My wife’s dog isint doing so hot, we think he has cancer and maybe under a year left. Perhaps a new addition to the family might ease the blow of losing another.
For those of you who have bought pets in Japan how much did you spend? Do shots come with a purchase of a dog? Where do you recommend purchasing? Did you have a good experience at such store? Are adoption agencies common in Japan?
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Prices for pet shop, puppy mills run from tens of thousands to millions depending on what you’re looking for – [Kojima](https://pets-kojima.com/dog_list/?topics_group_id=2&search_type=ca&search_type=ca&category=&breed=&mix_father=&mix_mother=&allow_parent_change=0&size=&group=&color=&gender=&shop_type=all&shop%5B%5D=&select_shop%5B%5D=&freeword=&price_bottom=&price_upper=&order_type=1), [DCM pets](https://www.dcm-hc.co.jp/kahma/petshop/?post_type=post_newfaces&pet_type=dog&brand=&sex=&shop=&sort_price=none&s=), [Ps First](https://www.pfirst.jp/search/dogs/)
> My country only adoption is an option
Why not adopt here?
Get a rescue dog, you’ll feel better and you won’t be supporting the puppy mills.
Rescues are common. But it’s kind of like an application process. Usually they just want to make sure that financially you can take care of the dog and there’s enough space and you have a plan for taking it out on regular walks. Yes, usually they have all their shots. It’s also quite common that they will require you to go to an obedience class or something like an obedience class where you learn how to take care of a dog. But you may be exempt because you’ve had a dog before.
Price varies wildly. Often they just ask for a suggested donation amount, not an actual price. When I was looking it seemed like 50,000 yen was fairly common for a rescue.
Good luck!
You can find breeders online if you want a specific breed.
You can usually visit and access the situation before spending money. The cost usually depends on the breed of dog and how serious the breeder is about what they do, but certainly more than 20万 and easily quite a bit more.
I got mine for free. We found someone whose dogs had puppies and they were giving them away. Adoption is also become easier and more popular than it used to be. I won’t tell you what to do, but supporting the pet industry here is, to my mind, ethically suspect, especially considering that something like 300,000 unwanted cats and dogs are killed each year.
Edit: A little googling shows that the number of euthanized shelter animals has significantly decreased in the last 10 years, which is a good thing. It’s now closer to 100,000, but that’s still quite a lot.
We adopted two cats from [Animal Refuge Kansai](https://arkbark.net/en/). They have a location in Tokyo as well. They have both cats and dogs, sometimes a rabbit or two. Would recommend.
Adopted cat here….absolute winner.
Seems adoption is more stringent than buying. Stringent is good for both sides and in our (and many cases) you have 2 weeks trial period at home in case it wasn’t the right decision/poor match.
Go to Hogokencafe its a chain for rescue dogs. We got a pug there for 30.000 yen.
Just dont expect a puppy.
Get a rescue…..there are a number of societies out there and even googling in English you should be able to find. Our dog is a rescue.. and she is great.
https://preview.redd.it/z5rf9g9dtkpb1.jpeg?width=4080&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=bf93cd324b8953a669e9247269e8ffb2689bf081
ペットのうち is great. I got my French bulldog there for about 6man with everything medical except rabies shot already done.
They’re all rehome/rescue dogs. Pure breeds are on there pretty often if that’s what you want.
Some of the sellers have wildly unrealistic expectations though. I drove multiple hours to see a cane corso that had been abused and really loved the dog. I was ready to take it home then. But the lady who had her basically wanted someone with no job, who never left the house. Like a stay at home housewife. I have a big yard by Japanese standards, pretty big house, I’m home quite a bit, but it wasn’t enough. So prepare for that kind of disappointment before finding a dog.
保護犬カフェs are selling the dogs. They’re actually more like rescue shelters showing dogs than cafes. A lot of those dogs are pretty rough. Like, 11 year old one eyed dogs with their tongues hanging out. I’m not sure how all those old dogs end up there but it’s kind of sad. A lot of dogs from these cafes are about 2-4man.
Adoption is possible. As for cost, in Tokyo raising a dog will cost less than raising a child (for the same amount of time), but not all that much less.
Please don’t try surprising your wife, though: dogs are not like socks, so for some people you don’t just replace one. Our dog died about 6 years ago, but no one in our family can face getting another dog just yet because it would feel like a kind of betrayal.
We have a cat and got him through a person that rescues cats. You basically donate 20,000 yen for support. They let you have the cat for a week as a trial. The trial is as much for you as for the cat, I think. That was about it.
If you are talking pet stores, totally different story. My friend got a Russian Blue for I think 150,000 or 200,000? Then there was a whole package thing with food and innoculations and whatever. It was quite a thing.
People who have pets but can no longer keep them sometimes post them on ジモティー too, if you can navigate it in Japanese
i was in hiroo and azabu and dogs and cats were doing for ¥500,000-600,000. walked right out
I’m up in Hokkaido. We’ve rescued several dogs that have been dumped, and our latest four dogs, I think my husband saw an ad in the newspaper. (To clarify: got two puppies, they lived a long life, one died and we got two more puppies.) Ask around. Someone may have accidental puppies they need to find a good home for.
I want a rescue dog…. But I want a border collie.
We rescued a dog, or rehomed her after her owner got too old to take proper care of her.
Getting her up to date with veterinary stuff cost a little but was reasonable.
We started keeping goats during the pandemic, as well, but that doesn’t seem like what you’re looking for.
My cat was around 20,000 as a rescue.
The 20,000 was basically for the microchip and vaccination papers.
Also DO NOT buy from a pet shop. Even one that is in a home center.
DO NOT buy from a pet store.
I got a puppy from ジモティ for free. Don’t support pet shop business.
You can search 里親募集 and name of your city and probably find someone looking for pet owner.
I hope your wife is japanese because getting a rescue as a foreigner was fucking ridiculous
I just want to suggest that getting a new pet before a pet’s death, or immediately afterwards isn’t necessarily always the best route. It’s important to grieve the loss and move on, not to pretend it didn’t happen. Especially doing it before, so now the new pet has lost a friend, too.
Just saying, give it some more thought before jumping in to soften the blow.
Just cause no one said it outright yet, the reason you shouldn’t buy a dog from a pet shop is because 70% of those dogs don’t get homes and are immediately killed when they get too old. Don’t support this practice if you can at all help it. I linked pet-home.jp on another comment so I hope you found your way to the site!
Please adopt a pet from [arkbark.net](https://arkbark.net)