Where did you get your dogs?

Is there a papillon rescue near you? They might not have a full bred puppy, but sometimes they have oops litters that are mix breeds. 

I bought my dogs from responsible breeders. I located them via national breed clubs who referred me to local breed clubs who referred me to breeders who had what I was looking for.
 
When it comes to price, I believe anyone can afford whatever they want... it's a matter of saving your money. I paid some big time money for my last dog. Way more than planned but the breeder lived on the East coast where prices are higher but she had exactly what I wanted. I just saved my money until I could afford her purchase price and it was money well spent. []
 
Another thing to keep in mind that a "bargain" dog may not be so much of a bargain if it has health issues such as LP. LP can be a very costly surgery and there's no guarantee that it will be correctable. If you decide to go the breeder route, please be sure they are breeding responsibly. Yes, they do charge more money but that's because they put more into their breeding program than someone who just puts 2 dogs together because they happen to be the same breed and live in their vicinity.

Both Rose and Colton came from my mentor.  My first semester in his Animal Science class, I took a training class and used his dog Ruby(Rose's mom).  The next class I took of his I had to do a "puppy project" which was either training/showing, helping with a litter, or I could do a research paper.  I asked if I could do something with Ruby and there wasn't the opportunity with her, but Rose needed to be trained and shown.  So, I took it!  I trained her and took her to her first shows.  At the Wichita show, she was supposed to go home with another co-owner, but she was a crazy woman and hated Rose because she toes in a tiny bit.  So, she took some puppies with her and I brought Rose back to my mentor's that weekend.  I volunteered to keep showing her, and he ended up giving her to me.  I still co-own her with him, but that doesn't mean too much other than he gets the puppies, well, I co-own them as well.  He doesn't make me breed her if I don't want to.  All of the decisions are mine to make.  Colton belongs to him still, but again, hes pretty much mine.  We're really close friends, so I don't mind him still having ownership.  I know he won't pull anything funny!

Nope. I'm in WA, and the nearest is in CA. The best I can do is save my money, but when I have no allowance and my older brother always gets asked first, it's hard. But there's no point in complaining. Sometimes I'm just at a loss of what to do. [&:]

well here is my list
Dutch (lab male)-breeder
Bubba (lab male)-breeder
Maggie(foxterrier female)-humane society owner who bred her dogs(ironic?)
Zoe(spaniel/lab female)-old lady who had to get rid of her
Sain(German Shepherd male)-family who couldn't keep him
Twinkie(chihuahua female)-breeder
Molly(beagle female)-she came to my grandpas farm and never left! lol
Thunder(unknown male)-his owner died and he came to my g-pas house and also never left
Pickpocket(beagleXgermanshepherd female)-same as Molly

 

Only a few dogs were in Washington that fit my preference. My animal rescue rarely has small dog, and, much as I hate to admit, I'd like a puppy. I just think there's something about bonding with it, being able to train it makes it more worthwhile. I did run across a poochie - poodle chihuahua - a few weeks ago for $300. That would have been a good buy, but I guess I'm still a papillon person at heart. [] Unless I can find an under $6 - 700 dollar papillon, I'm out of luck, though!

 
 
I have a poodle/chihuahua mix (not giving the mix a cute name, though my dog is very cute[]) that I acquired for free through work. Her owner could no longer afford care for a stomach issue that ended up being cured by taking her off of people and canned food. She was going to take her to the shelter, and the vet requested she surrender her to our clinic instead. She's in perfect health now.  I saw her and was smitten.

My boys are both from breeders.

I'm very happy with all of my dogs, no matter where their origins[]

  My pups all came from local, or in the case of the most recent little guy, not so local breeders.  You can never do too much planning ahead or research when considering a dog.  We went to dog shows the last couple of years, talked to plenty of breeders, as well as doing online research before deciding on a breeder.
 
  My first dog was a yorkie, I spent the rent money on him after talking & hanging out with a local breeder, long before the internet.  I had an uncle who always had a yorkie, so I knew a bit about them.  I had to do a week of serious budget wiggling, and tolerate a month of scrounging afterwards, but it was totally worth it.
 
 

We always adopt from a local shelter. We recently adopted Callie from a shelter. She was 9 weeks old when we adopted her. The shelter we go to always has ALOT of young puppies there..many purebreds too. Our girl was one of 5 in a litter and we got to meet 2 of her mates and her mom..so that was really cool! I was tempted to adopt the mom rather than a pup, but she was spoken for. Glad someone is giving her a good home.
Janet

We adopted Rosie 9 years ago from the local SPCA. I found Trooper on Petfinder, and adopted him from the rescue that had advertised him.

I got Chopper from a breeder through a German Shepherd rescue.  Once I chose to get a German Shepherd, I began looking into shelters, rescues, and breeders.  I did not find a breeder close enough to be that met my standards as far as ethics.  Also, I really did not want an 8 week old puppy.  I volunteer at a local shelter, but we weren't getting any GSDs in and the ones I really like had already been adopted, so I applied with the Michigan German Shepherd Rescue and they matched me with a dog.  They match over 300 dogs a year and many of them are purebreds, some like Chopper are even titled in conformation and sports already.  It's amazing the quality of dogs owners will just decide they don't want anymore.

I adopted Emma (18 pounds as an adult) at the local Humane Society when she was 9 weeks old. They said they had no idea what mix she was or how big she'd get. Turns out, conformation and attitude wise, she's a JRT. Her coat's off, but that's what you get when you breed willy-nilly.

I got Teenie from a very strange situation that probably involved some illegal activity. She was dropped off at the place I was working at the time. I paid nothing for her, but I've spent thousands on her medical bills, since then.

Dogs are expensive to keep well. Puppies, in particular, cost a LOT in vet bills, food, and supplies. If you can't afford the purchase price for a well-bred dog, how will you pay the bills on a poorly bred dog?

For both my boys I contacted the breeders and rescues in my area and let them know that I was looking for a young dog that had failed it's hunting test.  I know this sounds strange but I love hunting dogs and, well, don't hunt.  So I thought that if a breeder or rescue had a dog that a hunter returned or refused then that dog would be perfect for me.
We ended up getting Monroe because the breeder had an emergency and the puppies had to be placed too early - 6 weeks.  Talk about socialization.
Morrison came to us because a rescue told me about this litter that they had seen advertised and had concerns about.  We investigated and checked it out and gave the pointer that wouldn't point a home.
For me it was all about establishing that relationship with the reputable breeders and rescues in the area.

If you can't afford the purchase price for a well-bred dog, how will you pay the bills on a poorly bred dog?

 
This is a fair question, really it is, but does that mean that everyone who gets a dog should have thousands of dollars saved for "what if" vet bills? I'm considering the possibility of thinking about maybe getting a second dog [], but I'm looking at cheapy shelters and passing over the ones whose adoption fee is hundreds of dollars because I need the money I have for supplies, training, vetting, etc. Since I don't have $400 for an adoption fee on top of everything else, does that mean I shouldn't get another dog? I'm actually wondering, not being hostile.

For both my dogs I was looking for a mixed breed puppy to rescue and both times had the same problem - there are NO homeless mutts in Massachusetts.  Nada.  Every shelter I went to shook their heads and said 'sorry'.  Eventually we found an animal shelter that imports them from problem areas (both Cairo and Nikki are from West Virginia, but the more well-known program is the [linkhttp://www.saveasato.org/]Save-a-Sato[/link] program where puppies are rescued from the streets in Puerto Rico and brought to New England to find homes).  I love this animal shelter and would adopt a rescue pup from them again for sure.

We got ours at a rescue shelter