| Depends on what your looking for. If its a dog just for hunting
and companionship, or if your looking to enter into championship
compitition. My springer cost me $175.00 I'll get all the birds and
more love from her than my $175.00 worth. Personally I wouldn't
buy a pre-trained dog, because training a dog is my enjoyment.
You could pay as low as nothing for a gun dog all the way up to
infinity I guess, and who knows how good the dog would serve you.
The free dog might walk all over the $3,000 dog. My brother got
his first springer for free becasue it was sick and the owner
didn't want it. My brother nursed it back to health, and it was
the best hunting dog I ever seen. She produced more birds than
any dog I ever knew of. Her loyalty to my brother was such, that
she would jump through plate glass if he told her to. She had the
worst looks for a springer though, and most hunters looking at her
didn't think much of her until they seen her work.
Jim
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There is a wide spectrum of dogs and dog prices. There are many
advantages of buying a started dog over a pup providing the seller
is willing to teach you how to handle the dog. Let me try to explain
what these advantages are. First consider that you are looking for
a dog that you want to enjoy hunting over, a dog that is stylish
and is a joy just to watch, a dog that has no faults or health
limitations, a dog that produces birds for the gun with efficiency,
a dog that is well mannered and well trained. Price is only what
you're wiling to pay !
Now let's consider the fact that you decided to buy that $175.00
dog. You spend umteen hours working with the dog and then one
year down the road you find that the dog is severely displastic,
or has some other limitation that puts you back to ground zero.
Now you've waisted a year of your time and your $175.00. Now lets
consider that the dog's health is fine. You take your dog out to
an area where there's birds everywhere and your dog needs radar
assistance to find birds becouse his nose is better suited for
smelling food in the kitchen, or maybe the dog produces birds and
can't mark a bird to save his life and you end up retrieving whatever
birds you can find. The point I'm making is that not every dog
will turn out to be a good hunter. If someone is selling a started
or a finished dog you can watch the dog work and decide right there
and then if it's the dog that will fit your expectations. The biggest
advantage of buying a started or finished dog is that there is
virtually no risk.
Is there cost associated with purchasing, raising, or breeding,
care and training and promotion of a dog ? You bet there is !!!!
Let's say that you buy a pup for $300.00. The next step you do is
get all the pups shots and that the cost for all shots come to about
$100.00. Let's say that you had the pup shipped to you and that
cost is another $50.00 to $100.00. Now let's say that your feeding
that pup a top grade dog food that cost about $30.00 a bag. After
the first year, before training costs are even considered. That
pup has now cost you about $800.00. Now do you go away and board
your dog ? What is that cost ? Are you going to have your dog
professionally trained ? Do you want the dog just started are do
you want a finished dog ? Today's training rates will go from
$300.00/mo to $450.00/mo. Let's say you only want to start the
dog and you send the dog to a trainer for only 3 months. There's
another $900.00. Oh, I forgot about training birds, say another
$50.00/mo. for 3 months , that's another $150.00. So for a dog
that's say a little over a year old and started, your cost is
close to $2000.00. Maybe you're very knowledgable about dogs and
dog training and you take on the job yourself. Do you have an area
to train, do you have a area to keep birds, do you have the time
everyday to spend with the dog ?????? How much is your time worth?
Now what about training supplies and paraphanalia (sp?), have you
invested in training equipment ? You don't get something for nothing
whichever direction you choose ! Do we need to go on to consider
what the costs are for a finished 3 year old dog ? What about the
cost of a field trial dog and the cost associated with promoting
the dog ? Can be very $$$$$$$$$$$$$$ !
pat.
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