EAST TEXAS HOG DOGGERS FORUM

im just wondering why dogs are priced so high. 1000 to 1500 hundred for a strike dog is understandable  but 2000 to 3000 is outrageous if you ask me.  help dogs go for 500 to 600 bucks and thats high. i would take 300 for mine and he will stop a runner  he a jam up dog on a hog but i cant see askin 500 for him. i dont make alot of money so i cant afford to pay alot for a dog. why ask that much if you train and sell hunting dogs regularly.  i hear alot of people say that they cant afford high dollar dogs so why sell them that high.  this is just my opinion and im just wonderin

Dogs are worth what someone will pay for them. No different than horses, classic cars, or baseball cards.

And lots of people are of the mindset that if it costs a lot, it must be really good.

Probably been just as many high-price deals gone sour, as the $100 specials.

ill give you $ 300 for a jam up dog.

But when you buy four cheap dogs and only one hunts how much did you spend for one good dog? I think people pay more fore a dog that looks good and hunts good. I will take the ugliest dog if he hunts really good. But am a get'r done guy. Why do people pay thousands of dollars for a gun when I can out shoot them with my old beat up gun with the water stained, barbed wire scratched stock. To me a dog's worth is the same as his hunt. But some people like to brag they have the most expensive dog. If one of you reads this; I have a $10,000 dog for sale :o

i gave 4 dogs to roughdog (wade) and he is in love with them i gave them away so they would get hunted. i dont see any reason in payin anything over 2000 for a dog. jmo

i dont want to step on anyones toes but i was raised around the old timers an i have the same mind set they do,  500 bucks is the most i would ever spend for a strike dog. sum of the best dogs ive got are the free ones. but dont get me wrong if sumone walked up on street and said for me to put a price on my dogs cause they wanted them, it would be no less then $5000 a dog. the only reason i would do that is so i could keep my dogs. but like th old saying goes theres a sucker born every second

like stated earlier its only worth what someone will pay and to be honest if i was ever in need of a jam up dog which im not and hope i never will be i would give 2000 if the dog was exactly what i wanted and takin that i have never seen a dog that's exactly what i wanted i don't have nothin to worry bout :) the other thing is allot of ppl pay that because that dosent seem like much money anymore im not sayin its not cause it is to me anyways but when trucks are 60000 horses are hundreds of thousands dogs price seem small and back in the old days dog food didn't cost near as much so everything has increased JMO

I think dogs are priced so high couse of the time and the work it takes to make a hog dog most 1000 doller dogs you can buy somebody put alot of time into em but I don't agree with buyn dogs I get alot more out of get em when their young and trainen em myself. I have found that most started or finished dogs you can buy have bad qualities or sumthing bout their style that the seller can't tolerate any more. Unless it's a good buddy your getn em from. But ne how I think if have a jam up dog thy you wouldn't change a thing about then your Gona hafta pay what the dogs worth to the owner and not actually what the dog mite be worth.   Just my opinion    

Just wondering here. How does the fact that every time you drop the tailgate , there is a chance that dog may not make it back?

I lost a damn good English Pointer opening day of quail season '09 to a rattler. IF I would have to price him it would have been $2k or better, but I raised him myself.

Surely that very fact has to come into play with at least some folks when they consider what they will or wont pay .

of course it comes into play just like someone who thousands for a show steer that might turn up lame its just a chance you take if someone doesn't feel comfortable paying a price for something then its simple don't buy it no one is forcin anybody to buy anything and everybody knows their budget and what they can and can't afford my opinion is when you see the ad and its out of your budget don't bother callin what gets me is when someone calls to buy somethin and before they ask anything they say will you go down on price Idk this is just my opinion

That chaps my arse. November of '08 I had a litter of Brittany pups for sale. I get $400 for males and $450 for females. Period. I get a call from a guy in the Valley and he asked if I still had some and I said yes. He said hold on and his Dad got on the phone ( 1st guy had to be late 20's)

Dad gets on the phone and first words out if his mouth were "Will you take $300 for a female?" he didnt ask about my bloodlines, how well the parents hunted are anything. Just if I'd come off my price. I told him no and hung up the phone. At least talk a bit before trying to lowball someones price!!

lol i know what you mean

Hog dogs are cheap!

