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The demand for pets is on the rise as more people are staying at home to work and no longer going on overseas trips.
Wait times for retriever puppies bred by a regulated Dogs New Zealand member were about one to two years, she said, due to bitches only coming into season every six months “and a bitch is not mated every season that they have”.
She said backyard breeders were charging “as much as they want”, as high as $6500, to hand over a puppy within months rather than years.
A new working-from-home society had seen more people realise, if they wanted a puppy, there was no time like the present, Jackson said.