Oh boy, this is a big topic!
First: please consider an older dog from a breeder, or a rescue cavalier -- either of these options can allow someone who truly wants a cavalier, and is truly operating on a budget but committed to the dogs' welfare, to acquire a worthy cavalier at a lower cost than a puppy from a good breeder. But see the caveats that follow below regarding price.
Cavaliers cost far less in the UK and Ireland as well; there have been many discussions (and arguments) on lists and boards as to why this is so. Even breeders will disagree strongly on this one!
It is partly to do with costs amd geographies and of course, supply and demand... cavaliers are one of the most common breeds in the UK and Ireland and readily available. They are still much harder to find in the US and hence the market supports higher prices. They also have small litters, sometimes only one or two puppies, which can make them more costly.
BUT -- and this is the crux of a broader issue connected to the issue of cost -- if a breeder is NOT
- * cardiac testing every year
* testing hips, eyes, patellas
* perhaps also doing any sort of exam or an MRI for syringomyelia
* not using studs that are equally health-tested and therefore known to be of good quality (and therefore having little by way of stud fee)
And if the breeder does NOT
- * have breeding stock of real quality (and initial cost) that enable them to be registered with REAL national registries, not the fake ones that are meaningless; and likewise register all their puppies with same (In US, that means ONLY AKC or CKCSC)
* dedicate any personal time to understanding genetics, pedigrees and breed history
* understand or worse, care about all the implications of not breeding for health
* participate in clubs activites most importantly, showing to make sure s/he understands conformation, health and other breed quality issues
* give any time to raising the litter nefore homing, in a health and temperament-focused way
* have a commitment as ANY good breeder should to take back, without questions, any dog bred by them for any reason at any point in its life
Then you can see how easy it is to sell puppies for almost no cost at all.
Health testing over time induces costs, as does proper whelping care and vet care for the pups and mother. And commitment to the breed as a whole, over time, so that you are producing the best quality dogs (NOT show dogs but QUALITY dogs -- people mistake getting a puppy from a quality show breeder as meaning they want a show quality dog. Few puppies bred by a good breeder EVER are show or more especially, breeding quality -- but all will be from quality breeding programmes where health and temperament is as important as conformation (looks). And that is why going to a reputable breeder is so important).
If you don't put any time into your own dogs and your litters, then you have few direct or indirect costs to recoup, and have little interest in recovering the add-on value (to use a blunt marketing term) that your time, diligence and commitment is worth.
Your interest will be in breeding as cheaply as possible, and making money as easily as possible. A few hundred whatevers here or there don't matter much when another litter is on its way.
Consider overall costs during the lifetime of a dog. I have seen again and again, and hear regularly from, people who buy puppies from breeders who sell a little more cheaply, often dogs 'bred by the sister of this person in Ireland/England' or a person who doesn;t show but has so-called 'quality imports' or who argues their slightly cheaper dogs are registered with the fake registries 'because the AKC/CKCSC is really just a stuffy club'. They end up with puppies that can literally cost thousands in vet costs due to their sickliness as puppies, or they die at age 6 from congestive heart failure because the breeder didn;t bother with heart health, or they couldn;t get money refunded from supposed 'breeder' when their puppy tragically died, or their 'breeder' won't respond to any calls or emails when they start to have problems, usually health problems, with the puppy.
At that time the same refrain comes up -- "I wish I'd gone to a reputable breeder and paid a little more."
Consider too that the difference of a few hundred dollars/pounds/euro counts for a tiny amount of what your dog is likely to cost in food, vet, boarding and health vosts per year for the next decade-plus. The OVERALL cost of keeping a dog, especially a purebred that does have some known serious and costly health issues as real possibilities during its lifetime, needs to be kept in mind when opting for a purebred. If the upfron t cost seems daunting, what will people do when facing a vet bill for $1200? A $2000 MRI scan? A patella surgery for $800? Kennelling costs of $500-1000 for two weeks?
Looking for a good breeder and getting value for your money takes time and effort and research -- as there are too many willing to relieve you of your money for dogs from trash breeding programmes that damage the breed and its health in the medium to long term, whatever the case with an individual puppy.
How to find a good breeder:
http://www.cavaliertalk.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=30
http://www.cavaliertalk.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=2757
Sadly many people put more time (and value paying for quality more) when buying a TV or dishwasher than they do with buying a living creature that will live in a house with a family for a decade or more, with luck.