Look at the prices for finished Bear or Cat hounds, Coon hounds, Bird dogs or finished Labs.

They would laugh at a $2,000 finished dog.

Sit down and think how much money you have invested in a 3 year old dog, just in dog food, vaccines, worming, vet bills.  Then consider the time it took to get that dog where he is even at minimum wage that adds up to allot of $$$....consider all that and you have'nt even though about what the dog can do yet.  I just spent a good deal of cash on a vet bill but it was worth it because I knew it would take that much or more to replace the dog and I know this dog suits me.  Not to mention it takes allot to maintain a good line of dogs....some times there is several generations of effort in a line of dogs.  Its gonna take allot of money to get those kinds of dogs and personally I think if a person wants to get a dog out of a good line without paying the dues and putting the time in, doing there part to maintain the line of dogs then they are gonna have to pay in cash and lots of it.

Waylon

The main reason I raise and sell a litter of Britts every 18 months to 2 years is to help with the upkeep of the whole bunch. As said above, feed, shots, trips to the vet and even building new kennels all costmoney and my bird dogs pretty much pay for themselves year a round.

I know a few guys who take a lot of pride in the bloodlines of their hog dogs. How ever they don't sell their pups. They are very selective about who gets a pup, but the pups are always free.  Most of the people that we hunt with do not buy dogs. But i guess if you are new to the sport and do not have any of these connections...you have to start somewhere. Our best dogs were free, and the highest we ever paid for a pup was $25.  A good place to look for a hog dog is someone who breeds cattle bred curs, if they cull a pup for being too rough on cattle, it will usually make a good hog dog and you can probably pick it up for a little of nothing.

Oh...and i wouldn't take a help dog if you gave it to me...(dime a dozen)

I think there is a big difference in bird hunting and hog hunting. $$$$$$$$ Bird hunting you start and end with the wallet. People will drop money to just go hunt. Those are the people that pay top dollar for a hog dog. Because if you trained a dog and someone wanted to buy it what would you charge? If it was someone who would take the dog hunting every weekend the price would go down because you know the dog will be happy. But if it is someone that just wants to go hunting a couple times a year you figure he will loose interest and just lock the dog up in a back yard the price goes real high. That is why the people that really care about their dogs will give them away to someone that will hunt with them. But they will not sell them at any price to someone they would not give them to.

That is a very large generalization made there. I know more bird hunters that  hunt as often and as cheap as they can than I do with a fat wallet. I hunt public land for my birds. And there is not much of that in TX.

There are guys with money to spare in every thing.

Yeah I hunt birds cheap too. But I have seen a lot of bird hunters throw what I would call stupid money. When I hear what some paid for a shotgun I want to laugh. But it seems to make them happy. But I can get more birds with my dad's old model 12. My huntn truck does not have chrome, carpet, or shiney paint but it does have Super Swamper tires! So spend your. If I spent money getting a dog my wife have me sleeping with that dog. But if some wants to spend top dollar at least the money will go to a hunter.

i am new 2 the sport  and i havent given a dime 4 none of my dogs   i trained them  i love em  none r 4 sale   they all wear scars 4 me    i wouldnt want them 2 get rid of me   but i cant see payin 1500 to 2000 dollars 4 a dog when i can make him wut i want 4 nothin u know    im just kinda wonderin why dogs r so high but i can kinda see yalls points    they do take time and money and effort   but if ure gonna hunt anyway then ure always gonna b spendin on dogs  u mite as well just see it as a bill and if u sell a dog  ure just recoupin some of ure money thats gonna go towards huntin anyways   i enjoy this sport  the time with my dogs and kids in the woods  its all just 4 fun  but i appreciate yall replyin

I know alot of people that do not want to raise young dogs, don't want to worry about trash breaking, socializing, temperments, getting it used to hunting different ways, on foot, horse, bikes, atv's, shooting over, Ect.
They want to start right now with a dog that somebody else has already done all the time, work, effort and raising. They want to be able to turn it out in the morning and find and bay hogs or catch hogs with the dogs. Some of these people rae very picky on the way they want the dog to behave and perform, or look when hunting in front of their buddies. These people will pay the price to get exactly what they want, therefore there is a market for already good dogs.

