07/15/2025
I saw this in a forum and liked the way she put this:
As a breeder, I don't negotiate. This is not a business, and you are not a customer. When a puppy buyer who can afford the puppy tries to negotiate price, I am immediately turned off. And I believe it says something about the person's approach to the puppy. A puppy is not a commodity, it is a living, feeling being. What would be the motivation in negotiating? You feel you need to get the "best deal," or what? When the focus is on money rather than puppy, I look twice at whether this might be the best home for the puppy. I don't care about the money, I care about the puppy and its life, and how the puppy buyer perceives that puppy. "Just a dog" or valued family member, etc.? Besides all that, everyone gets treated the same and pays the same price. You are not that special. You're not entitled to something different than I do with the other buyers. That would be unfair to them. If you're just price shopping, and the years of planning and expertise that went into the breeding aren't important to you, you can find another breeder since to you all dogs are the same, plenty of byb who sell their puppies cheap.
Do you try to negotiate with the grocer for a dozen eggs? Would you try to negotiate the fees for adoption of a baby? Is everything in life transactional, or are there things that should not be? Depends on the culture, I suppose. But context is everything.
So IMHO you should not try to negotiate the price. Pay it, or get a puppy somewhere else.
