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Author Topic: Cost of lab puppy? Is $1200-1500 the new normal?  (Read 13179 times)

Offline YellowDog

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Re: Cost of lab puppy? Is $1200-1500 the new normal?
« Reply #45 on: April 12, 2019, 07:39:06 PM »
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.

Offline Happy Gilmore

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Re: Cost of lab puppy? Is $1200-1500 the new normal?
« Reply #46 on: April 14, 2019, 10:09:42 AM »
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.

Purchasing a "washout" for around $3-5K is always a heck of a deal for a bird hunter. Figure a year or two of training at about $1,000 a month.
"Far better it is to dare mighty things, to win glorious triumphs, even though checked by failure, than to take rank with those poor spirits who neither enjoy much nor suffer much, because they live in the grey twilight that knows not victory nor defeat."
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Offline rainshadow1

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Re: Cost of lab puppy? Is $1200-1500 the new normal?
« Reply #47 on: April 14, 2019, 12:51:23 PM »
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.

Purchasing a "washout" for around $3-5K is always a heck of a deal for a bird hunter. Figure a year or two of training at about $1,000 a month.

Grand a month per "student?!?!?!"  Hmmmm…. dogs like me, and my retrievers have always turned out pretty good.... I'm in the wrong business!

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Offline Happy Gilmore

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Re: Cost of lab puppy? Is $1200-1500 the new normal?
« Reply #48 on: April 15, 2019, 10:27:50 PM »
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.

Purchasing a "washout" for around $3-5K is always a heck of a deal for a bird hunter. Figure a year or two of training at about $1,000 a month.

Grand a month per "student?!?!?!"  Hmmmm…. dogs like me, and my retrievers have always turned out pretty good.... I'm in the wrong business!

Hunting experience is always paramount in a good hunting dog. But, when you've hunted with one that has the skills to go where you tell it, go as far as you ask it and get a bird...it can be amazing. Also, most importantly, it goes where you tell it and keeps going where you tell it and that part adds a huge level of safety for the dog because you are giving it directions like an air traffic controller. some dogs may go out there yet, stop taking directions in critical conditions which would put a dog who is not trained in serious jeopardy. A very well trained dog who will listen to your control and trust your direction will be safe and come back to you after a long series of handling. It will also not waste game and do so in a safe manner. Just depends on how you hunt, where you hunt, how much you hunt and your personal expectations of a hunt.
"Far better it is to dare mighty things, to win glorious triumphs, even though checked by failure, than to take rank with those poor spirits who neither enjoy much nor suffer much, because they live in the grey twilight that knows not victory nor defeat."
Theodore Roosevelt 1899

Offline AspenBud

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Re: Cost of lab puppy? Is $1200-1500 the new normal?
« Reply #49 on: April 17, 2019, 07:03:49 AM »
Do you pretty much need to expect to spend upwards of $1500 on a purebred, papered lab with hunting lines nowadays?

One breeder I'm looking at is asking around $1800.

I'm considering getting a pup this spring and just wanted to see if I'm nuts to consider spending that much on a puppy or not. Seems like a lot of the breeders I've looked at are round that price though..

Just wanted to get anyones thoughts. Thanks!

Shop out of state.

Offline AspenBud

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Re: Cost of lab puppy? Is $1200-1500 the new normal?
« Reply #50 on: April 17, 2019, 07:06:34 AM »
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.

Purchasing a "washout" for around $3-5K is always a heck of a deal for a bird hunter. Figure a year or two of training at about $1,000 a month.

It's a "heck of a deal" for the seller. Washed out pointing dogs don't go for that. Especially Pointers.

Breeders sell at prices that people are willing to pay.

Offline Colin

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Re: Cost of lab puppy? Is $1200-1500 the new normal?
« Reply #51 on: April 17, 2019, 07:44:30 AM »
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.

