$5000 to Race???

[EGK]

How come folks always try to say the keep cost so much is why they gamble so high. To me when I hear folks say this how I eat I run the other way. A good raw diet may cost $25 a week and really most sups are one time buys. For the 6 to 8wks you're hooked that's $150-200. Your blood builder and juice is probably left over from 2 keeps before. If you buy more add $300-350 but most don't even use this stuff cause they don't know how or dnot know of it.. Superfuel, vertex, and RF1 $35-55. Blood work from a vet add another $35-50. On the low end raw diet, Superfuel, and blood work if you do it is $220 for a solid keep and 600 on the high end. If you don't make a living off dogs then 500 puts your money back in your pocket and you go home without the trouble. A 1000 to 2500 on it and you still in the plus. Most will go get a bag of pro plan chicken or Orijen at best that will last almost half if not the whole keep and K9 Superfuel or one of those sups. So $40 to $200. $500 to 1000 not bad at all in this case. Its folks choice to bet what they want to, can, or just stay in the lane that they're most comfortable with. You absolutely have to know your lane.

[EWO]

Your numbers are pretty accurate and I agree with most of your post. A lot of times when the 'cost of the keep' factors in it is because they are paying someone to work the dog. Usually it is the numbers you spoke of plus 'labor'. That could add another $750-$1000.

I most definitely agree "You absolutely have to know your lane". The guy with a bucket full of money is not obligated to drop his stakes to make something happen. And they guy that does not can't be expected to re-finance the house in order to cover in another league. If the guy with a bucket full of money really wants to know the better dog, or really wants to prove he has the better dog, then he has the option to adjust. If he does or does not, that is his business. There is not a lot the guy without the money can really do except race in his lane.

With that said, neither lane has a monopoly on the quality of the dog. Neither dog is in a faster lane than the other. Unless of course one of the dog's can count and only makes scratch for said amount of monies and that would be an entirely different topic.

This does not happen often but it does happen. I collected a forfeit at a show where two dogs were going for their CH. I think we were going for $1000 or so with first time out dogs. I collected my money and the two 2XW's proceeded. When both camps laid their money out I was in awe. It started out at 10K per side and when they got thru arguing and side betting there was just about 30K on the table. The dogs put on a pretty good show. Both were game and one was a little more talented than the other. It took nearly two hours and one won and the other made what I thought was a really game courtesy scratch. My dog was their weight and I truly believed he would have stopped both of them on the same night. Even was dumb enough to say it out loud. I would have never had 10-15K to ride in that lane.

A few months later I sold that male and he was re-sold (three times what I sold him for the same week) to the inner circle of the dog that made champ above. After they paraded dogs to stop him and couldn't I got a phone call that I will never forget. First offering a shit load of money for any and every thing I had bred like him and secondly and far more memorable, "You were right, he would have stopped both those dogs on the same night".

Short story long, my bank would never let me call out the big money guys so I have to remain in the lane I can afford. In my heart of hearts I believe a good dog can compete in the fast, faster and fastest lanes. I also think if I did have the buckets full of money I would drop my rates to prove the better dog, but since I don't have a bucket full of money for the dogs that would be my personal speculation.

So I agree, know your lane, don't cry up or cry down based on $$$$$$. EWO

[EGK]

Yep EWO money definitely doesn't equate to quality and also true about it going up when paying others. Not to mention travel and hotel expenses.

[EGK]

Truth

[Black Hand]

gambling is gambling. dogs, other sporting events, casino, etc. it's some who got it and some who don't. Sometimes you win big sometimes you lose more than you can afford. It's not a dog thing, it's just a people thing. Bet big to win big. Everyone understands this and that's why people put up high stakes regardless of what their bank account says. Some people are more responsible(or irresponsible) than others.

[Black Hand]

Another option is to put your winnings back into the dog. If you're successful then your available funds should rise. 1,500 turns into 3000, 3,000 turns into 6,000 and so on. Bill money is bill money, you don't dab into it. Maybe your dog funds should be taken more seriously also and do not take from it.

Guess it just depends on the individual. If I was that strapped for cash maybe I should reconsider even having a yard of dogs to care for and feed. A vet bill can climb up there too lol

[Jrbulldogs]

500-5000 is all the same lane. It's not hard to come up with $5000. A "working man" should be making atleast $600 a week. Save your money and make sacrifices otherwise don't race at all.

Do what you have todo you dont need the purse up front. Give yourself 8-10 weeks. Fall behind on a few bills of you have to then when your charge pulls through take those winnings and get the lights turned back on. And if shit doesn't go the way you thought then you figure out what you're gonna do next. Don't bitch and complain.

lmao dude goes hard

[EWO]

Agree here a lot. Being responsible and irresponsible. I have been both. I have let things pass that I felt really good about because the finances were not right basically making a responsible type decision. And on the other hand I have left home with light bill money, house payment money and next weeks gas and grocery money and every thing I could put together in 8-10 weeks and let it ride on a dog, basically being irresponsible. Looking back from my forties to my twenties, I would now call it more dumb than irresponsible, but perspectives change with age.

We camped our money together and bet on three we took. I bet everything I had split on the three. We were killing the first one, it was over, the other was just about RIP and in the process I bet more than I had and we quit on top. Next match we just got bit down by a freak mouth dog and had to pick up. Third match Ch. Angel saved the day with an awesome performance. One win and two losses left me with barely enough money for gas home. In my forties that does not happen, in my twenties things are different.

So as it has been said, gambling is gambling. Three or four thousand may be nothing to one but the world to another. Gambling with 'house' money (previous winnings) is nothing compared to gambling with the house payment.

EWO

gambling is gambling. dogs, other sporting events, casino, etc. it's some who got it and some who don't. Sometimes you win big sometimes you lose more than you can afford. It's not a dog thing, it's just a people thing. Bet big to win big. Everyone understands this and that's why people put up high stakes regardless of what their bank account says. Some people are more responsible(or irresponsible) than others.