) So these 3 well mannered, quiet, reasonable, well socialized puppies have been great ambassadors for the breed and for our developing breeding program. Yep, I freaked when we got to 3, 4, 5....months but all worked out wonderfully and it will for you, too.

They will ALL find homes, just be patient.(and I don't say that not knowing what you're going through!!!) Good luck, stay calm, drink wine.....!!!!

Does no one else think it is ironic that this thread about selling puppies was started while the Pet Person thread has been so active. I can't help but wonder if Pet Person is trolling, trying to get breeders to talk about prices and marketing so she can jump on here and say "gotcha!"

If your "panicked" about selling your pups, you should'nt be breeding in the first place. If you have more than enough pups to go around, why dont you consider taking your "For Profit" hat off, and donate one to good cause, I'm sure there are non-profit organizations that would happily accept a healthy donation pup, I'm assuming all the clearances on the parents are of breeding quality. My personal issue with breeding around October is the Christmas rush, as if our pathetic shelters arent full enough by March of pups that were purchased as xmas gifts, and are sadly thrown to the wayside by the time the kids are deeply back in school and the parents are back to work, and the pup is eating the couch and the mini blinds. Have some consideration for the breed, not your pocket books.

Correction: Whelping around October

breeding around October

Um, don't mean to be disrespectful but who said anything about profit????? And I, for one, am pretty sure none of my puppies are sitting in a shelter because I sold them as impulse buys!!!

Perhaps OP had deposits (as I did with my large litter) and for one reason or another, things didn't work out. Doesn't mean he/she shouldn't be breeding.

Not all of us who are relatively new are like some of you perceive Pet Person to be. Some of us have wonderful, quality, healthy dogs and have had good, patient breeder friends who have guided us towards this endeavor. That's how the breed will endure.

Just my 2 cents, which is pretty much all that's left!!!

In my last litter, I had several of my puppies reserved early. The litter was born in April so the puppies went home in June. I had no problem getting reservations on these puppies early on before the litter was born. The problem I had this time more than any other time was the potential buyers. They seemed to be a good fit upon first conversations and introductions, but as I got to know some of them better and some of the things they said about raising dogs and accussed me of as a breeder, led me to believe that they were not going to be the right owners for my puppies. I turned several of them away and told them to find another breeder. Maybe (Pet Person) from the other thread would have been a better option for some of these individuals to buy a puppy from.

What matters to me first and foremost is that I place my puppies in the best homes I can. It took a little longer to get the right people for my puppies this litter, but the ones designated as pets all did go at 8 weeks for full price. I never lower my price. I will hold the puppy until it is 6 months if I have to. I feel that they puppy is just as valuable or more with all the training being over 8-10 weeks.

My advice is like some of the others, network and wait for the right people to come along. Don't lower the price. After you potty train, crate train, leash train, socialize and have the paid for all of the puppies shots, the puppy is going to be worth more than it was a 8 weeks IMO.

I am the Original OP. I am not trolling I was asking a question. Reading these responses gives me a better idea or new perspective of what people think or are going thru. Please keep the responses coming as I'd love to hear from you. I have added my email address.

There are family circumstances that I would prefer not to talk about. Things happen and I didn't get on the advertising early enough. My mentor and my lab friends in the surrounding area have been wonderful and very supportive.

I have had several very weird people call me about pups. I would prefer keeping them then to sell them to just anyone.

All my pups are very well cared for and loved!

I agree with Breeder. I move forward with training, I dont freak out if they aren't sold. I never lower my price, THAT is exactly what many pet buyers are waiting for! The longer I have them and start training them, the price goes up. The RIGHT buyer will come along.

Yes, I have begun the training process and they are responding very nicely. As a matter of fact, I had some treats in my hand and her comes Mom & their Auntie ... I was working with 1 on sitting. I didn't realize that mom was behind me... well she & auntie sat and so did the pup right after. Gave pup a treat and turned around and gave the other 2 treats. They are cute!

My main problem I'm having is people want full reg and i'm not willing to do that. The people inquiring don't know ANYTHING based on the questions they are asking me. More importantly I'm still new to the breed having only been working with Labradors for 5-6 yrs. I can't mentor/teach these people anything as I still have a lot to learn. I actually posted a question regarding the spay/neuter contract which is related to this issue.
I just picked up new kennels from pet edge for the pups and kennel training begins. haha let of screaming begin

Drew,

I just purchased some more kennels from Amazon. I started puppy training but only have 1 very unhappy customer. He's such a diva! LOL! :)

Good Luck!

I start crate training litters when they are 6 weeks or so, for short periods of time, by the time they are 8-9-10 weeks they love their crates, no screaming here.

Yes, I should have done that!

We're in the Rockies area, not many breeding right now. Those that have pups are selling them quick.

This time of year is usually much better than winters. I've never had a problem selling my pups except for an occasional winter litter taking a little longer. Even then, everyone is in their homes by around 10 weeks.