Then there are people that loose an extremely key member of their pack and don't want to start over from scratch either, they don't want to go therough trial and error and the years it takes to find the dog that will replace a certain dog in their pack and they will buy it if they can find it.

So the market is there, if you don't like the price then don't buy it, as said its only worth what someone is willing to pay for it.

I see both sides of the argument, if you got the money and dont wanna train one and put up with a pain in the ass puppy before it shows you anything, pay what you can to find a good dog. If I had the means I'd do the same.

But on my side, I can't afford to drop 2 grand on a good dog so when something happens like happened to us last year (2 dogs killed, one missing) we had to almost start over and have dry run after dry run until our pack of junkyard dogs (basically help dogs) figured it out along with some pups we got that are now turning on, it definately takes some amount of patience, but truely rewarding when you know that you have a pack that you can count on not to embarass you in front of landowners or guests and bring home the bacon, especially when you raised and trained them yourself.

So basically what I'm saying is, as long as there is people willing to pay a lot for a dog, there will be a market for it. If you can't afford to pay those kinds of prices, raise and train dogs yourself, it's frustrating, but fun as hell.

I guess I see buying a finished dog as kinda cheating. I think that you will have more of a bond and respect with a dog if you are the one who puts in the time and sweat to train it. Anyone can take a trained dog to the woods and catch a hog, but taking a pack of dogs that you raised and trained yourself to the woods to catch a hog is a life changing experience. Anything that you have to work for will make you appreciate it more. A little blood, sweat and tears are seeds for understanding and respect.

Some people want to raise dogs. Some people want to catch hogs. Some people want to do both.

Nobody is wrong or right...

I've paid plenty for dogs, and I have raised some.  I enjoy catching hogs behind both ;)

I will say this...

Those that have raised their own dogs and catch hogs with them understand their monetary value.

It's not rocket science...put a pencil to what it costs to keep a dog for 3-4 years...feed, vaccinations, worming medications, misc vet bills.  Then factor in time spent tending to, cleaning and basic daily upkeep.  THEN factor in the time spent on fuel hauling to the pen, then hauling to the woods only to HOPE it makes a dog you can be proud of.

I can guarantee you, anyone selling a 3+ year old decent dog they have raised for $1,000+ is not making much (if any) cash out of the deal.

the way i see this is u r gonna put money and time into this either way   its huntin with dogs   ppl should know comin into this sport that it costs money    its not a way 2 make a livin  its a hobby    i think dogs should b priced according 2 performance  not wut the owner thinks hes worth   i do agree  if u dont like the price then dont buy   but if someone lost their best dog and i could help him with one of my dogs  i would let him go 2 help a fellow hunter  and i wouldnt try 2 hurt his pockets  its huntin  its a fellowship sport   we should all agree on that   and with hogs at an all time worst  we should want all the help we can get  b4 the government takes control and eradicates them and makes it harder 4 us 2 find and catch hogs    we r all in this 2gether 2 have fun  not get rich   and fun costs money   that should b understood   thats all im sayin   not tryin 2 piss anyone off   i apologize if i do   

that's great you would do that but some ppl do live off hog huntin i don't see nothin against it at all they get paid for how good they perform most ppl i know that do this have jam up dogs and they put allot of time in doin so everythin in this boils down to money 3 yrs ago you buy a diesel 4x4 in the 30 thousands now their in 50 s and if someone totalled their truck i wouldn't give them mine neither would i give them a finished dog call me selfish but i don't have money to be givin away all im sayin is everything in this world revolves around money no matter how you look at it  and if you can get ppl to drop prices on dogs then maybe you can do my dealings with truck salesman cause they don't seem to want and drop the price :)

That's no joke, looked at a new truck for Mandi the other day and it was 52k for a one ton pickup. It will be 60k+ once you put a hauler bed, and front bumper on it. :o

we must be lookin at the same place lol :)

Dodge dealership.