Purchasing a "washout" for around $3-5K is always a heck of a deal for a bird hunter. Figure a year or two of training at about $1,000 a month.

It's a "heck of a deal" for the seller. Washed out pointing dogs don't go for that. Especially Pointers.

Breeders sell at prices that people are willing to pay.
Depends what your perspective is but the seller of a FT retriever washout that's selling a dog for 3-5k is losing money on the deal and probably a lot depending on how much training the dog has. 12 months of training on the cheap side is 9k. To have a dog that's been put thru a pros program for 12 months is an absolute steal at that price.

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Offline jackelope

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Re: Cost of lab puppy? Is $1200-1500 the new normal?
« Reply #52 on: April 17, 2019, 07:51:11 AM »
What does "washed out" mean?
:fire.:

" In today's instant gratification society, more and more pressure revolves around success and the measurement of one's prowess as a hunter by inches on a score chart or field photos produced on social media. Don't fall into the trap. Hunting is-and always will be- about the hunt, the adventure, the views, and time spent with close friends and family. " Ryan Hatfield

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Offline Colin

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Re: Cost of lab puppy? Is $1200-1500 the new normal?
« Reply #53 on: April 17, 2019, 08:00:52 AM »
For Retrievers in regards to a FT washout that's usually just a dog that can't win or title at the highest levels of FT's. If there's 50 dogs entered in a FT stake there's only one winner. A FT washout is generally going to have great drive and training just doesn't have that killer instinct to win at a really high level. At least that's what I think of when someone says FT washout.

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Offline Colin

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Re: Cost of lab puppy? Is $1200-1500 the new normal?
« Reply #54 on: April 17, 2019, 08:04:31 AM »
I have a feeling that in pointers a FT washout means something different than with FT retrievers and that may be why the price didn't seem to make sense to AspenBud.

Offline CoryTDF

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Re: Cost of lab puppy? Is $1200-1500 the new normal?
« Reply #55 on: April 17, 2019, 08:47:33 AM »
There are a lot of things that should be considered when looking at a littler of puppies and things that go into the price of a puppy.

I recently bred my stud dog to two females. A puppy from their litters are $1200 and $1250 respectively. So why do they cost what they cost? How did the owners of the females set that price?

Well lets look at my stud dog. He's nicely pedigreed. His sire FC/AFC Blackwater Rudy has produced 10 FC's and 11 AFC's and 38 offspring with All Age Field Trial points. That ranks him #28 and #23 (ish there's some interpretation here). Rudy's offspring, of those registered with OFA, 156 have "good" hips, 79 "excellent" and 9 "fair". His Dam has a MH title but her parents were a National Field Champion bred to an National Amateur Field Champion. My stud's Dam has progeny with OFA hips registered and of those 6 are "excellent" and 5 are "good". He's also 8 for 9 in Master Tests, has never failed a HRCH test and qualified to run at the MNH this past year where we did very well but went out in the last series.  :'(

But all that doesn't mean he can hunt... I'll attach some photos and maybe some members will chime in that hunt with me.

My stud has a lot of health clearances and strong results.

Hips: Excellent
Elbows: Normal
Eyes: Certified by CAER
Heart: Echo clear for defect
EIC/CNM/PRA/DM/D Locus - Clear

The females he was bred to this winter both have MH titles and had "excellent" and "good" hips as well as genetic clearances, some by way of clear parents.

Here are links to the pedigrees:

https://huntinglabpedigree.com/puppy.asp?id=25050

https://huntinglabpedigree.com/puppy.asp?id=25038

You get what you pay for most of the time but you only know what your paying for if you know where and how to look for it.

Health Clearances should be found at www.ofa.org and you should check that they are, even if your breeder assures that they. There is a ton of info there that you can look at about the siblings, other offspring etc etc etc. So much data that can help you make a good decision.

If you can look a dog up at OFA then you can get the AKC number and look at a dogs performance record at www.entryexpress.net This will tell you if they took a lot of tests to title or if they did it efficiently. If they were pro trained etc etc etc.

