Does hunting dog price matter?

[captaincoot]

Ok fellow chicken chasers. When you search for a hunting dog does a more expensive dog mean he's going to be a better dog then the cheap one? I shop around look for the deal. My first hunting dog was the runt of the litter and he turned out to be very good. best 50 bucks I ever spent.

 

[mdhunter]

Good luck with this post! I have had the best dog by picking last, and the worst dog by picking first. If I knew the secret I would pass it on.

Get a puppy and love it to death. Not sure what else to offer...

 

[fowladdict]

I believe every dog bred to do something will only go as far as the owner takes him/her.

Best hunting dog I ever had was a free one...she is 14 now and retired for a couple years.

My other dog a GWP only cost me $350 bucks because he was the last pup available. He has been ok given what time I have spent with him, however I do believe he could be leaps and bounds better, but that is on me.

 

[MThuntr]

A buddy has a mutt pointer that cost less than what it costs to load his gun with shells. She's a great pointer with lots of drive. Another friend paid in excess of $1000 for a pointer and that dog is only good for pooping in the yard and destroying toys. In theory the pricey dog should have been a better hunter but without the guidance from the owner a pricey dog is only just average.

 

[Foxtrot1]

I think it's a matter of odds. I've seen cheap/free dogs turn out as good hunters and high end dogs be duds. But I'd say a puppy with a good pedigree will more consistently produce a solid field dog.

 

[dainer]

I don't believe that the price of the dog makes them better in the field. However, I do believe that the price of the dog could help reduce the chance of hip dysplacia, epilepsy, etc..

 

[TheJason]

All in all I'm going to say yes, it will matter. A dog from a proven kennel will on average out perform a lesser dog, in my humble opinion. Is it worth the money? That's a question for you to answer.

I killed a lot of pheasants over a black lab I got for free (although he could have been sold for a lot of money). I've hunted over labs that guys got "deals" on. Some were good and some weren't worth the food fed to them.

I paid a lot for my GWP pup. He came from very proven bloodlines, and it shows in his hunting. He is capable of more than I am capable of training him to do.

One other thing you are often getting with higher end bloodlines is the fact that they are probably doing a very strict job of testing for any genetic issues, i.e. hips, elbows, eyes.

Just because a dog is expensive doesn't mean he'll be worth a plugged nickel. It's up to you to do your homework and check references, etc.

 

[Redwood]

It matters to a point. We have dogs that we know will have a higher likely hood of being successful based solely on their lines and what the predecessors did. However, the biggest road block to a dogs success seems to always be the skill level of the owner/handler. We spend more time training people than dogs.

 

[TheJason]

However, the biggest road block to a dogs success seems to always be the skill level of the owner/handler. We spend more time training people than dogs.

Very good point. The dog from the best kennel in the world can be completely screwed up by someone that doesn't know what they are doing, or worse yet thinks they are an expert when they're not.

A friend of mine gave me some great advice with my GWP," just shut up and let him hunt and he'll figure it out."

 

[belly-deep]

Yes and no.

Yes because I've found that on average, better breeders charge higher prices. And their dogs are likely to be better.

No because the price of a dog, when you figure in the money you'll spend on food and vet bill over the course of his or her life, is a drop in the bucket.

Buy an expensive dog. The odds will be in your favor and its better than feeding and enduring a worthless one for 14 years.

 

[mtmiller]

Yes because I've found that on average, better breeders charge higher prices. And their dogs are likely to be better.

No because the price of a dog, when you figure in the money you'll spend on food and vet bill over the course of his or her life, is a drop in the bucket.

My line of thought as well.

 

[fowladdict]

No because the price of a dog, when you figure in the money you'll spend on food and vet bill over the course of his or her life, is a drop in the bucket.

Best thing posted yet. With my wife being in Vet medicine (which keeps things for me cheap to free ) I get to hear all of the stories of sporting dogs incidents. The most common have been deep barbed wired cuts, porcupines and surgery to remove rocks from the stomach! A vet bill probably isn't a matter of if, but when!

 

[captaincoot]

I think it has a lot to do with the guy training. I never even thought about genetics for hips and stuff. Man you guys are really smart.
My dog biggest fault is hell cat. Chases that dumb cat all summer and they sleep together in the winter.

 

[MKotur325]

A dog from a proven kennel will on average out perform a lesser dog, in my humble opinion.

There is something to be said for that statement. A kennel can charge what ever they want for a dog. Is a $1000 pup from a no name kennel gonig to out perform a $500-700 dog from a proven kennel? I would think not.

I would also say that it can really depend on the bread!!! Some hunting breads (Golden Retrievers, Labs, some spaniels, weimaraners...) are being bred as family pets or show dogs, bread for color, coat, and "Breed Standards" for show dogs. They can be Outrageously expensive, but I doubt they will hunt worth a crap.

 

[huntin24/7]

I've only trained retrievers, so take it for what its worth. Between labs and golden retrievers I've trained or helped in training 6. One of them is a 13 week lab I'm in the process of training right now. 4 of these dogs were pretty inexpensive, and 3 of those 4 turned into good hunting dogs. The last two I spent a bit more money on. While the less expensive ones mostly have hunted very well, it seems like the 2 labs that I spent more money on from reputable breeders seem a bit easier to train and catch on to things faster. You definitely don't have to spend a lot of money to get a quality dog, but like others have mentioned, it doesn't seem like as much money when you consider it as a companion and hunting dog you might have for 10+ years.

 

[belly-deep]

There is something to be said for that statement. A kennel can charge what ever they want for a dog. Is a $1000 pup from a no name kennel gonig to out perform a $500-700 dog from a proven kennel? I would think not.

I would also say that it can really depend on the bread!!! Some hunting breads (Golden Retrievers, Labs, some spaniels, weimaraners...) are being bred as family pets or show dogs, bread for color, coat, and "Breed Standards" for show dogs. They can be Outrageously expensive, but I doubt they will hunt worth a crap.

A kennel turning out crap dogs won't stay in business very long unless they can lure in yuppie suckers with weird breeds like Vizlas or something.

The guys that know what they are doing also know which kennels to buy from. And those kennels usually have to be breeding field trial stock.