$200 PUPS = GOOD "WORKING MAN" PRICE ... OR A DISGRACE TO THE BREED???

[Officially Retired]

I'm a working man as well. I am not sure what it means but it has been/is used as a marketing tool to hopefully lower the price of something being bought or lure someone in to something being sold. I doubt there is an accurate/all covering definition of 'working man' in regards to the buying and selling of dogs.

Agreed.

As Gotap said, some "working men" make a boatload more than other working men.

Wealth does not make someone a good dogman, but poverty does not make a buyer attractive.

So far the poll shows 100% toward the NO side of the opinion, until I just voted YES.

There is no Yes vote yet ...

My YES vote really has nothing to do with the dogs involved, their quality, their price or the efforts that went into their arrival. The buyer always dictates the 'value' of anything purchased. It is basic economics. If I want $1000 for my puppy and no one is willing to pay that amount then what I think or want really does not matter. If I put a $1000 on him to avoid 'newspaper' shoppers their are plenty of shit heads with $1000. If I put $300 on him to 'get him in the right hands', again plenty of shit heads have $300.

I disagree. The seller dictates the price. No one is going to tell me what to sell my pups for.

The buyer merely will agree to pay the price or not.

Truly good breeders are a scarce commodity, and there will always be buyers who will pay what a truly good breeder is asking.

Now, if somebody is a nobody he may have trouble selling his stock, but no breeder of consistent winners is going to have much trouble selling ...

Economically-speaking, the amount of time, effort, and cost has to be factored into the process of breeding/feeding/raising pups ... plus one's years of experience in making mistakes, getting it right, and then maintaining a successful line ... ALL have to be taken into account to properly-assess the worth of a set of pups.

If Joe Schmoe bought two ill-bred dogs from his local redneck friend, which are a mix of a buncha different lines, and neither one of these bozos ever bred a winner, and there isn't a breeding pattern established for there to be a reasonable expectation of producing ability ... then there is no one in their right minds that is going to buy that crap. Price SHOULD have to do with a realistic expectation of getting a world class dog or of being able to reliably and consistently produce world class dogs.

Because if you are buying a linebred animal, from a breeder who reliably and consistently puts people in the winner's circle, you absolutely should be willing to pay that breeder 3-5x as much for a pup like "that" than a pup from the other guy.

I understand the intent of the poll, and if I did not have a degree in economics, and did not see a price change of $0.03 having millions of dollars of effect to the bottom line each quarter, and seeing where in the fiercest of price negotiations, what a person/company is willing to pay ends up being the 'ultimate factor'...I would vote NO as well.

Well, you must not have actually voted, because no one has voted yes yet.

The economy can stipulate a price but economics dictate its value. A person could start selling puppies for $300 and in each sequential litter go up $100. Regardless of his successes as a breeder, the eventual successes of the dog or the 'subjective value' of their relationship, in time the price will not be met and that is the value of the puppy.

The trouble with your theory EWO is it is not factoring in SKILL as a breeder

Price doesn't determine worth, perceived value determines worth.

Nobody running mix-bred mongrels, and never having bred a winner, is going to have built-up perceived value in what they're selling ... whereas a guy who has produced exceptionally-game, consistently-winning stock, year-after-year *is* going to have the perceived value of his stock be 2-5x more valuable than the average palooka.

Sure, if you keep going up, maybe no one would pay $5,000 for a pup, but many people will pay a topshelf breeder $1000-$2000 for a pup (2x-4x the "average price" from a nobody).

As well they should. The top breeder's pups are at least that much more likely to make a positive impact on someone's program.

I factor in if that is the puppy I want. Is it coming from what I want? Is there a really good chance it will take me where I want to go? If it is three answers of YES, then I pay the amount that is being asked. If it is $500 or $1500, for me, does not factor, it is the three questions above. EWO

And that right there is the bottom line: perceived value.

And perceived value basically has to do with YOUR CALCULATED ODDS of getting what you really want in a dog ... and, if you're really thinking, its long-term ability to produce what you want in your program.

Jack