I've heard of beagle Field Champions (FCs) going for $25k. Def. not the norm, but I've sold a few for several thousand $ which is "cheap" compared to some friends dogs they sell for 5-10K, some aren't even finished yet. You're right, it's only worth what someone will pay, but some guys that have the $ would rather spend it than takea few years training 20 dogs only to have 1 or 2 outstanding ones. I can't afford to do that, so I train most of my own. Plus I enjoy it, it's a hobby that is quite addicting and it lets me bond and spend time w/ my dogs.