Has the bubble burst? - Page 8

wow, and i thought this was a topic about dog/puppy sales. silly me, i didnt realize we were talking about the u.s. economy and the political future of the u.s. for the average dog person, it would seem the market is full of dogs/puppies to buy. with the internet it is easier to see dogs from overseas. how many topics have been listed here about people getting screwed by unethical people? as long as people out there have money to spend, they will continue to think(unrationally) that the more they spend, the better the dog they will get. little do they realize the benefits of getting to know the breeder and their dogs. john

Yeah, totally off topic. There are other forums for this stuff. :-b

Politics are what people talk about most when they are frustrated and unhappy about their lives (which are never perfect, so go figure). I will say this much about Bush. A lot of people forget where we were (in a lot of trouble and economic uncertainty) when he took office. He brought us through a lot and gave us back our dignity, when we had been brought to our knees. I'm sure he didn't ask for or expect this kind of trouble when he took office, but it's what he got. People have short memories and are quickly given to complaining and ingratitude. Freedom was never free.. Nothing worthwhile ever was. Try to remember that, once in awhile. The dog market is very cyclical. I noticed about a three year cycle that went from lean to fat, with one year being a buyer's market, one a seller's market, and one in between. Someone mentioned farmers being paid not to plant. The reason for that is an economic principle called "inelastic demand"... In other words, increased production and supply does not coincide with increased demand, and when that happens, the market collapses and farmers go broke. In order to stop that cycle, our Federal government decided to pay farmers to let fields go idle, so as not to glut the market and drop prices too low. Dog breeders might benefit from some regulation, because when we get stuck with too many puppies, well.. We are in trouble, and so are the dogs. I argued this point in a public hearing ten years ago, but no one wanted to hear it. So, this is what we will live with, then. Many of you know that I used to raise these dogs myself, and had to give it up. It was due in part to our kennel raid, yes. But there were a lot of factors involved. One consideration was that our family elders were going to be needing a lot of help, and it was incumbent on us to bear the brunt of that burden. Surely they would appreciate and deserve our efforts more than strangers. I really was not making any money at it, anyway, and not very likely to. I had enough money I could have kept at it for a long time, but why? I felt that I was in the business of losing money to provide nice pets for people who did not appreciate it. I had philanthropic goals, but those fell away in disillusionment, another victim of the raid. (continued)

(continued) One of my biggest problems was the extra puppy that I seemed to get stuck with on almost every litter. Pretty soon you have a crowd. You have the old-timers that you started with, the dogs in their productive years, the young hopefuls, and then you have the pups who never left, and maybe a few who came back due to divorce or a move. You really only need one quarter of the dogs, mind you.. Those which are in their productive and active years. But it's the unsold and unsaleable pups that really screw you up. Few people realize what a grind this really is, and how much sacrifice it can entail. In my book, it is one of the most difficult things a person could try to do. For ten years, my husband and I had been unable to take vacations together, and I had only taken two trips in about that period of time, each four days long, stressful, and dog-related. I was very well-paid on my job, and could have made much more money in overtime (some of my peers made over 100K per year), but all of my spare time and money went to the dogs. Don't believe it when people tell you dogs are a good investment, or that all breeders are "greedy". Ha! Raising good dogs, in the sense of trying to accomplish something with a breeding program, is a life mission. It will likely take about 25 years to really accomplish anything lasting or significant, and you have to do it from a deep inner commitment and need. Even if you have a few good years in sales, it is almost inevitable that you will see some bad years when you cannot sell your pups. If you can't hang with the dogs through these difficult times, it's best not to get involved. There are some dog brokers out there who sell imports to naive people as a business, telling them they will be able to recoup their investment and make a lot of money. These people are con artists, in my opinion. Avoid them at all costs. If you want to raise these dogs, then do so out of a sense of commitment and love to the dogs, and expect no thanks or compensation for it. If you are patient and do good work, hopefully it will pay off for you. But it is no easy path. I can tell you that much from my personal experience.

DDR-DSH I keep telling people that some of the breeders are doing excellent work and breeding high quality pups both of show and working lines and even a mixature. People like are in very valuable to keep the breed improving.

I think we can owe all the improvements and the best of the best in the GSD to the Germans. JMO.

Actually I don't agree with you anymore babyeagle..Twenty years ago yes but I think several of our American breeders have caught up and are at least equel to the best German Breeders.

DDR-DSH, I remember where we were when Bush took office, but my memory of that time doesn't jive with yours exactly...but that's OK....but I'll dissagree with you about just one thing..with a deep commitment to the GSD, caring for them is never thankless, one look into the happy eyes of my furry kids goes further for me than any human expression...( 'course I don't have a whole kennel eating me out of house & home!)& my life is pretty good right now...I'm just an old fart & I get tired sometimes! LOL jo

DDR-DSH my 401K, investments, stocks were sure doing a lot better before Bush took office. The dollar was stronger, gas was cheaper, housing market was stronger...should I go on.  Oh, and there were no WMD's then and there still aren't any now.  Don't get me wrong, I totally support our troops and love this country.  Just not a big Bush fan.  Hmm, 1999 wasn't that the year you were arrested for animal cruelty charges, 64 dogs in poor health taken from your property?  And you were convicted right?  I guees you would think caring for a GSD is thankless when you have to go to jail over it.

Sorry, you sound like an intelligent person, who might actually have known something about GSD's...But, I can't take anything you say seriously especially when it comes to caring for dogs.  JMO