A Complete Price Guide for the Bloodhound
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The Bloodhound is one of the most famous scenthounds. For those who are unfamiliar, scenthounds are more reliant on their sense of smell for hunting purposes whereas sighthounds are more reliant on their sense of sight for hunting purposes. As such, it should come as no surprise to learn that Bloodhounds and other scenthounds have some of the best noses that can be found in the canine world. Hunting is nowhere near as popular in the present as it was in the past. However, Bloodhounds are one of the dog breeds that have managed to find a new purpose for themselves. After all, their incredible sense of smell makes them well-suited for a number of important tasks such as finding missing people and finding escaped prisoners.
Historically speaking, the Bloodhound is believed to be one of a number of dog breeds that can trace their roots to the St. Hubert Hound, which was bred at the Saint-Hubert Monastery in what is now Belgium. Several pairs of these hounds were sent to the King of France on an annual basis. As a result, we have a fair amount of information about what said rulers thought about the St. Hubert Hound. For example, Charles IX seemed to have had a negative opinion, seeing as how he called them well-suited for people suffering from gout. In contrast, Henry IV seemed to have thought better of them, seeing as how he presented an entire pack of the hounds to James VI and I.
Unfortunately, the St. Hubert Hound seemed to have already been in decline by the 18th century because there is mention of how few of the hounds were deemed worthy of being retained as a royal hound. When the French Revolution hit, these hounds went into further decline, with the result that the original dog breed is believed to have gone extinct at some point in the 19th century. Fortunately, the Bloodhound had already become well-established in England by the late medieval period. Thanks to that, these dogs managed to make their way to France, to the United States, and to a wide range of other countries, thus enabling them to establish themselves around the world.
As mentioned earlier, Bloodhounds are an excellent choice of working dog for a wide range of roles that still see much use in the present time. However, they possess plenty of upsides for people who are looking for a pet as well. Bloodhounds have a very strong tracking instinct, so they can be harder to train than some of the other dog breeds that can be found out there. Otherwise, they are gentle, affectionate, and even-tempered creatures. All of which can be very appealing for people who are looking for a canine companion of their very own.
What Can You Expect to Pay for a Bloodhound?
Interested individuals have a number of options for getting their hands on a Bloodhound. As always, each of these options comes with its own particular combination of upsides and downsides, meaning that there is no such thing as one that is perfect for everyone out there. If there was, the other options would be much less important. Interested individuals need to examine each of these options to figure out which one is suitable for them based on their particular needs and preferences.
For starters, there is the option of either adopting or a rescuing a Bloodhound. This is a very good option for a number of reasons. For starters, there are a lot of cats, dogs, and other animals out there that are suffering because animal shelters, animal rescues, and similar organizations just don’t have enough resources to care for all of them. As a result, whenever someone either adopts or rescues an animal, they are making a positive impact in a couple of ways. One, they are providing that animal with a loving home. Two, they are freeing up resources that can be used for helping out other animals in need. Besides this, the next biggest selling point would be the low price.
Animal shelters and animal rescues do charge fees. However, those fees tend to be very low when compared with buying a purebred dog because they top out in the low hundreds of dollars. For that matter, interested individuals can often see that those fees are being spent on healthcare and other important things for their dog, meaning that they were going to need to pay those costs at some point anyways. Of course, there can be downsides to either adopting or rescuing a Bloodhound as well.
To name an example, there is no guarantee that a Bloodhound will be available when interested individuals go looking for one. If they are determined to get a Bloodhound, they might be able to benefit from sites as well as other resources that are specifically meant to help connect would-be Bloodhound owners with Bloodhounds that are in need. Even so, they shouldn’t just assume that they will succeed unless they are willing to wait. Moving on, there is also the issue of why dogs were entrusted to animal shelters and animal rescues in the first place. Often-times, it happens because the dog owner has experienced a chance of circumstance that has made it impossible for them to continue taking care of their dog.
For example, they might have developed some kind of serious medical problem that hinders them too much when it comes to day-to-day activities. Similarly, they might have run into some kind of financial problem, meaning that they can’t afford to keep their dog. Other times, there is an issue with the dog itself. Something that can increase the amount of time, effort, and money that interested individuals will have to dedicate to the dog’s care. Generally speaking, these things are far from being insurmountable.
Furthermore, animal shelters and animal rescues tend to be very upfront about them, particularly when it comes to the ones that are willing to let interested individuals spend some time with the candidate for adopting or rescue before bringing them home. Thanks to that, while interested individuals might need to spend more resources to care for one of these animals, they should at least be warned about what will be necessary ahead of time.
