Alrighty, so I need help! Since I'm brand new, I don't really know much about the economy of this site. Average prices and costs and what have you. I mentioned in my introduction thread that I want to start a line of foxes once I have sufficient funds, but I realized I'm not sure what sufficient funds are!

So, dear elder users with your wisdom...

1. How much would you say is needed to be able to train a dog to a million points (or higher, y'know... xD)

2. What is an average boarding fee to keep said dogs happy and full in a kennel?

3. What are reasonable / common prices for profile layous and / or graphics for my babies (when I get them?)

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If you have any other advice, I would appreciate that as well. :] I didn't see anywhere with information like this (Aside from the FAQ, General Help, and Getting Started pages, and I didn't see answers to my questions there), but if I'm missing anything, I'd appreciate being directed to the proper place!

Thanks muchly!

I'm not sure about the money thing, but as far as the average boarding fee, I've found a lot of places are free and will feed if you just message them and pay. :) If you're talking about a boarding fee for your own stable/kennel though, I'm not sure haha. the Designer's Arena association has a list of graphic designers by price, you should check them out! :) 

1) The cost to train a horse or dog really depends on whether you train more with public or private shows, its much cheaper to train a few pairs of animas on public training but by using private shows animals will gain points much faster.  The average price for dog show spots is 500k per animal, but if you have a lot of dogs it can be cheaper to buy a whole show which might cost several million HPD. And while public training is much cheaper, you have to be careful not to enter your animals in overly flooded shows. The more animals in a show the more points that have to be divided, which means less of a point gain for your animals. I do use mostly public training though because its cheaper. But I don't enter my animals in the Humane Alliance shows, they're only $100 but they get really flooded.

2)Like strukk said many people do let you board your animals for free. I do this as well and my kennel is called Dare to Dream Ranch if you'd like to board your foxes there once you get them:)

3)The price of graphic and layout services varies greatly from player to player. Obviously, the better quality the more expensive. But some players offer discounted prices to new players with low funds. I personally try to keep my prices cheap because I know how it feels to be broke. And strukk mentioned the Designers Arena which is a great place to look and there is a discount for ordering through that association.

I also feel like I should add this great piece of advice. Enter club and association contests! This is a great way to earn some money and even prizes like graphics, private shows and dog and horse tickets. It also helps boost participation in clubs and associations which hasn't been to great lately. I'm running the Crossbreed club and my Asian Breeds association right now and I have raffles up on both so check them out if you'd like:)

I hope I've been helpful and good luck :D

1. Depending on how many animals you have, you should be able to easily train them in their 80 public shows a week just off of your weekly bank money, as well as money from making your own public shows. Basic players can make 1 public horse show and 1 public dog show every week, and you can set the fee up to 3000 HPD. If you have your 5 maximum basic accounts, you can make 5 sets of shows every week and collect 5 bank salaries. You also get money back from point earnings after shows run, so every night you'll get a bit of the money you spent back! I wouldn't recommend buying private shows while you're starting out, unless you have some other form of income (graphics, coding, upgrades, etc.). You can also train for other people to earn some money! I will also second entering club and association contests! There are lots of money giveaways, as well as graphics and other things and most of them are super easy to enter.

2. Lots of people do free boarding, you can usually find them in the advertising channels. Just make sure to message them and 'pay' your fee (even if it's 0$) so that they know you want your animals fed!

3. Graphics are all over the place, so it's kinda hard to say. Your best bet would be to put an ad out that you're looking for graphics and say how much you're looking to pay. One thing you could do is message the HP Charity Chicks association (click). They do free layouts for new players I believe.. if you message them and say you're new and looking for a layout, they'll help you out!

Good luck! If you have any more questions, ask away!

I agree with everything already mentioned above, but to add on to Ragdoll's training advice:

You can easily train a dog to 1 million points with only publics (but definitely make use of association & club shows!). Dogs gain 100-150k per week if you are pretty careful about entering shows, but even gaining 75k/week will get you to 1m by retirement. :) I know that not everyone agrees about handpicking shows vs. enter-all, but IMO if you handpick shows every night (by checking the number of entrants), the extra points you get will add up over time. ;D I trained several dogs to 2m by using only three private shows a week, so.. it can be done!

Thanks for the advice, you guys. :) Really helpful stuff, and I'll start looking into everything right away!