Thread: I must be getting old and cynical

Originally Posted by morgun

its $2000 for a chesapeake pup and ive seen up to $1750 for a lab pup. when they do all the genetic testing, hip xrays and so on for the sire and dam it adds up. that said if no one pays that price it will come down

In many cases the x-rays and testing are part of the marketing.

Pointer our dog prices are well below the UK and USA. Price is one of the best ways the market can control the sellers... If there are duds then people don;t buy. If you charge high you better have some confidence in what you are breeding. Jim Clarke never imported from further afield than Aussie, charged about 800 a pup, I paid $1000 for Brick at 12 months (Not a bad deal ) and Liam at 9 months for $1200.00 but I believe he could have named his price because if there's been a dud I haven't seen it, not that could be attributed to genetics anyway. But it's like they say... one takes the lead. I never envisaged charging more than $1000 for pups, but then my friend got $1500.00 a litter of pups of very similar lines to mine so I thought why not? Then someone who owned a bitch and line bred to Brick got $2000 a pup, so I'm like Why Not? And this is my view Jim, no breeder can be certain every pup they produce is a winner, but they should never believe they could produce a loser, if that thought is in their head then I think they are gambling on the genetics being good, and that's not right. In nearly 40 years with gundogs I have bred 1 litter... because I waited until I could make the genetic connection to the right dog, at the right part of the pedigree... when two dogs fir my criteria.... Now, I could have played Russian Roulette and produced $1000 puppies every year for the last 20 years, But I waited those 20 years to try and get it as right as I believed it could be got. At only 8 months old the pups are suggesting I got it right. It is a litter, I truly believe, Jim Clarke himself would have been impressed with. Isn't that restraint, research, policy worth a premium compared to the guy who just keeps keeps pumping puppies out under what ever format is popular at the time?