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what should a handler expect

I have always handled dogs for other people. I enjoy hunting only to get a hound ready for top competition and love to see a dog win weather i own the dog or not. Question is what should a good handler expect from a owner to push a dog hard. It gets expensive and i have found myself spending money here and there on a dog I'm hunting for someone else. So whats the standard? Do you guys expect to put money in your pocket when handling someone else's dog or just break even on expenses?

I feel if you are doing it to make money then you are doing it for the wrong reason. In my opinion the owner should pay all your expenses but that is all. If you love to hunt and the owner is supplying you with a dog capable of winning then that should be all the profit you would want.

If you're hunting a man's dog & winning consistently, you should be getting $100+ weekly, expenses paid, and 50%+ of the winnings..I was given a fuel card once & used it exclusively on nights I was hunting and burned approximately $70 a week going to hunts & preparing for them.

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Originally posted by jeffrey robinso
I feel if you are doing it to make money then you are doing it for the wrong reason. In my opinion the owner should pay all your expenses but that is all. If you love to hunt and the owner is supplying you with a dog capable of winning then that should be all the profit you would want.

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Re: what should a handler expect

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Originally posted by Coondog123
I have always handled dogs for other people. I enjoy hunting only to get a hound ready for top competition and love to see a dog win weather i own the dog or not. Question is what should a good handler expect from a owner to push a dog hard. It gets expensive and i have found myself spending money here and there on a dog I'm hunting for someone else. So whats the standard? Do you guys expect to put money in your pocket when handling someone else's dog or just break even on expenses?

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Before anybody charges anybody anything you need to hunt the dog a while somtimes you and the owner might think you have a winner then you hunt in a few hunts and find out you don't. I had a guy call me here awhile back wanted me to hunt a young dog for him I told him $300 for 30 actual nights hunting right here at home he said you should go to some hunts too for that price I told him that's $10 a night maybe you need to hunt your own dog if your that cheap hadn't heard from him since lol. Found out later he was tired of listening to him bark and smear his dookie. Take one to a dog boarding kennel they charge the snot out of you and don't teach them nothing.

Depending on the situation what you should expect​ from the owner I hunted a dog for a guy he paid entry and hotel bill I spent gas money and food I asked him to hunt the dog and really didn't. Expect anything else.if the dog wins in the big hunts it's kinda worth it to me it's actually cheaper on you in the long run to do it that way any how

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I hunted one over a year ago for a guy she was out of my female I had to hunt her 60 days to break some bad habits she had then I won 10 out of 12 cast with her the owner asked me how we were going to start splitting the winnings I said when you start paying entry's and gas we will talk about it she is back at his house now.

When you get paid to hunt a dog then it is a job. That kinda takes the fun out of it. And if you are getting paid to win and don't then it is your fault. When someone is getting paid to win it changes their whole perspective. They act very differently than they would if they are doing it for the fun of it.

We live in a free enterprise society. There is no flat rate for handlers. There are a lot of variables such as your: experience, ability, reputation, amount of time that you are willing to spend, what kind of demand there is for your services. And then there is the amount of money that an owner is willing or able to spend. Of course there is also the dog's ability. Some dogs are a lot easier to win with and a lot of people would love to hunt/handle them. While others are hard to win with and their owner would have to pay more to get someone to hunt/handle them.

So, to answer your question...You can expect anywhere from nothing but a thank you to $1,000/mo, plus a place to stay, plus expenses, plus a new truck.

Yadkin that's kinda what happened with me but I told him the money that she won WD cover various things like hunts that I wanted to hunt for money and such vet cost and stuff he never mentioned it again.it is fun to hunt a dog that has that extra thing about them that they win just about any where u hnt them she was hunted in the bigger hunts and granded with the leaves off she never got u in minus trouble unless u called her wrong lol just a fun female to hunt I hunted her 7 nts a week I knowed her from one end to.the other

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Yea right after he got her back he advertised her for sale for $17,000 dollars I am a heck of a trainer vs handler I guess lol. He still has her lol.