Meanwhile, the other common option would be buying a Bloodhound. As always, there is a range of prices that interested individuals can come upon. For Bloodhounds, the range goes from $500 to more than $2,500, which is a reflection of the wide range of dogs coming from a wide range of dog breeders. On the extreme high end, chances are good that interested individuals will be paying for puppies from either champion parents or some other prestigious bloodline.
Something that matters to a lot of people, as shown by how such puppies can be sold at such prices, but isn’t necessary if people just want a happy, healthy dog. On the low end, well, people should remember that dog breeders are business owners. This is important because they should be selling their dogs at a higher price than what they are spending on those same dogs. If they are selling their dogs at extremely low prices, that suggests that they are spending very little on those same dogs.
Something that had a direct impact on the healthcare, the training, and the other kinds of care that are offered to those puppies. This isn’t just a matter of those puppies being less well-cared-for than their more expensive counterparts. This is a matter of those puppies being much likelier to have either physical issues or behavioral issues, both of which can prove to be very expensive for would-be dog owners. Bloodhounds aren’t particularly huge dogs that can be extra-problematic when they act out for whatever reason.
However, interested individuals will definitely want to get their dog from a dog breeder who is careful and conscientious when it comes to their work because the dog breed is already one of the shortest-lived dog breeds that there is. Primarily, this is because Bloodhounds suffer from much higher-than-normal rates of bloat, so much so that it is both their most common illness and their most common cause of death. Unfortunately, these dogs also have a higher chance of developing problems with their eyes, their ears, and their skin.
Combined, Bloodhounds are one of the shortest-lived dog breeds. Under these circumstances, interested individuals are going to want to get a puppy from a reputable dog breeder even if that costs more because bad dog breeding practices can definitely increase the chances of those problems showing up.
Other than these, there is the possibility of getting a Bloodhound from a Bloodhound owner for either nothing or next-to-nothing. Sometimes, people need to give away one or more of these dogs. This might be an adult dog. However, this might be some unexpected puppies instead. Whatever the case, interested individuals should know that this kind of thing is more common in some places than in others. After all, different groups of people living in different places can have very different preferences when it comes to their dog of choice.
If interested individuals live in a place with a lot of Bloodhound owners, their chances of getting such a dog for very little money will shoot up. Of course, there are potential issues as well. For example, just because a Bloodhound comes free of charge, that doesn’t mean that the Bloodhound won’t cost people any money. Simply put, there are a lot of start-up costs involved in dog ownership even if people decide to just do the bare minimum. Besides that, there is also no guarantee that the Bloodhounds will be healthy because unexpected puppies tend to mean uncontrolled pregnancies. Still, their chances should still be better those of their counterparts that have come from a puppy mill.
What Factors Can Influence the Price of a Bloodhound?
There are numerous factors that can influence the price of a Bloodhound. Due to this, interested individuals might want to look into them to see if there is anything that they are willing to exploit to get a better price without actually sacrificing anything that they care about. For example, the American Kennel Club accepts just red, black and tan, and liver and tan as coat colors for these dogs.
Furthermore, while it allows these dogs to have some white on certain parts of their body, too much white is definitely frowned upon. As such, interested individuals might be able to get a discount by going for a dog with a disallowed coat color that isn’t rare enough to catch on with people who care about that kind of thing. Having said that, there are limits to what people should and shouldn’t seek out when it comes to characteristics that don’t conform to the standards.
Certainly, it wouldn’t make sense for them to go after a dog with something that increases the chances of it getting serious medical problems down the road. Other factors that might be worth looking into include but aren’t limited to the age of the dog, whether the dog is purebred or mixed-breed, and the availability of the dog in a particular area.
What Other Costs of Dog Ownership Do You Need to Consider When Getting a Bloodhound?
Usually, dogs are the most expensive in the first year of dog ownership. This is because there are a lot of start-up costs that need to be paid. For example, one estimate says that a Bloodhound can incur $245 to $925 in supplies in the first year, which is compared to $105 to $410 in subsequent years. Similarly, that same estimate says to expect about $635 in healthcare costs in the first year. A figure that can shoot up by a few hundred dollars for both spaying or neutering and gastropexy.
The latter is a surgical procedure that is carried out for certain dog breeds to prevent them from getting bloat. Subsequently, interested individuals should expect to pay a few hundred dollars every year for just preventative healthcare costs, which will cover a veterinary check-up plus heartworm and flea prevention. If the dog develops something serious, there will hundreds or even thousands of dollars extra on an annual basis. As such, a lot of people will choose to pay for pet insurance, which can cost $565 on average. That is expensive, but considering that Bloodhounds are already prone to physical issues, that can be very worthwhile.
