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I have seen sport dogs purchased by BYBs, commercial breeders and puppy mills as breeding animals. They tout the dogs' sport accomplishments to puppy buyers as a selling point (look, the sire and dam are both titled!). These dogs do not appear to have been successful in their sports beyond earning enough titles to impress the uneducated public.

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A couple of other things that make selling an agility dog hard: The handling style that the dog was trained to, do the handler and dog understand each other, there are so many different ways to handle and train.

The there is the question of what is a championship title worth... I have seen some dogs I am not impressed with but their owners trial every weekend and eventually you will get enough Qs, well maybe not in USDAA those super Qs do require speed. But generally trial often and you will get a championship title. After competing in agility for 4 years I am not in awe of championship titles as I have realized that many of them come from deep pockets and competing often, a great handler is going to find easier to get those Qs than a mediocre one. I have a very talented dog but we struggle as I am learning what it takes to handle a responsive dog at speed, if he had ended up with a great handler with deep pockets he probably would have a few titles.

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Come to think of it, I have heard of one case where a young dog with probably a bit more than foundation training might be moved on. Whether he would be sold or placed, I don't know. And I don't know if it actually happened. This is a case of an agility competitor getting a young dog and starting him and then having her husband fall ill. Her husband's illness means that she can't devote the time to the young dog that she'd like to, so when I last talked to her she was talking about placing him. This is the sort of extenuating circumstance where someone might move a dog on. In this person's case, I think she was thinking that the young dog would be happier in a home that could do sports with him.

 

J.

 

You're right. There can be all sorts of personal reasons why a trained or part trained dog might need another home, but it isn't usually a commercial transaction.

 

A friend and her husband went to a show and came back with an extra dog for free - top grade too. The reason was that the other dogs in the family were picking on him.

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You're right. There can be all sorts of personal reasons why a trained or part trained dog might need another home, but it isn't usually a commercial transaction.

Note that I didn't say it *was* a commercial transaction. I have no idea whether she planned to sell the dog or place it, and it really wasn't my business so I didn't ask (I was just helping out with the dogs while she was spending time at the hospital). I just happened to remember her telling me that she was thinking of placing him because of family problems and thought I'd post that as a reason why someone might move a dog on (since the questions was asked). In this person's case, she was feeling quite overwhelmed dealing with her husband's health issues. If she chose to sell him, there's nothing wrong with that.

 

J.

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A couple of other things that make selling an agility dog hard: The handling style that the dog was trained to, do the handler and dog understand each other, there are so many different ways to handle and train.

The there is the question of what is a championship title worth... I have seen some dogs I am not impressed with but their owners trial every weekend and eventually you will get enough Qs, well maybe not in USDAA those super Qs do require speed. But generally trial often and you will get a championship title. After competing in agility for 4 years I am not in awe of championship titles as I have realized that many of them come from deep pockets and competing often, a great handler is going to find easier to get those Qs than a mediocre one. I have a very talented dog but we struggle as I am learning what it takes to handle a responsive dog at speed, if he had ended up with a great handler with deep pockets he probably would have a few titles.

 

Hmmm! Do we live in a parallel universe?

 

I agree with you about different handling styles - although I would think that if a person got a trained dog (very unlikely scenario) that was trained in a different method than she was used to, I would think that it would be easier for the handler should adapt to the dog vs. re-training the dog (although I could be mistaken).

 

I also agree about Qs and championships. I have seen multi-titled dogs that are very unimpressive, but because the team competes in agility almost every weekend, they accumulate enough points for titles. But if they are happy doing that, I am glad for them.

 

And I am so with you about having a very responsive and talented dog that requires me to struggle to learn how to handle him - very hard because he is my first agility dog. I think that it has made me a much better handler, but I still have a ways to go. Titles are not important to me. For me, I am tickled pink if I can handle smooth enough to direct my dog off of the decoy jump that is 10 feet in front of him or send him out to the jump 20' feet away so I can be in position to meet him at the next obstacle - or maybe I am just too easy to please. :)

 

So with regard to buying a titled dog (although it sounds like it is a rare occurence), I think a potential buyer would definitely want to see it run a course and try to handle it themself.

 

Jovi

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Note that I didn't say it *was* a commercial transaction.

J.

 

No you didn't, but this thread is about the cost of a trained dog. Reasonable to mention that no money changes hands I should have thought, especially as others have said the same.

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No you didn't, but this thread is about the cost of a trained dog. Reasonable to mention that no money changes hands I should have thought, especially as others have said the same.

Oh for goodness' sake. For all I know money could have changed hands. And the OP saw an advertisement of a dog for sale. So despite your apparent need to assure everyone that money never changes hands, apparently sometimes it does. What's the big deal about that?

 

J.

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Hmmm! Do we live in a parallel universe?

 

And I am so with you about having a very responsive and talented dog that requires me to struggle to learn how to handle him - very hard because he is my first agility dog. I think that it has made me a much better handler, but I still have a ways to go. Titles are not important to me. For me, I am tickled pink if I can handle smooth enough to direct my dog off of the decoy jump that is 10 feet in front of him or send him out to the jump 20' feet away so I can be in position to meet him at the next obstacle - or maybe I am just too easy to please. :)

 

 

Jovi

Almost parallel .... I am horribly competive and I am always striving for the win, even while in novice... It is just fun for me to push myself to see what we can do. I treat agility as a sport which means I am on a mission to be the best handler I can be, and I now know the better I am the better my dog will be, my current goal is less dog training more human training :D

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Oh for goodness' sake. For all I know money could have changed hands. And the OP saw an advertisement of a dog for sale. So despite your apparent need to assure everyone that money never changes hands, apparently sometimes it does. What's the big deal about that?

 

J.

 

For goodness sake indeed. :rolleyes:

 

I agreed with you. I mentioned that it isn't usually a commercial transaction that's all. You tried to pick a fight over nothing, not me.

 

I can assure you that I am not sitting here at my keyboard finding ways of taking pot shots at you. If anything I try to avoid replying to your posts because you take everything so personally. I thought I was pretty safe agreeing with you but obviously I was wrong.

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