A Complete Price Guide for the Wheaten Terrier

Wheaten Terrier

The Soft-Coated Wheaten Terrier is an Irish terrier. As a result, it should come as no surprise to learn that it was used for hunting vermin. However, it is important to note that the Wheaten Terrier saw other uses such as herding livestock and protecting livestock as well, which makes sense because it was an all-purpose farm dog. By this point, interested individuals might be able to guess that it wasn’t exactly a dog of the upper class. Instead, the Wheaten Terrier was very much a dog of the common people, so much so that it was sometimes called the Poor Man’s Wolfhound. Presumably, that played a role in why it wasn’t recognized by the Irish Kennel Club until 1937 even though it was one of the oldest Irish terriers.

History

Personality-wise, the Wheaten Terrier tends to be very likable. For instance, they are known for their friendliness, which has been known to make them jump up in order to lick someone’s face. This friendliness can extend beyond their human family members. Apparently, Wheaten Terriers are even capable of getting along with cats so long as they have been socialized with them. Otherwise, well, terriers are terriers, meaning that they possess a very strong set of hunting instincts .

It is rare for Wheaten Terriers to become aggressive outside of these circumstances, which is why they are sometimes said to make good watch dogs but not so good guard dogs. Besides these things, these dogs are one of the livelier dog breeds that can be found out there, thus making them best for people who are capable of providing them with the regular exercise that they need. Combined, Wheaten Terriers aren’t well-suited for everyone out there. Even so, it isn’t hard to see why someone might want one of these dogs.

What Price Can You Expect to Pay For a Wheaten Terrier?

Purebred dogs aren’t cheap. There might have been a time when Wheaten Terriers were considered to be dogs of the common people. However, they are very much considered to be purebred dogs in the present time, meaning that they are by no means an exception to this rule. If anything, they seem to cost quite a bit even by the standards of other purebred dogs, seeing as how there is one source that claims that the average Wheaten Terrier costs $1,500 to $2,500. Of course, it is possible for interested individuals to find these dogs for both much higher prices and much lower prices as well.

Based on this, it should come as no surprise to learn that there are a lot of factors that can influence the price of a dog. Still, some of these factors are more important than others. To name an example, the cost of a dog tends to have a very noticeable effect on the price of a dog. This is because most dog breeders are also business owners, meaning that they need to make enough revenues to cover their expenses if they want to remain as business owners.

Certainly, it is possible for business owners to make a profit while selling either a product or a service at a loss. However, such practices are very much meant to lure in interested individuals so that they will be tempted to spend on other products and services that are profitable, thus more than making up for that initial loss. Apparently, the profit margins for the pet supply business are quite good. Even so, it is hard to imagine a dog breeder going all-in on this approach, particularly since trying to make a profit via the pet supply business would force them to compete in not one but two markets. Both of which can be very competitive.

Having said this, most dog breeders have a very understandable desire to make their operations more profitable. This can put them on a number of different paths, which can have a number of different consequences. For example, some dog breeders might choose to breed better dogs as well as build a better reputation, thus enabling them to sell their dogs for a higher price than otherwise possible. Indeed, it should be mentioned that particularly in-demand examples of Wheaten Terriers can sell for $3,000 to $5,500, which says much about just how much of a difference that these things can make. Unfortunately, not every dog breeder will choose to take this approach. After all, it is complicated, laborious, and time-consuming.

Meanwhile, other dog breeders might choose to either breed more dogs or cut the costs for their dogs. Often-times, this turn out to be very similar in the end. Yes, more dogs mean more sales, which in turn, mean more revenues. The issue is that breeding more dogs is much easier said than done. For starters, those additional dogs cost money, so more revenues aren’t guaranteed to be the same thing as more profits. Furthermore, having back-to-back litters of puppies is about as good for mother dogs as what one would expect, which is to say, not at all. Certainly, it is possible for dog breeders to start producing more dogs by scaling up the size of their operations.

However, that costs a lot of money, meaning that it is much easier for them to do so by cutting costs. This is fine to an extent. There is nothing wrong with a dog that sells for a lower price because said dog has had fewer resources spent upon them. Alas, there is a limit to how far that extents, meaning that too much cost-cutting has a very real as well as very detrimental effect on the dogs that come out of such dog breeding operations.

Wheaten Terriers aren’t the most problem-prone dogs that can be found out there. However, too much cost-cutting can definitely increase the chances of physical issues as well as behavioral issues showing up. There are a number of heritable diseases such as protein-wasting conditions that Wheaten Terriers are already likelier to show than most other dog breeds.