There is a lot to that question. Is it a friend or just a guy wanting a dog hunted? If you hunt a dog 3 nights through the week that's $50 go to a hunt on the weekend and that another $50 in gas. $400 a month you just spent in gas. Depending on what kc you hunt in that's $80 to $120 a month in enters fees. $480 to $520 a month to really roll a dog in the hunts. That's only one hunt a weekend. If you hunted him in local money hunts ( that's all those expenses would cover) and won every cast (ain't going to happen) that's $288 in winning max.

So in a perfect situation you just lost over $200 out of you pocket. It's the same thing if it was your dog but at least then it's yours. None of that includes your time. At minimum wage you are looking at $300 a week in time. If this is for a friend then it's not as bad but if it's just for some guy you are loosing a lot of money and if you have a family then time away from them. To no ones benefit but his.

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[QUOTE]Originally posted by Robert Johnson
[B]X2. this is not a business to profit in. I have never been paid a dime to hunt someone else's dog, but at times they were good enough to pay the entry fees to some hunts. enjoying the hunts, and getting to do so with a good dog is all I needed. I guess I should mention that I kept 100% of any winnings I could get out of them, unless they paid the entry that night, in which it was split, 50/50.

When you're providing a service to someone and not getting a dime it's called a favor, which is fine but the post ask what a handler should expect..

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Originally posted by Robert Johnson
X2.

having fun and enjoying yourself is what this is supposed to be about. The average hound owner can not afford a 400.00 A MONTH plus all expenses bill. With gas and entry fees etc...I can see a thousand dollars per month easily if a guy hunts heavy. Nothing wrong with it if your "Gates" owner wants it that way, but I just have always felt somewhat guilty in that he was giving me a way to be happy and have fun doing something I wanted to do. I guess being paid for it would be great, if you can find the right situation for you. Its a Patnership that could turn bad quickly if the hound is not panning out as the owner thinks it should.

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I guess the one that made me think about things was a guy brought a littermate to my granny dog their daddy had just died he did not know a thing just in a little while he made an above average pup always a reason he couldn't pay each month I made him a grand show champion and ntch in short order won a pretty big hunt with him I was really enjoying him I paid for everything next thing I know I come home from work one day he is gone I thought he was stolen I call the owner he said he had a guy come get him sold him for $4,500 said he needed the money and hung up lol. Ain't heard from him since.

I always paid all expenses and gave my handlers $50-100 per win depending on what the win was.. if it was $ hunt they kept the winnings. Had pretty decent luck with this setup

Good luck with what ever u decide to do

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GETTING HOOKED LONELY WITH 2 LOOKING DOWN

I appreciate the input gentlemen. For all the guys saying a handler shouldn't be payed, when a man owns a thoroughbred horse and he wants it raced at the Kentucky Derby do you think he pays the jockey that races the horse for him? It is a absolutely ridiculous notion that a hound should be pushed for a owner at the handlers expesce just because the handler has fun doing it. There are obviously only a select few people who realise the time, effort, cost and stress that goes into competing/hunting on a higher level than your local coon clubs.

I'm sure when coon dogs can get the same stud fees as race horses you'll be paid as much as a jockey.

I did not say "as much" but the concept is the same.

What happens a lot but not always is you get that dog most of the time it is nowhere near hunted up and ready to compete so you spend 60 days getting it ready and as soon as you start getting some wins on it the owner goes to seeing $$$$ sighns and sells it out from under you he makes money and you loose your butt and you done all the work make them sighn a written contract if they won't don't hunt their dog simple as that.

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GETTING HOOKED LONELY WITH 2 LOOKING DOWN

quote:

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Originally posted by yadkintar
What happens a lot but not always is you get that dog most of the time it is nowhere near hunted up and ready to compete so you spend 60 days getting it ready and as soon as you start getting some wins on it the owner goes to seeing $$$$ sighns and sells it out from under you he makes money and you loose your butt and you done all the work make them sighn a written contract if they won't don't hunt their dog simple as that.

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I would think the handler and owner would come to an agreement on WHAT was expected before the dog ever left the owners place.

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