danity acres Italian Greyhound Puppies

Everyday I am asked about price.  More important than price is making sure you are dealing with a reputable breeder who knows the good and bad qualities they are passing on in their pups.   Here at Dainty Acres we only breed purebred Italian Greyhounds, and we have been stewarding the responsibility of pairing healthy adults dogs since 1990.  Some of our pups are sold to be show dogs,  maybe one will be worthy to become a breeding partner, but all our pups are going to be someone's pet.  There are prices for show pups and a lower price for pet quality pups.  But if you are wanting to know how much you should be paying for a purebred Italian Greyhound, I can say that if you are paying over $3,000 for any dog,  you are probably paying too much.   When I am looking for a puppy I am first going to look for a reputable breeder, then I want to see the parentage of their breeding pair and I want to know the health history of the breeding pair's ancestry.  

Finding a Reputable Breeder:  The American Kennel Club here in the United States has a public search for puppies for sale called the AKC Marketplace.  You can shop by breed, and breeders post ads for puppies they have for sale complete with registration numbers of the parents, photos and information about their kennel.  There are bio's of the breeders, and AKC recognizes excellent breeders with the Breeder of Merit badge.  The AKC Breeder of Merit breeder has great insights to the breed because for 5+ years they have been breeding, showing and involved in the breed clubs.  

Breeding Pair Parentage: A reputable breeder will give you the names of the parents of the pup you are looking at.  The  next thing to do is to research the genealogy of the pup's parents.  You want to look for any inbreeding of this breeding pair. The breeder will have information about the breeding pair, and you can go to a public site called BreedArchive.com to look up the genealogy.   The AKC registration number or the AKC registered name can be used to search.  When you are looking at the pedigree, the breeding pair should be diverse in their pedigree, meaning they do not have similar relatives.  Breeding dogs that have similar pedigrees is called inbreeding or line breeding.  Inbreeding can be a good thing and a bad thing.  It was good that preservation breeders during war torn times kept the breed alive by inbreeding a pair.  Inbreeding is good if you are trying to double up the possibility to pass on good qualities into a litter.  But it is also bad for doubling of the bad qualities that you cant see, like genetic health issues.  

Research Genetic Health Risks: BreedArchive.com is also a great place to see health history of the pups parents and grand parents.  You also get to see the dogs in your pups ancestry that have reached Champion status.  BreedArchive allows you to publicly search up to 10 generations of that dogs parentage.  Another public site that I like is Canine Health Information Center or OFA,  https://ofa.org/chic-programs/browse-by-breed/?breed=IT where the public can search to see if the breeding pair has registered any genetic testing.  OFA has a CHIC certification that can be reached if the dog passes bred specific tests.  Italian Greyhounds are susceptible to thyroid disease, patella problems, hip dysplasia and eye diseases.  It makes so much sense to test the breeding partners for these breed prone diseases so you and your pet can have the longest, happiest and best life ever!

Today it is easier than ever to find purebred, healthy and happy puppies.  Breeders can sell you a poorly bred dog or a well bred dog.  You can pay upwards of $10,000 for hip dysplasia surgery or spend your dog's best years in blindness.  Those costs cant even be realized let alone monetized.

The Cost of the Pup:  So don't judge the price of the puppy until you have done your research on your puppy's breeder and health history.  Good breeders are selecting good breed partners for you and your pup's future.  Great breeders are doing their homework to produce champions and to rule out breed pairings that can pass on genetic problems.  Truly amazing breeders are putting their champions and their health records on the public sites like BreedArchive, OFA and BetterBred for all the world to see.  

So take some time and look for those good, great and amazing breeders.  And take some time to browse the genealogy sites that the amazing breeders have posted their dog's test results on.  It is our goal here at Dainty Acres to leave a lasting legacy and the proof of it for many generations, and give you and your pup every advantage to live a long, happy and healthy life.