Cheers
M

Personally I wouldnt spend that kind of money for a dog unless I had plenty of money.  The bottom line is that when you get a dog that you feel is a sure enough light the woods on fire dog, you decide how much you would take to replace that dog.  Figure in the food, time, vet bills, cussing from the wife for hunting all the time, the puppies you had to raise and then cull to get the dog, ect...... Then put a price on that dog.  You are talking about a dog that you have 3, 4, or 5 years invested in, maybe even more.  I know I have one that I wouldnt take $2K for, because who knows if you can even find another one.  Contrary to popular belief there is not going to be a FINISHED strike dog in every litter.  Just my opinion.  My motto is poor man got poor ways.  If you got plenty money you pay somebody else to finish a dog, If you got plenty of space in your pockets then you work hard, cull hard, and do it yourself.

I hate hearin that a catchdog is only worth 100 bucks and that they are easily replaced. coyote hunter i seen yours find his own, not usin a feeder or any tricks, now that is a hog dog, not just a strike dog or a help dog or a gritty dog or a catchdog.. hog dog..dont need help,one man one dog, done deal.

First off- you shouldnt add in dog food when you name a price. Like a used car you sell it for what it is worth not how much you spent on gas while owning it.
  I can not pay 1k for a dog. I dont have that kind of money to chance the dog getting killed the first hunt. A good dog is worth money to alot of people, just not me. Being a young family, I can not justify spending that kind of mo ney n a dog, even though some may be worth it.

I don't really see the correlation.  First off, an automobile depreciates over time...a good hunting dog does not.  Secondly, when you buy fuel for a car you recognize an immediate return for your investment (ie. you get to go from here to there) so your not necessarily loosing your money.

Feed is a necessary component (and cost) of raising a dog.  Why would that not be considered a recoverable expense?  Not necessarily with dogs but with ANYTHING I might sell, I always consider my cost.

I guarantee you, the price paid for a package of ground beef at the grocery store has cost associated in it for the expense of feeding that cow.

Whether it's blood, sweat and tears or cold hard cash, you've gotta pay to play...

good point bryant  and sportsman im glad u were there witness sox find and catch his own hog  most ppl probably wouldnt believe that he did that   i would never put a price on that dog  and just think  cody said he was worthless   thats wut u get when u train them    that pride

We have a winner.  Good post.

Two of the best dogs i have ever hunted were free dogs.  They would both find a hog, stop a hog, and would bay till i got there.  And if the barked, they was lookin at a hog. One got killed by a hog and the other was stolen out of my yard while out of town.

 How bout this, you work for a company, times are rough rite now, the company decides to start cutn back peoples pay just b/c they dont want to pay you. would you stay? a person's time trainng a dog is just as valuable if not more than your time towards the company you work for. You are payed for an honest days work even though your salary aint honest b/c your getting cheated so the higher ups can have more, the time you spend training your dogs is just as honest as your work for your company. if you end up having to sell or that your side money (selling dogs) then should the buyer expect to pay for your time just as a company pays for their time at work. it boils down to whether the buyer wants pay for your time or wants a freebie. how much time and money do put into traing a dog ( vet bills, food, self meds, trips to the woods (fuel) wear and tear on your equip ( atv, tck, boat), your not gonna get every penny back but remember that money to train dogs comes out your pocket or some1 else and money is scarce unless you have a silver spoon in your mouth. when looking at the price of a dog that is starting, started or finished remember how much money it cost to get the dog to that point of hunting education. JMO!