The number of letters we have received from all over the country, particularly from the West, complaining of the skin games played upon them by fake kennels and dealers, would make an angel weep, and make one almost regret that one ever knew a Boston. If the same ingenuity, skill and patience employed in the getting up of these fake advertisements had been devoted to the breeding of the dog, this class of advertising gentry (?) would have produced something fit to sell. It is stated on the best of authority that in some cases nothing was shipped for money received.
In spite of this vast number of unscrupulous breeders and dealers scattered abroad, I think the chances for reliable kennels was never so good as now in the history of the breed. Cream will always rise, and right dealing, whether in dogs or diamonds, will ever meet with their just returns. Remember that one never forgets being “taken in” in a horse trade, and when, instead of a horse a dog is involved, I think one never forgives as well. To that number of persons who, in their daily walks of life are fairly honest, but who, when it comes to a trade in dogs are apt to lose that fine sense of justice that should characterize all transactions, we would say with Shakespeare: “To thine own self be true. Thou canst not then be false to any man.” Yea, we would repeat the command of a greater than Shakespeare, to whom, I trust, we all pay reverence, when He lays down for us all the Golden Rule: “Whatsoever ye would that men would do to you, do ye even so to them.”
To go back to the responsible buyer who is in the market for a good dog, we say: Send your orders to responsible men, with said dogs to sell, stating exactly what you want, and the price you desire to pay, agreeing to send a check just as soon as dogs prove satisfactory, assuming, of course, express charges. Reputable dealers and breeders are looking for just such customers.
To all breeders and dealers who have not an established reputation, would say: Advertise accurately what you have for sale in first class reliable papers and magazines. In regard to prices, the following scale, adopted by us many years ago, and which we have never seen since any reason to change, is practically as follows:
For pups from two to three months old, from fifty to seventy-five dollars. When six months old, from seventy-five to a hundred: From six months to maturity, from one hundred to two hundred. These prices are, of course, for the ordinary all-around good dogs. With dogs that approximate perfection, and which only come in the same proportion as giants and dwarfs do in the human race (I believe the proportion is one in five thousand), and the advent of which would surprise the average kennel man as much as if the President had sent him a special invitation to dine with him at the White House, the price is problematical, and is negotiated solely by the demand for such a wonder by a comparatively few buyers.
I think Boston terriers as a breed occupy the same position amongst dogs as the hunter and carriage horse does amongst horses. Each are more or less a luxury. A well matched pair of horses of good all-round action, of desirable color and perfect manners and suitable age will sell in the Eastern cities (I am not sufficiently acquainted with the other sections of the country to know values there) at from eight hundred to two thousand dollars, but with a pair of carriage horses able to win on the tan bark, the price will be regulated by the comparatively few people who have sufficient money to spare to purchase this fashionable luxury, and ten times the amount paid for the first mentioned pair would be a reasonable price to pay for the prize winners. I think the winners of the blue in the Bostons would fetch a relative sum.
The important factor of the cost of production in the case of the dog necessarily enters into the selling price. Good Bostons are as hard to raise as first class hunters, and a correspondingly large sum has to be obtained to meet expenses, to say nothing of profit, but in the writer’s experience the best dog or horse sells the readiest. Do not be misled by the remark “that a dog is worth all he will bring.” Generally speaking, this is sound logic, but not always. Many dogs have been sold for very little by people not cognizant of their value, but this in no way changed the intrinsic worth of the dog. On the other hand, many dogs have been disposed of at many times their real value, but this transaction did not enhance their worth in the slightest degree. A gold dollar is worth one hundred cents whether changed for fifty cents or five hundred. An article of intrinsic value never changes. Our advice to all who have dogs for sale (or any other article, in fact), ask what you know is a good, honest, fair value, and although you may not sell the dog today, remember that there are other days to follow. What I am going to add now I know a great many dealers and breeders will laugh at and declare me a fit subject for an alienist to work on, but it is fundamentally true just the same, and is this: Never ask or take for a dog more than you know (not guess) the dog is worth. This is nothing but ordinary, common everyday justice that every man has every right to demand of his fellow man, and every man that is a gentleman will recognize the truth and force of.
I was reading a novel this summer, and one statement amongst a great many good ones impressed me. It stated “that all men were divided into two classes: those that behaved themselves, and those who did not.” We all know that society has divided men into many classes, but I think any thoughtful man will confess, in the last analysis, that the novelist’s classification was the correct one. I need not apply the moral.
It will be somewhat of a temptation to resist taking what a party, liberally supplied with this world’s goods, will frequently in their ignorance offer for a dog that appeals to them, but which the owner knows perfectly well is not worth the price offered. If he belongs to the class that behaves themselves he will tell the prospective buyer what the dog is intrinsically worth, and point out the reasons why he is not worth more. You may depend that you have not only obtained a customer for life, but one that will readily advertise your kennels under all circumstances. I shall have to ask the reader to overlook the apparent egotism of the statements I am now about to make, but as this book is largely the outgrowth of the author’s own experience, of necessity personal matters are spoken of.
A number of years ago I received an order from the Western coast, through a Boston house, for a good all-round puppy at two hundred dollars. I sent the puppy on, and much to the surprise of the customer, stated my price for him would be one hundred instead of two. The pup matured into a very nice dog, as I expected he would, being a Cracksman pup out of a good bitch. What has been the result of this treatment? Ever since (and no later than yesterday), orders for dogs from this gentleman have been coming right along.