Heck, when I go to pet shops, which is the WORST place to get a dog, I see them selling pet quality dogs that come out from the puppy mills and they are selling them for a thousand to 1500 bucks. You don't have the distance drive, but...all the negatives are you don't meet the breeder, you don;t get to see the mother or father of the litter, and you have no idea how the puppy was socialized and raised for the first 9 weeks of their life. What kind of breeder would just give their puppy to a pet shop to sell. Don't they care about the home the pup is going into.
It is rare that I breed my Dobes, but when I do - I don't care who I piss off, because people who have studied the breed, and know what goes into producing a healthy well bred litter, has certain standards for placing them into their new homes and won't budge on it one bit. I totally support them.
You have to decide why you want the breed. How much have you read about the breed, their care requirments, how big they get, how long they live, what health conditions are they prone to, what they are like to live with. And then you need to go to obediience or confimation shows and watch the breed in the rings, join a local chapter akc sanctioned club and talk to other people involved with the breed a long time. YOu will learn a lot.
Then, spend just as much time screening various breeders. Ask questions and run if they don't have questions for you or if they just talk money.
When I was placing my pups, some people would call and just talk about the price of the dog or make that the first thing they talked about. Or they would call and say that they want to buy a dog to breed to their brothers dog. You can sense and smell the ignorant people right away. When I get people like that, I ususally thank them for calling and tell them that all the pups are placed now, even if none of them are. I don't want people like that.
You need to decide if you want a pet dog or a show dog. Big difference in the agreement between the buyer and the breeders. And if you want a pet dog at a pet price, do not breed it or intend to breed it. There is a reason why the breeder has chosen the particular puppy to be designated as a pet pup. That doesn't mean there is anything wrong with the dog that would prevent it from becoming a great household companion and a good looking one at that, but the puppy has less than perfect or favorable aspects about the structure, coat color or fur legnth where the breeder feels that the puppy would not make it in the show ring. If they can't be shown to win their AKC confirmation title and be worthy stock amongst judges who must awared 15 points or more with 2 being majors, then the dog should not be perpetuated.
I don't mean to come down as a heavy - but I am just suggesting that you spend time studying the breed more and understand that purchasing a good dog that is well bred and the breeder cares, is worth a lot.
You also might want to contact one of the Komondor clubs from the AKC site. Often times you can adopt or purchase a rescue dog that may be an older puppy or young adult and it needs a home and all you need to do is to make a donation of some sort. Most rescue people also make sure that the dog is spayed or neutered before it goes to it's new owner. Another good move.
Here is a link to the Komondor page on the AKC site.
http://www.akc.org/breeds/komondor/index.cfm
And here is Komondoric rescue with contact info. I don't know where you live, but I am trying to help.
http://clubs.akc.org/kca/kca.htm
And here is a senior Komondor dog available for resuce.
http://search.petfinder.com/petnote/...?petid=7086458
I hope all this helps. I am not trying to insult or offend anyone, just trying to be helpful to you...and to Komondor breeders.
