Hollo - our city council lists the number and breed of dog attacks in their reports, and you see pretty much every breed of dog in there.

To answer your original question - the price is a bit steep for us. We were originally looking at a labradoodle, $2,500 for a chocolate, plus quite a waiting list. We decided to go with labrador instead. For us, we wanted the labradoodle as DH is allergic to dogs. Mind you, she sleeps with her head on his pillow each night!!!! We've spent close on $1,500 on various obedience / agility / scent training so all up, the cost would be around $2,500 but that's as opposed to total cost of $4,000. If you want it, and it seems to me you do want this dog, you've thought it through, then go for it.

I would strongly suggest you ensure you view the hip / eye scores of the parents / grandparents / known siblings and get your pet insurance *and* hip / eye scores on your new arrival - that will give you a good idea of what you'll be in for cost-wise in future years.