The American Beagler Forum

I was at a local outdoor hunting expo this past weekend and happened to stop at an outfitter that was advertising pheasant hunts and also bird dogs for sale. Out of curiousity, I wanted to know what a trained bird dog was selling for. I let the woman know that I raised beagles and liked to train them and hunt, just so there was some kind of connection, know what I mean?? Anyway, she told me that a trained bird dog, one that is sufficient to hunt with, was typically selling for, get this, 2,000 to 4,000 dollars!!! Some of you might not be suprised, but I didn't think they had gotten that expensive yet. Well, I told her that seemed like a lot of money for a dog to hunt with, it not being any kind of trial champion or anything, just a basic hunting dog. I said how lucky I was that beagles weren't that expensive. She sniffed, "well, you are just talking about beagles". I for one have never considered a beagle a lower class of hunting dog, or rabbit hunting as a lower form of sport. I think I have changed my mind about the prices that pups and running hounds have been going for...I used to think they were overpriced, but I have seen the light so to speak...Our sport has in my never to be humble opinion just as much to offer if not more than bird hunting does, so I don't think the direction of hound prices is a negative thing anymore...Beagles and beaglers just dont seem to get any respect in the hunting community like the other "Upland Game" hunters get...Any thoughts??? Tony

I think people need to respect other peoples sport. If we can support each other how can we work together to save hunting. I do admit I wouldn't pay that much for any kind of dog. Unless it craped golden bricks. As for being looked down upon because we train and hunt beagles that is a load of crap. It is alot of hard work to finish out a hound but its alot of fun. 2000 to 4000 is enough to start me a little cattle farm at least then I could raise my own beef.

Well if you wanna know what i think, they can take all their brid dogs and all the other people who think rabbit hunting and beagling is a lower form of hunting and they can shove it up their A$$!! (Any ?'s)

Your Beagling Friend!

Jay

I LIKE TO WATCH A BIRD DOG WORK IN THE FIELD, BUT NOT AS WELL AS BEAGLES. AS FOR $2,000.00 - $4,000.00 DOLLARS FOR A DOG OF ANY KIND, WELL THEY CAN LIE TO THEIR FRIENDS & I'LL LIE TO MINE.
BUT THERE ISN'T NO SENSE IN US LIEING TO EACH OTHER. THAT LADY NEEDS TO GET A JOB.
BUNNYBUSTER

Doesn't matter what anyone else thinks guys. We who love our Beagles and who understand exactly what it takes to train one know that those who would make a statement like this woman made doesn't understand.
I've got a litter on the way, and I'm gonna keep two pups. I am like a kid waiting for Christmas, but I also know that a whole lot of my summer will be spent training. I've never heard of any dog that somebody just "took out into the trial and now they're a champ". Those Champs get that honor because some good ole boy has spent thousands of hours taking his dog out. Just my two cent worth.

I've known several professional bird dog and retriever trainers, and found the real pros to be much like us. They're serious about their work and are driven more by the desire to excel than by the money. On the other hand, there seem to be a lot of "dog groupies" who follow them around, wanting to be associated with them so they can brag about it at the proper cocktail parties. This is where the snobbery comes in and we beaglers are certainly targets for their attitude, despite the fact that it's every bit as difficult to produce a finished beagle as it is a finished bird dog, especially retrievers. We're fortunate not to be included in this group because few of us could afford to work with as many hounds as we do. I see enough of this here in the gunshop with guys coming in to show their knowledge of fine shotguns and brag about how they probably own guns worth more than my entire inventory. Most of them know almost enough to get away with it but say just enough to let their ignorance show through. Believe me, I get it all the time, but I've found a number of ways to discreetly put them in their place. I also fish for Atlantic Salmon and there's no bigger bunch of blowhards than some of them connected with that sport. They have plenty of money and do a lot of bragging but very little catching. I'm proud to say I own beagles and use them for rabbit hunting and field trialing and once in a while get to say that I have one of the top hounds in the country- something very, very few bird dog people can ever say.

The price sounds about right for the finished bird dog. A friend of mine attended a NAVHDA field trial with a young German Shorthair puppy that he was working on, someone offered him $4K for her and she wasn't even finished. This was about 6-7 years ago. It all comes down to supply and demand. There are enough of them that want something bad enough and have enough money, someone will eventually pay that for it. Then sets the standard pricing index...

