Cost of lab puppy? Is $1200-1500 the new normal?

[Birdguy]

Saw some unregistered pure bread lab on Craigslist...$600 cash only, have not been to vet yet, will only meet in public! Heck of a deal!! Lol

[cem3434]

I just saw on Longhollow Retrievers facebook page that he has a young male pup in their training program that they are looking to rehome at the end of this summers trials seasom. Might be worth a csll for some of you looking for a pup soon.

Do you got a link? I couldnt find anything on their website.

[idaho guy]

Thanks for the thoughts guys. Didn't realize it was such a heated topic haha. I've sort of expected to be paying around $1000-1200 for a pup with solid hunting lines and genetics. The $1800 price shocked me though. That just seemed like a lot. Especially since neither of the parents have master hunter titles. More show stock I think. I do trust the breeder though and confident they run a good puppy program. Great referrals as well.

You guys now have me thinking though that I need to really look more into solid hunting performance/drive from the parents. Especially when you're spending that much money. The pup will be a duck dog as well as a family dog so I want to make sure there is some balance there as well.

Thanks for the links Colin. I will check them out! Looks like you can find recent litters on there too.

$1800 should buy you the moon on a pup, gotta have proven parents back generations, repeat breeding with proven litters, fully papered, tested and certified and in the color/gender you want. In other words there shouldn't be any compromises.

but really if you aren't breeding do you need all that paper?  I didn't even register mine, ain't breeding, ain't showing, ain't trialing, ain't selling.


Lot of people get hung up on buying top $ paper dogs and bring them home and never hunt them.   Wish I had a stat on how many dogs get sold as hunting dogs that never hunt?  Most.

.       


3 of the 4 Huntin dogs I consider my best were free the dogs i have now we’re free and I would put them up against any other hunting dog in the woods. One is papered and my buddy sold other puppies from the litter but gave me one. The other was living on the couch with some shirttail relatives in Montana but I was able to get her under a year old. I have a friend who sells trained hounds and he thought I could have sold her for 5 to 6k a year or two ago. Both dogs came out of proven hunting lines and I know that is huge in increasing your odds of a good hunter but no guarantee. Best bear dog I ever seen was my freinds that he got from the pound! It was a mut and I have noticed quite a few mixed breed hounds ended up being some of the better hunters I have seen. Anyways hounds so different breed but if you want to hunt your dog I think these things apply to bird dogs. Finally I have a lab who came from a field trial champion and a champion show dog. My wife got the dog for a few hundred but we had to fix her. Amazing blood lines and she is a 200lb pig! She had no drive and I tried on ducks with no success and switched to horns. She found one winter kill buck and I think she just wanted to chew on the left over meat! Kids like her but she only eats and poops I am not a lab guy and I know that so not trying to offend the guys on here that know more than me. Just some thoughts from my experience hunting hounds. 1800 for a pup to me sounds crazy. Good luck with your hunting dog nothing more fun than training and watching your dog develop into a great hunter

[CoryTDF]

Thanks for the thoughts guys. Didn't realize it was such a heated topic haha. I've sort of expected to be paying around $1000-1200 for a pup with solid hunting lines and genetics. The $1800 price shocked me though. That just seemed like a lot. Especially since neither of the parents have master hunter titles. More show stock I think. I do trust the breeder though and confident they run a good puppy program. Great referrals as well.

You guys now have me thinking though that I need to really look more into solid hunting performance/drive from the parents. Especially when you're spending that much money. The pup will be a duck dog as well as a family dog so I want to make sure there is some balance there as well.

Thanks for the links Colin. I will check them out! Looks like you can find recent litters on there too.

$1800 should buy you the moon on a pup, gotta have proven parents back generations, repeat breeding with proven litters, fully papered, tested and certified and in the color/gender you want. In other words there shouldn't be any compromises.

but really if you aren't breeding do you need all that paper?  I didn't even register mine, ain't breeding, ain't showing, ain't trialing, ain't selling.


Lot of people get hung up on buying top $ paper dogs and bring them home and never hunt them.   Wish I had a stat on how many dogs get sold as hunting dogs that never hunt?  Most.

.       


3 of the 4 Huntin dogs I consider my best were free the dogs i have now we’re free and I would put them up against any other hunting dog in the woods. One is papered and my buddy sold other puppies from the litter but gave me one. The other was living on the couch with some shirttail relatives in Montana but I was able to get her under a year old. I have a friend who sells trained hounds and he thought I could have sold her for 5 to 6k a year or two ago. Both dogs came out of proven hunting lines and I know that is huge in increasing your odds of a good hunter but no guarantee. Best bear dog I ever seen was my freinds that he got from the pound! It was a mut and I have noticed quite a few mixed breed hounds ended up being some of the better hunters I have seen. Anyways hounds so different breed but if you want to hunt your dog I think these things apply to bird dogs. Finally I have a lab who came from a field trial champion and a champion show dog. My wife got the dog for a few hundred but we had to fix her. Amazing blood lines and she is a 200lb pig! She had no drive and I tried on ducks with no success and switched to horns. She found one winter kill buck and I think she just wanted to chew on the left over meat! Kids like her but she only eats and poops I am not a lab guy and I know that so not trying to offend the guys on here that know more than me. Just some thoughts from my experience hunting hounds. 1800 for a pup to me sounds crazy. Good luck with your hunting dog nothing more fun than training and watching your dog develop into a great hunter