Good breeding practices can lower the chances of these showing up, thus improving the chances that a dog will be happy and healthy in the long run. Conversely, it is very much possible for bad breeding practices to have the exact opposite effect, which can have very negative consequences on dog owners because of both the emotional toll and the financial toll. As for the results of poor treatment, well, poor treatment is very much capable of bringing out unwanted characteristics of various sorts.

These problems can be just as damaging as those of their counterparts that are inherited. Under these circumstances, people should be very careful when they encounter deals for Wheaten Terriers that seem too good to be true because there is a very real possibility that it is. This is one of the main reasons that interested individuals should always check out the operations of a dog breeder in person to see what they are like. A habit that makes it much less likely for them to buy from puppy mills.

In any case, there are various factors that can influence the price of individual Wheaten Terriers as well. Availability is a big one. Generally speaking, people buy from dog breeders that are situated either close to them or at least closer to them. As such, if they don’t have a lot of options to choose from, they are going to be stuck with a much more limited selection of choices. Wheaten Terriers aren’t like Golden Retrievers, which are so popular that they can be found in significant numbers pretty much everywhere.

Thanks to that, this is a real concern for people who want a Wheaten Terrier. Besides this, interested individuals might want to look for Wheaten Terriers with characteristics that make them less popular with buyers but don’t actually have a detrimental effect on their ability to be happy and healthy. An older age is a classic example because most people want puppies rather than older dogs. However, it is also worth mentioning that Wheaten Terriers can come with either a so-called Irish coat or a so-called American coat. The silkier Irish coat is popular in Ireland and the rest of Europe, not least because it is considered to be the original coat. For comparison, the American coat is more common in the United States and Canada, though the Irish coat can be found in those countries as well.

Other than buying a Wheaten Terrier, there is the option of adopting a Wheaten Terrier. This tends to be the cheaper option by far because even the most expensive adoption tends to top out at a few hundred dollars, which tends to be much less than the price of buying a Wheaten Terrier. Of course, this approach has its potential complications as well. For example, there is no guarantee that interested individuals will be able to find a Wheaten Terrier within a short time frame.

They aren’t the rarest dog breed out there, but they aren’t exactly the most common dog breed either. Moreover, this limited number of options means that interested individuals might not be able to pick and choose, which can be a huge issue for those who aren’t willing to just settle for any Wheaten Terrier. Another issue would be the fact that dogs sometimes get sent to animal shelters and similar organizations because they have a serious issue of some kind. If they are being adopted out, it seems safe to say that any such issue won’t be insurmountable. Still, that means that interested individuals will need to put more effort into managing things. Luckily, animal shelters and similar organizations tend to be very upfront about such things, so there should be plenty of time in which to prepare properly.

What Other Costs Can You Expect From Owning a Wheaten Terrier?

Wheaten Terriers will come with other costs as well. Most of the time, the first year should be the most expensive year because of the one-time costs that will need to be paid. It is very easy for these costs to hit a few hundred dollars, with $300 to $600 being one estimated range. Examples of these one-time costs range from dog toys and dog accessories to certain procedures such as spaying and neutering. It is possible that some of these costs will need to be repeated at some point in the future. However, that will be a irregular thing rather than a regular thing.

Moving on, once the initial costs have been covered, monthly costs for a Wheaten Terrier fall to an estimated range of $80 to $300. Wheaten Terriers aren’t particularly large dogs. As a result, their food as well as some of their other monthly costs tend to be both relatively reasonable and relatively predictable. Unfortunately, some of the other monthly costs are less so in both regards.

For instance, dog owners can determine the scheduling of preventative healthcare. However, while that reduces the chances of unexpected medical problems from showing up, that can’t eliminate the potential for unexpected medical problems to show up altogether. The cost of medical treatment is always expensive, which is actually a very convincing reason that people should make sure that they are prepared by buying their Wheaten Terrier pet insurance. Different dogs will be charged different premiums for their pet insurance, but it is common for the monthly costs to range from $10 to $50. Wheaten Terriers are neither particularly good nor particularly bad in this regard.

Moreover, the specifics of the individual dog can matter a lot as well. Other than these, there are various things that can affect the cost of dog ownership one way or the other. For example, some people might not be able to give their Wheaten Terrier the regular exercise that said dog needs but instead chooses to fulfill that need by hiring a dog walker. That is something that can add up very fast, particularly if they do so frequently and regularly. Meanwhile, interested individuals might want to spend some time shopping around for everything that they need for their Wheaten Terrier because there are definitely good deals to be had by going to the right retailers at the right times.

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