Is there any such thing?

[EWO]

Very well said, and I agree. Perpetuating your yard with your own goals and criteria as a guide, you are the only one that can deem one of your dogs as 'too valuable'.

To the guy who is just matching dogs basically by buying prospects, grown dogs and early winners the next set of dogs off these dogs simply does not matter. They are going to be matched til their wheels fall off and on to the next one.

Both can get to the same place but take different routes.

I wish I had not been the 'not give a squirt of piss' guy early on/years ago. I would be on top of a much better foundation than I have now. Back then I simply graded dogs on ability, mouth and workability on a scale of 1 to 10. Knock down three sixes (as bad as that sounds) and we were off to the show. For those sixes I was betting on me, the 8's and 9's I was betting on the dog. If that makes sense.

And with that said perpetuating any of those dogs never really factored in at the time. Being young and dumb it was a "Saturday Night or Bust" approach.

I should have tagged a few 'too valuable' way back when.

EWO

[Thunder98]

Thanks for the response fellows, and I totally understand what you guys are saying and fully agree, agree left up to the owner and what he deems valuable....thanks again

[bossman311]

My question is, is there any such thing as too valuable?
And why or why not? Also to you, what's too valuable? At what point does it become too valuable?
All comments will be appreciated..

Yes there is such a thing as too valuable.
Lots of times ego get's in the way of logic.
We are in a generation of buyers more than breeders. I have seen people time & time again buy dogs just to mess them up & go buy another.
Allot of well known breeders are no longer around these days as they were 20 yrs ago alone & there family of dogs has been so washed out they they barely resemble the original stock. Lost in time never to be regained again.
Many examples of well known families lost because of this.

I believe that instead of using common since & thinking about the future people messed of the dogs instead of breeding & using the offspring as the working tools.
Almost working backwards in a sense.

Sort of Selling the Goose that laid the Golden Eggs instead of selling the golden eggs type of thinking.
You might get more for the goose than a single egg & once you have spent it that's it. But sell the eggs & keep the goose & you'll never be broke again & may even get more geese that lays golden eggs along the way.

You can always get more eggs as long as you have the Goose but once you sell the goose you will never have neither one.
Today ego's want a ped full of pretty colors & the constant need to buy dogs from other yards instead skipping some dogs ,using dogs off them & staying on your own yard.
There is to me such a thing as too valuable .

I strive to sell the golden eggs & not the goose that lays them.

[EWO]

Good post.

I agree there are more buyers than breeders but I also think it has been that way all along. Pick any era and there were top breeders and people who bought dogs from top breeders.

It may be a percentage thing as well. It may just as many top breeders as it ever was, just thousands more willing to buy them. That in turn makes the top breeders fewer and farther in between amongst the masses.

I do agree with the analogy about the goose and the golden eggs. I never thought much about it way back. The guy that turned me onto dogs only matched dogs. He bought dogs and had dogs placed with him. He kept 10-12 open to the world year around. When I got in the dogs I guess I just figured the two were separate, breeding/selling and matching. I got in on the matching train.

As far as culling, we culled a lot of dogs that (looking back) should have been bred. If it was a dog that placed and he was a game plug, or a good dog just not match quality, he was sent back. If it were ours and he was not a match quality dog he was culled. When I first got in the dogs curs were not culls, it was understood. Culling was decisions that were made on whether or not the dog could show on Saturday night. In the beginning we never sold anything. (I say we, but it was mostly the guy that turned me on to the dogs, but I was right there with him with my dogs). Dogs either made it to the show or they didn't.

Hind sight being 20/20, we should have done things a lot differently. Looking back I wish we had bred this dog to that dog or took that bitch to that stud, etc. etc. But no need crying over spilled milk.

The upside to not breeding the dogs is that it was all about schooling, feeding and conditioning.

Not all bad..

EWO

[Thunder98]

Thanks bossman for the comment, and trust me I totally agree with you.

[bossman311]

Good post.

I agree there are more buyers than breeders but I also think it has been that way all along. Pick any era and there were top breeders and people who bought dogs from top breeders.

It may be a percentage thing as well. It may just as many top breeders as it ever was, just thousands more willing to buy them. That in turn makes the top breeders fewer and farther in between amongst the masses.

I do agree with the analogy about the goose and the golden eggs. I never thought much about it way back. The guy that turned me onto dogs only matched dogs. He bought dogs and had dogs placed with him. He kept 10-12 open to the world year around. When I got in the dogs I guess I just figured the two were separate, breeding/selling and matching. I got in on the matching train.

As far as culling, we culled a lot of dogs that (looking back) should have been bred. If it was a dog that placed and he was a game plug, or a good dog just not match quality, he was sent back. If it were ours and he was not a match quality dog he was culled. When I first got in the dogs curs were not culls, it was understood. Culling was decisions that were made on whether or not the dog could show on Saturday night. In the beginning we never sold anything. (I say we, but it was mostly the guy that turned me on to the dogs, but I was right there with him with my dogs). Dogs either made it to the show or they didn't.

Hind sight being 20/20, we should have done things a lot differently. Looking back I wish we had bred this dog to that dog or took that bitch to that stud, etc. etc. But no need crying over spilled milk.

The upside to not breeding the dogs is that it was all about schooling, feeding and conditioning.

Not all bad..

EWO

Good Stuff EWO!