You already know this is the time to shop for big bargains on stereos, coats, gift wrap and just about anything else in the material world. But there's less awareness about cheaper pedigree puppies.

Some pet stores and private breeders are selling a wide variety of wriggly little purebreds at discounts of up to 25 percent.

"I'm pretty negotiable," said Summer Sowers, manager of Nature's Emporium in Roanoke County. "We want to move our inventory, especially the puppies that have been here for a while."

The rule of supply and demand makes the time around New Year's a buyer's market for dogs of desirable descent. Fall is traditionally a favorite season for breeders to welcome litters, and the pups sell fast in the days leading up to Santa's arrival.

Indeed, such sales pitches as, "Ready for Christmas" and "Will hold for Christmas" are common in newspaper classified ads and on the Internet.

But by New Year's, the annual bow-wow buying blitz has passed. And the leftover puppies aren't getting any younger.

The most popular age for puppy purchases is typically 8 weeks, soon after puppies are weaned, said Lisa Peterson, a spokeswoman for the American Kennel Club in New York. "You generally can expect price reductions starting at about 12 weeks old."

She added, "Pet stores usually don't want the puppies around after Christmas for very long."

A Chesapeake Bay retriever, having reached the ripe old age of 3 months, has been marked down 20 percent to $1,199 at the Petland store in Southwest Roanoke County.

"She's really beautiful. It's just time to get her out of the cage and into a nice home," said Sue Morgan, a sales staffer who holds the title "pet counselor."

The retriever, still waiting to be named by her first owner, might be purchased for even less than the advertised price, said Morgan, who added that the store "may negotiate."

All of the roughly 50 puppies at Petland are currently reduced in price by at least $200. And the tabs on other pooches that have been in stock for several months could also be soft because, Morgan reasoned, they get harder to sell with age.

Now, the time is right for Petland to obtain younger puppies at attractive wholesale prices because breeders and middlemen are also stuck with unsold supplies of cuteness that are maturing all too quickly.

Breeders say the urgency to sell puppies grows as their appetites do. "The bigger they are, the more food you have to buy. They get more expensive week by week," said Anthony Gunnell, co-owner of Sugar Tree Kennels in Axton, where he raises boxers, mastiffs and Rottweilers.

Plus, the bigger Gunnell's bevy of large breeds becomes, the more work they are to bathe and clean up after. When Gunnell has to discount, he said, his maximum is 25 percent.

The American Kennel Club's Peterson, who raises Norwegian elkhounds at her home in Connecticut, worries that puppy purchasers who angle for reduced prices might be financially unfit owners.

"I'd be concerned if someone wants to negotiate on the price that they don't have the resources to own a dog," she said, reasoning that the expense of a puppy in its first year typically totals $800 to $1,200, including food and medical costs.

Winter discounts don't generally apply to other animals, pet retailers say, but there's an occasional value.

For example, Debbie Morgensen in Rockbridge County is offering miniature donkeys for $400 apiece. Her classified ad, still appearing in The Roanoke Times on Dec. 26, says that the animals "make great Christmas pets."

Now that yule is nearly a year away, Morgensen said, she's willing to part with the 34-inch-tall critters for 25 percent off, or $300. No need to rush, though. The donkeys aren't in short supply. Morgensen said, "I have six babies."

Some puppy breeders say a lingering holiday spirit of generosity can make them susceptible to a customer's tale of woe.

Sandy Ousley of Roanoke's Garden City neighborhood said she just sold two Chihuahua puppies at discounts of 14 percent -- for $300 each -- to an elderly man who said his 12-year-old dog of the same breed is near death.

"He said he already had the hole dug," she said, sympathetically.

At Nature's Emporium, Sowers said the character of the potential buyer can lead her to discount a puppy.

"If it's for the good of the animal, I'll sit down to negotiate."