jbbrown211 said:
We are looking for a boxer pup as a family pet (not to show, breed, or stud). I've heard that pups from a litter that are less than show quality are often sold to someone looking for a "family pet" at a reasonable price. We are looking for a non-flashy fawn and were wondering how often this coloring is looked at as "less than show or champion quality"
Non-flashy (or "plain") dogs are becoming increasingly more valuable to breeders since they tend not to produce white puppies. However, for several decades, people would automatically dismiss them as pets and sell them at the pet rate. Many still do (and of course they should if the puppy is plain but otherwise lacking). Anyway, what you want to request is a plain fawn pet puppy.
I don't personally think much of people who ask exhorbitant prices for "show quality" pups at 8 weeks old. It's one thing to pay extra for a pup who's a few months old and showing real promise, another to pay twice as much for one 8 week old pup as another based on somebody's assurance that it's going to be champion material. And you certainly want to avoid people who say all their pups are show quality -- they wish!
The thing to do is to go to shows and talk to everybody you can, ask who's planning breedings and get on waiting lists. And rethink waiting for a fawn -- it may make your wait much, much longer. It seems like when you have a litter of fawn males, everybody wants brindle bitches, and vice versa. People who are less insistant on a specific look move right up to the top of the list. And you will definitely love a brindle or flashy fawn just as much.
Plain fawn is my favorite -- I still haven't had one!
