Looking around I was astonished and angry to see that people are advertising non proven dogs with a stud fee of £300 - £400. I think the stud fee should be a lot less for non proven non CH dogs.

How can people think that they can demand such a price for a first time stud ?? They obviously have not been advised very well !! 

For example - CH Harkline Robbie the Bruce has got 11 CC's and 21 RCC's and obviously proven many times and his stud fee is £300 - but he is a fantastic example of the breed.

Any ideas???

For a non proven dog it should be no stud fee because the dog not proven

most people charge between £200 & £400 for stud dogs  on average these days wether they proven or not i know when we first studed our dog  loki out,we didnt charge anything for first 2 mtings we just wanted him proven after that we charged the lower of the above rate with the guarentee if not successfull they could have a repeat mating in 6 months free of charge if they so wanted, at end of the day though no one forces those people to pay the asking stud fee there are plenty of people who will charge alot less or give a free mating if you shop around it all depends what you are looking for e.g pedigree & certain lines that you prefer

i was looking for a stud for my girl to be bred now but with the financial problems the country is facing i have decided against it,well i found 3 different dogs all un proven,1 wanted £100,the 2nd was free but the 3rd wanted pick of the litter so i explained that the pups would be sold for around the £500 mark she said" yes we will have pick of your litter" i said "they could have one if they paid £350 so was offering £150 for the stud fee,she was shocked and i explained that i only paid £250 for a proven male from crossguns pedigree,some people have no idea cus i spoke to some real numptys who did not even know which dogs were in their males pedigree.i think unproven should maybe get £50 just for their time and trouble. 

Its fantastic to know that there are still some intelligent people like yourselves out there and the world has not gone completely mad in todays credit crunch, and that I am not part of the clinically insane   LOL

First mating with an unproved dog shuld be free, not only do you not know if he is fertile, you do not know what quality of pup he will produce.

  Unfortunately some people think that their dogs are spectacular and warrant £300 - £400 ...... and then again some people are badly advised !!!

Hammy, I completely agree with what you said  - it be nice if people who are going into breeding could sing off the same hymn sheet that way there wouldn't be so many dogs being put into rescue shelters and dogs homes