Lots of nice dogs get posted on www.huntinglabpedigree.com and that can give you a good idea of what puppies cost from what kind of parents.

For me personally I want a dog with drive and style but balance and trainability. I'm gonna hunt this sucker hard. He's gonna wait to be sent on retrievers, be able to pick up the long cripple that sailed before searching in the dekes for the 3 birds that dropped stone dead. He's gonna run huge blinds on the snow goose in the back of the flock that gets shot as part of a scotch double out to 400 yards or more. In the off season we are gonna train 3-5 times a week and play in the dog games! I put a lot of time into my dogs and I think it shows. If you dont plan to train much then go ahead and buy a less expensive dog. A cheap untrained dog is still the same pain in the ass as an expensive untrained dog. The difference is generally found in health cost over the life of the dog and the ease of which the dog can be trained. There will always be exceptions to this but its genetics so why not stack the deck in your favor. We are talking about the difference between a $800 puppy and a $1200 puppy.

The litters for $1800 or more should be national caliber pedigree's with excellent health clearances and have at least on parent with advanced HT (MNH/GRHRCH) or FT (FC/AFC) titles other wise you're wasting your money on an overpriced lab, probably based on color or some other factor that really doesn't mean anything relative to performance and you should run like the wind from that litter and breeder.

Spot on! Lord knows i have been preaching this on here for years. Spend the money up front and stack the deck for the future. 
CoryTDF

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Offline AspenBud

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Re: Cost of lab puppy? Is $1200-1500 the new normal?
« Reply #56 on: April 17, 2019, 01:05:49 PM »
I have a feeling that in pointers a FT washout means something different than with FT retrievers and that may be why the price didn't seem to make sense to AspenBud.

I think it’s more of a supply and demand issue.

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Re: Cost of lab puppy? Is $1200-1500 the new normal?
« Reply #57 on: April 17, 2019, 05:05:30 PM »
What does "washed out" mean?

Our dog was a washout. She was better than my training and I was thrilled with her. We got her for I think about a thousand bucks at laround nine months old. Had bird experience, knew all the commands and what to do but she didn't perform at a top 3% level like they though she would so they didn't want to keep training her. I'd do it again in a heart beat. This was fifteen or so years ago.

Offline jackelope

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Re: Cost of lab puppy? Is $1200-1500 the new normal?
« Reply #58 on: April 18, 2019, 10:05:07 AM »
What does "washed out" mean?

Our dog was a washout. She was better than my training and I was thrilled with her. We got her for I think about a thousand bucks at laround nine months old. Had bird experience, knew all the commands and what to do but she didn't perform at a top 3% level like they though she would so they didn't want to keep training her. I'd do it again in a heart beat. This was fifteen or so years ago.

Seems like a wash out retriever will be more than 95% of hunters would ever have.
:fire.:

" In today's instant gratification society, more and more pressure revolves around success and the measurement of one's prowess as a hunter by inches on a score chart or field photos produced on social media. Don't fall into the trap. Hunting is-and always will be- about the hunt, the adventure, the views, and time spent with close friends and family. " Ryan Hatfield

My posts, opinions and statements do not represent those of this forum

Offline Happy Gilmore

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Re: Cost of lab puppy? Is $1200-1500 the new normal?
« Reply #59 on: April 20, 2019, 12:06:51 AM »
"Washout" sounds bad. Its like horse racing. If the horse isn't as fast as the others running on the track that year, the owners find a good home where someone who wants to ride fast but, doesn't need to win the Kentucky Derby and just wants to really have a lot of fun and not put in the time and investment in training.
"Far better it is to dare mighty things, to win glorious triumphs, even though checked by failure, than to take rank with those poor spirits who neither enjoy much nor suffer much, because they live in the grey twilight that knows not victory nor defeat."
Theodore Roosevelt 1899

 


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