If you want and hunting do you want to keep clear of anything that has SHOW DOG in it's lines.  I can force fetch a greyhound and have it retrieve so for those that want to jump in and say that they have show dogs and they can hunt I'm not trying to argue that. You could run a NASCAR race in a Pinto too. It's just that there is a better way to do things and in animals that starts with proper breeding.

[2MANY]

Force fetching.
LOL.
What it points and retrieves??

[CoryTDF]

Force fetching.
LOL.
What it points and retrieves??

Not sure I understand what you are getting at here? If you are unsure about what force fetching is a simple good search will help ya out. It is an extremely useful training method that is implemented by the best dog trainers in the world. So.....?

[idaho guy]

Thanks for the thoughts guys. Didn't realize it was such a heated topic haha. I've sort of expected to be paying around $1000-1200 for a pup with solid hunting lines and genetics. The $1800 price shocked me though. That just seemed like a lot. Especially since neither of the parents have master hunter titles. More show stock I think. I do trust the breeder though and confident they run a good puppy program. Great referrals as well.

You guys now have me thinking though that I need to really look more into solid hunting performance/drive from the parents. Especially when you're spending that much money. The pup will be a duck dog as well as a family dog so I want to make sure there is some balance there as well.

Thanks for the links Colin. I will check them out! Looks like you can find recent litters on there too.

$1800 should buy you the moon on a pup, gotta have proven parents back generations, repeat breeding with proven litters, fully papered, tested and certified and in the color/gender you want. In other words there shouldn't be any compromises.

but really if you aren't breeding do you need all that paper?  I didn't even register mine, ain't breeding, ain't showing, ain't trialing, ain't selling.


Lot of people get hung up on buying top $ paper dogs and bring them home and never hunt them.   Wish I had a stat on how many dogs get sold as hunting dogs that never hunt?  Most.

.       


3 of the 4 Huntin dogs I consider my best were free the dogs i have now we’re free and I would put them up against any other hunting dog in the woods. One is papered and my buddy sold other puppies from the litter but gave me one. The other was living on the couch with some shirttail relatives in Montana but I was able to get her under a year old. I have a friend who sells trained hounds and he thought I could have sold her for 5 to 6k a year or two ago. Both dogs came out of proven hunting lines and I know that is huge in increasing your odds of a good hunter but no guarantee. Best bear dog I ever seen was my freinds that he got from the pound! It was a mut and I have noticed quite a few mixed breed hounds ended up being some of the better hunters I have seen. Anyways hounds so different breed but if you want to hunt your dog I think these things apply to bird dogs. Finally I have a lab who came from a field trial champion and a champion show dog. My wife got the dog for a few hundred but we had to fix her. Amazing blood lines and she is a 200lb pig! She had no drive and I tried on ducks with no success and switched to horns. She found one winter kill buck and I think she just wanted to chew on the left over meat! Kids like her but she only eats and poops I am not a lab guy and I know that so not trying to offend the guys on here that know more than me. Just some thoughts from my experience hunting hounds. 1800 for a pup to me sounds crazy. Good luck with your hunting dog nothing more fun than training and watching your dog develop into a great hunter

If you want and hunting do you want to keep clear of anything that has SHOW DOG in it's lines.  I can force fetch a greyhound and have it retrieve so for those that want to jump in and say that they have show dogs and they can hunt I'm not trying to argue that. You could run a NASCAR race in a Pinto too. It's just that there is a better way to do things and in animals that starts with proper breeding.

 the sire 1/2 was a field trial champion supposedly I agree on show dog comment. My wife got that dog as more of a pet and I tried to make it a hunter. Point of my post is the majority of my best hunting hounds were free. One is papered and I have seen some of the best hounds being mixed up dogs. Again I am not a lab guy just some observations from a lot of years hunting hounds and I would think some would apply to labs as well provided you want to hunt them.

[AspenBud]

Anything more than $1500 for a pup of just about any hunting breed is a ripoff unless it’s a rare breed like a Spinone Italiano and people wanting those come cash in hand. Last I checked those run about $2200 and it’s soley based on their limited numbers and not how awesome they are.

I would not however spend my money on a dog out of “hunt’in dog” lines with no pedigree and up close trial champions or Master Hunter titled dogs going back a few generations on both the top and bottom of the pedigree. You may as well rescue a bird dog instead. On health clearances alone it simply does not pay unless you know exactly what you are buying.