leasing trained open dog

[justdogs]

I was wondering if anyone ever leases a trained open dog like they do with horses?

 

If so how much would a year lease be compared to buying an open dog?

 

I have heard that is usually takes a year for a dog to work well for a new owner. Is that always the case?

 

I see dogs running in Open until they are about 10 years old. I was just wondering if there would be people with big kennels that would have a 8-9 year old almost ready to retire Open dog that one could lease. Then the people involved could decide whether the older dog would officially retire with the original home or the new home.

[stockdogranch]

I don't know. I've never heard of it, but that doesn't mean it hasn't happened somewhere. I know lots of retired Open dogs get sold to beginners. I know a few trainers that will let you come work with their open dog a time or two, often when you are starting with a young or new to working dog of your own. But I'm not aware of am Open dog ever being leased. Interesting idea...

Anna

[Guest pax]

The bread and butter of my business is old retired schoolmasters. I do leases all the time.

 

For the most part, it's a good deal all around, the geezers get more gentle work and constant loving from our client kids, the owners get peace of mind and know they are being looked after like they are my own. Eventually we move the kids up and buy them younger, greener horses, but leases are a really good way to make the world go around without selling an animal outright and losing control over it's well being, while still finding space in your barn (or kennel) and budget for room to bring up a young one.

 

For the most part, whoever is physical control of the animal pays the bills. Whether or not there is insurance on the animal, extraordinary medical expenses, etc. are all pretty easy to work out.

 

Leases have been a real win/win for me.

[Pipedream Farm]

I've not heard of leases, but I know of retiring open dogs going to novice homes (loaned, given to "forever" homes, or sold). These arrangements are made case-by-case.

 

Mark

[Rebecca, Irena Farm]

Most of the time, these things happen through a mentoring relationship of some kind. Often, the dog is sold for a pittance or simply loaned, to someone the owner trusts would make a good retirement situation for the dog, and who could benefit from the dog's knowhow. As always, there's really no shortcut to getting involved, getting to know your local working dog community, and learning from those who have done the mileage still ahead of you. However, unlike with horses, your greatest commitment is going to be in terms of time rather than money.

[Guest pax]

[quote name='Rebecca, Irena Farm' date='Mar 18 2007, 11:20 AM' post='108 However, unlike with horses, your greatest commitment is going to be in terms of time rather than money.

 

 

That's quite a sweeping statement. I invite you to reconsider.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

"Free leases" are the norm. Insurance companies demand the form.

[Rebecca, Irena Farm]

Horses: You can put a whole heck of a lot of time into it, but with little monetary investment, you'll get nowhere fast. Just keeping a horse is incredibly expensive.

 

Dogs: You can get away with a limited budget, eg, a kid who can't spend thousands on training or a finished Open dog, but can make it to Open anyway with his home-trained pup fed on $!5 for 50 pound dog food - just by helping out a farmer neighbor in return for allowing him to train with him. A farmer with a decently bred pup can train it for almost nothing, given some patience and common sense, and a little help from knowlegable friends (starting with the pup's breeder, presumably). But without an investment in time, you'll get nowhere fast.

[Guest pax]

Well, thank you for elaborating. Your first post seemed to read very differently to me, I am glad to understand your perspective a little bit better.

 

It is a long standing complaint of mine that because of where we are located (one step further out than the average bedroom community of D.C) that my kids (and by kids, I mean, our students) cannot possibly start from scratch and school and show Joe Quarter Horse Homebred and be competitive. It's disheartening to see kids get crushed when the horse they spent hours scrubbing and polishing and fussing on don't even get looked at in favour of the latest flavour of the month that someone imported for a gazillion dollars.

 

That said, you don't get good on any horse, regardless of what it's purchase price was, unless you put the time in. I guess that's why I had a such a reaction to your earlier post. They don't check my _bank_ balance before they try to send me flying, they check my _balance_ balance.