Emery

I also have coonhounds and have paid as high as $2300 for a dog. He was good but not anything special. A coonhound that is able to win consistently in the bigger hunts sells for much more and several of the more popular stud dogs have sold for many times that. I know of one that was sold for $30,000 and his owners made their investment back in a year and a half. Believe me, coonhunters are even more down to earth, blue collar type people than rabbit hunters. The difference is that there are a lot more of them and competition coonhunting is by far the most popular type of feild trial for dogs. The numbers for beagles, labs and bird dogs don't even come close to the numbers of coonhounds entered in hunts every year.
Beagling is one of the least expensive sports you can get into. Anytime you can buy a top hound that someone has spent years trying to breed and train for less than $1000 you are getting a bargain.

When the Japanese began importing beagles to their country, they would pay large sums for a top finished AKC Field Champion. They were looking for hare bloodlines because they have a species of hare native to the island and thought the hare bloodlines best suited to their situation. One fellow offered a friend of mine $10,000 for his Canadian champion (he turned it down) and another friend sold one of his for $8,000. Unfortunately the dog was killed in the Kobe earthquake of 1995 while in quarantine. They hold field trials there and I've seen some of the photos of their results. I wonder how you say "Tally-Ho" in Japanese!

Before anyone gets the wrong idea, I was not trying to alienate or anger any bird dog fans out there...I know it takes a lot of hard work and hours upon hours of training to get these dogs where they are. My point was simply that first of all, I was a little suprised at the way my sporting dog was dismissed as "just beagles" . I certainly dont look at German Shorthairs as "just a birddog". I know there is a certain bias against beaglers out there, just the way things are. The second point was to comment on the price of these dogs versus our dogs of choice. I don't begrudge anyone what they can get for their dogs, just that I am coming to realize that we may be a little undervalued as far as finished, broke hounds go. Tony

I tend to go with what Steve C has said. Not so much the people that do the work, but the people that talk like they do it all, and know it all! Makes you wonder just how many bird dogs this woman actually trained herself????

As far as her comment about them just being beagles......... It's fine by me, I don't think she would be an asset to our sport or the breed we love so much anyways! JMHO

i currently have 3 bird dogs and fifteen beagles. i can assure you that the bird dogs require much more in the way of Training than beagles. depending on waht type of bird dog your talking about, pointer, flusher retreiver. Beagles are pretty much what they are bred to be. if they handle, avoid trash and can jump and circle a rabbit to gun thats about all i can ask for from my hounds. Aside from the handling and correction of of off game all i can do is take my beagles out and give them the opportunity to ply their trade. love my hounds and they get most of the time. but when my gordon setter holds a woodcock for me it still is a thrill. i've probably trained my last bird dog. birds define the dog without them well he's just another dog. and the bird populations are down way down. people who train bird dogs ususally end up buying many many birds . As far as snobbery yup it's out there we have it too! just the other day on another board some one was questioning a guys need for a squirrel dog when they're so easy to hunt. i'll bet if that fella ever went out with a good squirrel dog he'd know why.

i'll continue to enjoy my dogs both the bird dogs and the hounds and my buddies squirrel dogs ( talk about pricey) of course when the kennel boy and gardner have the day off i do fill in for them!

Beagleing has always been the poor mans sport. Lucky for me or I wouldn't be able to do it. The bird dog guys are just being more practicle then we beaglers with the price of their dogs. The price they charge reflects the man hours required to train the dog. We beaglers donate most of that time with the price of our hounds.

Timberdoodle, I didn't mean to imply that training a bird dog was any easier than training a beagle, just that with the level of competition in beagle trials, it is every bit as difficult to finish a hound for its championship. I used to keep a few GSPs and I know that they required plenty of hours of work to make a good hunting dog.

steve, absolutely no offense taken!! Beagles must be a lot smarter than bird dogs anyway! my bird dogs require constant supervision where ever they go and no matter what the cover i have to hump it along with them. of course anybody involved with GSP's has to have the aerobic capacity of a marathon runner!!!!!! my beagles offer me the opportunity to sit back at times and watch the sun go down as they play their music to me, well most days anyway!!